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This undergraduate project work aims at improving the yield capacity of hot water in existing conventional solar water heaters using the latent heat method. The project was completed in three phases - Design Layout, Fabrication and Testing. The initial design was done using ProE Wildfire 5.0 for the exact dimensions as per design calculations in the new system. The latent heat storage unit was designed in the form of a submergible cross flow heat exchanger with Phase Change Material encapsulated in the tubes while the water flows around it in the tank. The experimental testing was conducted for 45 days in the month of June-July to generate data sets and calculate the performance efficiency and improvement in the system compared to stock water heaters. A 20.3% improvement in the yield of the system was recorded in the system and the hot water storage time was improved by over 30%.
Schematic of the Modified Solar Water Heater with PCM Tubes in the water tank.
The model is designed using ProE Wildfire 5.0.
The PCM encapsulated tubes attuned in concentric array that acts like a cross flow heat exchanger when fitted inside the hot water tank. Water flows around the copper tubes while the PCM is encapsulated inside the copper tubes and crimped.
Front View Top View
The increase in yield of hot water in the modified solar water heater plotted in terms of Outlet Temperature w.r.t time.
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