Integrated Solar Thermal Collector with Heat Storage

A.R. Sánchez-Guitard[1], E. Ruiz-Reina[1]
[1]University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain
Published in 2013

In this work, we study the design of a new integrated system for Solar Water Heating that combines the solar thermal energy collection (primary circuit) with the heat storage (secondary circuit) into the same device. We have performed different finite element method simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics®, for solving the equations of heat transfer (conduction and convection) and those of fluid flow, for obtaining the: a) stationary temperature distribution and thermal energy stored under different solar irradation and climatic conditions b) transient thermal behaviour when the system is active With this work we intend to obtain some practical information about the efficiency, the materials characteristics, the sizing and the installation conditions of this new solar system.