A solar analysis tool for flat-plate collectors using hourly data

Abstract

Consulta en la Biblioteca ETSI Industriales (8668)

[EN] Shortages in fossil fuels and the growth in energy consumption cause the need to search new renewable sources of energy to satisfy this consumption. In this Final Year Project has been researched how to satisfy part of this energy consumption in a dwelling by a Thermal Solar System. It has been developed a software tool using MATLAB that shows the economic viability and the energetic and economic savings obtained by installing flat-plate collectors in a dwelling. The research was carried out considering the hourly energy consumption in Dromroe¿s Village from the University of Limerick (Ireland) from March 2010 to September 2010. The study has considered the useful energy gain that could be obtained from a flat-plate collector according to its properties which were defined by its optic efficiency and its loss factor and considering how these parameters are modify by the different parts of the system such as the heat exchanger, ducts and pipes, type of connexion between collectors or the running flow through the collectors. It has been considered the existence of a storage tank which stores the energy produced by the solar collectors as well. Taking into consideration the energy losses in the tank and by using simple Euler integration, from the energy balance in the storage tank it is obtained the stored energy distribution that satisfies the energy consumption. Finally, using ¿Life savings analysis method¿, the economic viability is obtained for the Thermal Solar System considering 20 years of life-time for the installation. The results show the number of solar collectors which optimize the economic viability and the percentage of solar energy produced to meet the consumption of a dwelling.