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Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes
Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2015
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| _version_ | 1867613592334893056 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Xia, Xiaohua |
| author_browse | Xia, Xiaohua |
| author_facet | Xia, Xiaohua |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2015. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/50746 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:38:35.948Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/50746 Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes Xia, Xiaohua u04378466@tuks.co.za Ntsaluba, Sula UCTD Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2015. Solar water heating systems (SWHS) have fast become a suitable alternative to conventional water heating systems due to growing energy demands. A SWHS generally consists of a solar collector (which is used to convert solar radiation to heat), a water storage tank, and a flow control device such as a pump in the case of forced circulation SWHS. Extensive research and analysis on the operation and performance of these systems has been conducted, and results show that optimal flow control is an important factor that can be used to improve the performance and efficiency of SWHS. This study focuses on pump flow rate optimization for forced circulation SWHS with pipes. The system analyzed consists of an array of flat plate solar collectors, two storage tanks (one for the circulation fluid and one for the water), a heat exchanger, two pumps, and connecting pipes which are considered as one of the components of the SWHS so as to account for their thermal effects. The proposed model is developed using mainly the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The model is used to maximize the difference between the energy extracted from the solar collector and the combined sum of the energy extracted by the heat exchanger and corresponding energies used by the pumps in the primary and secondary loops. The objective function maximizes the overall system energy gain whilst minimizing the sum of the energy extracted by the heat exchanger and energy used by the corresponding pumps in the secondary loop to conserve the stored energy and meet the user requirement of water tank temperatures. The model is solved using the fmincon solver in MATLAB’s optimization toolbox. When compared to other flow control techniques, in particular the most suitable energy efficient control strategy, the results of this study show a significant increase in the system’s overall energy gain. The results also illustrate the effects of system pipe thermal losses for the different control strategies, hence highlighting the importance of developing a model that takes such losses into account so as to improve the overall accuracy of the model. tm2015 Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering MEng Unrestricted 2015-11-25T09:48:30Z 2015-11-25T09:48:30Z 2015/09/01 2015 Dissertation Ntsaluba, S 2015, Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes, MEng Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/50746> S2015 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/50746 en © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes |
| title | Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes |
| title_full | Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes |
| title_fullStr | Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes |
| title_short | Optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes |
| title_sort | optimal flow control of a forced circulation solar water heating system with energy storage units and connecting pipes |
| topic | UCTD |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/50746 |