Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater

The overheating of heat pipes, poor transfer of heat across the absorber and finned heat pipes, and inability to provide hot water in the late evening hours are major problems associated with conventional heat pipe vacuum collector systems. The amalgamation of highly conductive storage material betw...

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Main Authors: Chopra K., Tyagi V.V., Pathak S.K., Khajuria A., Pandey A.K., Rahman N.A., Mansor M., Sari A.
Other Authors: 57200420308
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Published: MDPI 2024
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spelling my.uniten.dspace-342202024-10-14T11:18:29Z Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater Chopra K. Tyagi V.V. Pathak S.K. Khajuria A. Pandey A.K. Rahman N.A. Mansor M. Sari A. 57200420308 15078199200 57221807296 57214389394 36139061100 9338388000 6701749037 7006342950 energy technoeconomic investigation thermal energy storage material vacuum tube solar water heating Collector efficiency Electron tubes Energy efficiency Heat pipes Heat storage Hot water distribution systems Solar system Thermal energy Tubes (components) Water Collector systems Energy Energy storage materials Solar water heating Techno-economics Technoeconomic investigation Thermal Thermal energy storage Thermal energy storage material Vacuum tube solar water heating Solar water heaters The overheating of heat pipes, poor transfer of heat across the absorber and finned heat pipes, and inability to provide hot water in the late evening hours are major problems associated with conventional heat pipe vacuum collector systems. The amalgamation of highly conductive storage material between the absorber tube (heat collecting surface) and the heat pipe is an effective way to overcome these problems. In this study, a stearic acid amalgamated vacuum tube solar collector system was designed and fabricated and its thermal output compared with a conventional vacuum tube system without storage material under the same environmental conditions. The experimental results showed that the amalgamation of stearic acid as storage material enhanced the thermal output of the solar system compared to the conventional one. The desired heat gain of the solar system with storage material increased by 31.30, 23.34, and 18.78% for Test 1_40 �C, Test 2_45 �C, and Test 3_50 �C, respectively. The technoeconomic analysis showed that almost 118.80 USD in revenue could be earned by the proposed solar system at the end of 15 years. The total running cost of ELG and the developed solar system was observed to be 202.62 and 86.70 USD, respectively. On average, the cost of hot water production using the solar system and ELG was found to be 0.0016 and 0.004 USD/L, respectively. The value of LEC was found to be 0.062 USD/electricity unit, which was much lower than the LEC value of ELG (0.116 USD/electricity unit). The value of NPW (73.73 USD) indicated high acceptability of the proposed system. The payback time is lower than the life of the system, indicating its suitability for use in the commercial sector. Therefore, the proposed solar system is highly recommended over conventional water heating systems in urban and rural areas. � 2023 by the authors. Final 2024-10-14T03:18:29Z 2024-10-14T03:18:29Z 2023 Article 10.3390/en16114291 2-s2.0-85161674464 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85161674464&doi=10.3390%2fen16114291&partnerID=40&md5=2f6153a285e9abbe02d5e088dbdc21a1 https://irepository.uniten.edu.my/handle/123456789/34220 16 11 4291 All Open Access Gold Open Access MDPI Scopus
institution Universiti Tenaga Nasional
building UNITEN Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Tenaga Nasional
content_source UNITEN Institutional Repository
url_provider http://dspace.uniten.edu.my/
topic energy
technoeconomic investigation
thermal energy storage material
vacuum tube solar water heating
Collector efficiency
Electron tubes
Energy efficiency
Heat pipes
Heat storage
Hot water distribution systems
Solar system
Thermal energy
Tubes (components)
Water
Collector systems
Energy
Energy storage materials
Solar water heating
Techno-economics
Technoeconomic investigation
Thermal
Thermal energy storage
Thermal energy storage material
Vacuum tube solar water heating
Solar water heaters
spellingShingle energy
technoeconomic investigation
thermal energy storage material
vacuum tube solar water heating
Collector efficiency
Electron tubes
Energy efficiency
Heat pipes
Heat storage
Hot water distribution systems
Solar system
Thermal energy
Tubes (components)
Water
Collector systems
Energy
Energy storage materials
Solar water heating
Techno-economics
Technoeconomic investigation
Thermal
Thermal energy storage
Thermal energy storage material
Vacuum tube solar water heating
Solar water heaters
Chopra K.
Tyagi V.V.
Pathak S.K.
Khajuria A.
Pandey A.K.
Rahman N.A.
Mansor M.
Sari A.
Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater
description The overheating of heat pipes, poor transfer of heat across the absorber and finned heat pipes, and inability to provide hot water in the late evening hours are major problems associated with conventional heat pipe vacuum collector systems. The amalgamation of highly conductive storage material between the absorber tube (heat collecting surface) and the heat pipe is an effective way to overcome these problems. In this study, a stearic acid amalgamated vacuum tube solar collector system was designed and fabricated and its thermal output compared with a conventional vacuum tube system without storage material under the same environmental conditions. The experimental results showed that the amalgamation of stearic acid as storage material enhanced the thermal output of the solar system compared to the conventional one. The desired heat gain of the solar system with storage material increased by 31.30, 23.34, and 18.78% for Test 1_40 �C, Test 2_45 �C, and Test 3_50 �C, respectively. The technoeconomic analysis showed that almost 118.80 USD in revenue could be earned by the proposed solar system at the end of 15 years. The total running cost of ELG and the developed solar system was observed to be 202.62 and 86.70 USD, respectively. On average, the cost of hot water production using the solar system and ELG was found to be 0.0016 and 0.004 USD/L, respectively. The value of LEC was found to be 0.062 USD/electricity unit, which was much lower than the LEC value of ELG (0.116 USD/electricity unit). The value of NPW (73.73 USD) indicated high acceptability of the proposed system. The payback time is lower than the life of the system, indicating its suitability for use in the commercial sector. Therefore, the proposed solar system is highly recommended over conventional water heating systems in urban and rural areas. � 2023 by the authors.
author2 57200420308
author_facet 57200420308
Chopra K.
Tyagi V.V.
Pathak S.K.
Khajuria A.
Pandey A.K.
Rahman N.A.
Mansor M.
Sari A.
format Article
author Chopra K.
Tyagi V.V.
Pathak S.K.
Khajuria A.
Pandey A.K.
Rahman N.A.
Mansor M.
Sari A.
author_sort Chopra K.
title Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater
title_short Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater
title_full Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater
title_fullStr Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Stearic Acid as Heat Storage Material on Energy Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of a Vacuum Tube Solar Water Heater
title_sort impact of stearic acid as heat storage material on energy efficiency and economic feasibility of a vacuum tube solar water heater
publisher MDPI
publishDate 2024
_version_ 1814061109674508288
score 13.209306