Exergy analysis of a solar pond integrated with solar collector

• Published in: Solar energy 2015-02, Vol.112, p.282-289
• Main Authors: Bozkurt, Ismail, Karakilcik, Mehmet
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Energetic and exergetic analyses; Heat transfer; Integrated solar pond; Solar energy; Temperature; Thermocouples
• ISSN: 0038-092X; 1471-1257
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2014.12.009

•The energetic and exergetic performance of a solar pond integrated with four flat plate solar collectors were determined.•The energy and exergy performances are compared for the each zone of the solar pond.•The density and temperature distribution of the integrated solar pond were obtained during the year.•The exergy efficiency of the integrated solar pond is an important parameter in practical applications. In this paper we present the energetic and exergetic performance of a solar pond integrated with four flat plate solar collectors. The integrated solar pond system was built and tested at Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey. The solar pond consists of salty water zones to prevent convection heat losses from the heat storage zone (HSZ) of the solar pond. The temperature distributions of the solar pond and the inlet–outlet of the heat exchanger were measured by using thermocouples and a data acquisition device. An energy and exergy models were developed to study the energetic and exergetic performance of the integrated solar pond. The energy and exergy performances were compared for the each zone of the solar pond. The reference environment temperature in the exergy analysis was specified as the average representative temperature of each month of the year. The energetic and exergetic performances of the integrated solar pond for the heat storage zone were found to be maximum 32.55% and 28.69% in August, and to be minimum 9.48% and 5.51% in January, respectively.