A new design concept of thermal storage tank for adaptive heat charging in solar heating system
journal contribution
posted on 2024-11-02, 12:32authored byJiarong Li, Xiangdong Li, Ruiqing Du, Yong Wang, Jiyuan TuJiyuan Tu
A new design of storage tank with multiple outlets for storing solar thermal energy is proposed and investigated. The storage tank is featured with one fixed inlet port and three outlet ports at different heights. The new design provides an adaptive effective tank volume to cater for the dynamic solar heat supply. As an alternative of variable-volume tank, it helps improve the system performance and build a more flexible system. Using CFD simulations, the present work compares the transient temperature contours in the new design against those in a conventional tank during a charging process. Energy and exergy analysis are performed to investigate the thermal storing performance of a solar heating system with the new tank. It is found that the new storage tank is particularly useful in shortening the thermal response time and generating more useful energy and exergy in the cloudy day, by 12.7% and 20%, respectively, over a traditional tank.