The use of a heat exchanger in solar water heating systems reduces the overall system efficiency. In this paper, we derive a simple "penalty factor" that gives the fractional reduction in thermal efficiency imposed by a heat exchanger immersed in an isothermal integral collector storage (ICS) system. The penalty factor depends only on the effectiveness of the heat exchanger, the capacitance of the hot water delivered, and the product of the loss coefficient and aperture area of the ICS. This factor allows the designer to select an appropriate heat exchanger without extensive simulation or experiments. Application of the penalty factor for a load-side (or on-demand) heat exchanger, which operates intermittently at varying flow rates, is discussed and illustrated through example.
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e-mail: jhd@me.umn.edu
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August 2001
Technical Papers
Thermal Penalty of an Immersed Heat Exchanger in Integral Collector Storage Systems*
Saurabh Arora,
Saurabh Arora
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 111 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455
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Jane Davidson,
e-mail: jhd@me.umn.edu
Jane Davidson
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 111 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455
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Jay Burch,
Jay Burch
National Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden, CO
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Susan Mantell
Susan Mantell
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 111 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455
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Saurabh Arora
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 111 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455
Jane Davidson
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 111 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455
e-mail: jhd@me.umn.edu
Jay Burch
National Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden, CO
Susan Mantell
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 111 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455
Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING. Manuscript received by the ASME Solar Energy Division, Nov. 2000; final revision, Feb. 2001. Associate Editor: A. Swift.
J. Sol. Energy Eng. Aug 2001, 123(3): 180-186 (7 pages)
Published Online: February 1, 2001
Article history
Received:
November 1, 2000
Revised:
February 1, 2001
Citation
Arora , S., Davidson, J., Burch, J., and Mantell, S. (February 1, 2001). "Thermal Penalty of an Immersed Heat Exchanger in Integral Collector Storage Systems." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. August 2001; 123(3): 180–186. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1384573
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