The main components that are used to design the system are determined and discussed below:
Insulation
The two insulations that are used to increase the efficiency of the system and reduce the losses in the
project are shown in the figure …..below.
Figure…..: ThermaWrap spiral Figure….: Rigid Polymer Foam
ThermaWarp spiral which is used to keep the pipework insulated against heat loss as well as protect it
from freezing. The reason behind using this wrap is because it has a reflective surface therefore, it
radiates heat back into the space which helps to adjust the performance of the pipe’s temperature or
ducting. Hence, the bubbles that are in the wrap have pockets of air to warm up the pipes and keep the
system working against heat loss.
The Rigid Polymer foam that is addressed as a Therma pitch. It can operate efficiently over a wide
temperature range (-235 to 150 oC) due to its low thermal conductivity values. It is used because of its
lightweight, cheap, excellent heat absorption and the mechanical properties of polymer foams are
mostly influenced by relative density and the structure. In addition to its high-performance rigid
thermoset as well as its low thermal conductivity which helps the insulation for the thermal collector
and tank to act way better. It is important to note that this board is not affected by water-resistant or air
infiltration.
Solar panel
The chosen solar panel is a poly-crystalline solar cell that has 100W and a maximum voltage of 18V will
be fit for this experiment. The reason behind using this solar panel is because it provides high usage of
energy even on cloudy days, light in weight, and has good power output. Unglazed design is chosen to
be used in this PV because it allows quick heat dissipation of the PV cell through convection which leads
to higher electrical conversion but compromised thermal effect, and a flat plate with air duct
implemented at the back of the PV panel in order to easily absorb the air from the atmosphere. Table..
show the specification of the PV panel used. In addition, A solar charge controller is added to prevent
the battery from getting overcharged in other words it is added to stop the high voltage from flowing to
the solar panels, and hence it keeps the electricity set in place.
Dimensions 1000×680×30 mm
Short circuit current (Isc) 5.94 A
Operating temperature -40~85 °C
Maximum power 100V
Open circuit voltage (Voc) 22.54V
Current at maximum power (Imp) 5.56A
Rated Voltage (Vmp) 18V
Table…: Specification of the photovoltaic
Flat plate thermal collector
The idea behind adding this collector; the sun warms up a dark flat surface which gathers as much
energy as possible and then the energy is transferred to the air. The air here is used as a transparent
fluid which is mainly used for space warming or water heating. The reason for choosing a flat plate
collector is because it can easily absorb heat from the assembled photovoltaic as the purpose is to
gather the highest amount of thermal energy. The proposed design is shown in figure below….. and it
this is mainly made to reduce the reflection, expand the absorption, and help to have a very efficient
heat transfer from the collector flat plate to the air. A thermal air collector is designed using the
components below and figure…..:
Glaze cover: A transparent sheet that transfers radiation to the absorber therefore it is called
Polycarbonate rigid sheet it was chosen because it cannot be broken by any circumstances as
they are light and flexible, and it prohibits radiation from the surface and convective heat loss
Black surface: Flat plate with air duct to easily absorb the ambient of the incident solar energy
and transfer it to the fluid (air).
Holding the structure using aluminum to give it support and ensure that the collector is
maintained in place
Insulation added (Rigid foam) at the back to minimize the heating loss
A) Overall setup
B) Layer 1
100W Polycrystalline
Flat plate thermal collector
C) Layer 2
Flat plat contains air duct
D) Layer 3
Rigid foam for insulation
Figure…..: Photovoltaic and flat plate thermal air collector design
The plates were interlocked together to create the desired collector area. The ends of channels that
provide the inlet and outlet for the hot air flow were trapped and fitted with hose fittings so that the
pipe could be attached. It should be noted that the pipe was well isolated enabling to work to collect
heat at high temperatures and over a long period of time. Figure…. below shows the installed thermal
collector in the experiment.
Figure…….: thermal collector installed in the system
Water tank
A water tank is used to collect and store the thermal output from the PV/T collector so that to use the
hot water for domestic purposes. A 40 Liter tank was used in the experiment. Figure… below shows the
isolated tank used. the tank has an inlet and outlet through which it is connected with the heat
exchanger. A hose connector ½ × 15mm ×300 mm is used to help the water flow through the heat
exchanger and return the water back to the tank, the temperature of the water changing with time The
tank was isolated using rigid polymer foam to reduce the heat loss since the water tank is a vital element
to be measured.
Figure…..: Shows the insulation 40 liters tank that is used
Heat exchanger
The hot air will transfer the hot air to the heat exchanger by conduction. The heat exchanger has an inlet
and outlet. The water that is stored in the tank will flow from the inlet of the heat exchanger and
circulate through the aluminum fins. The water will then get heated by convection and will leave the
heat exchanger from the outlet. The extra hot air will leave from the side of the heat exchanger. The
heat exchanger is also isolated with a rigid polymer foam as it shown in figure..below to minimize any
heat loss. A DC pump is added to circulate the water that is placed in the tank to the heat exchanger.
Figure…: Heat exchanger with insulation
Fan (San Ace 92)
The fan was added between the thermal collector and the heat exchanger in which it was attached
through a pipe and this pipe was isolated by thermaWarp spiral to prevent heat loss. Using the fan is
necessary in order to promote the airflow in the system and obtain efficient heat transport. It also helps
to higher the performance of the system and the energy efficiency. This fan was chosen due to its high
airflow, low power consumption, low vibration, and High Static Pressure which means that the fan can
ventilate into the system with high mounting density. the size of the fan that is used it 92× 92 × 76 mm
and the operating temperature is between (-20 to +70) oC, the maximum airflow for the fan is 5.8
m3/min. The fan that is used to transfer the heat from one parameter to another is shown in the
figure…. below.
Figure…: San Ace 92 fan
Sensors Used
Specification TMP36 sensor HSTS016L Hall Effect Current
transformer
Power 2.7 to 5.5 V, 0.05 mA current 2.5V+/- 0.625V
draw
Output range 0.1V (-40oC) to 2.0V (150oC) but 1.87V to 3.12V
o
accuracy decreases after 125 C
Temperature -40oC to 125oC -25oC to 70 oC
Advantages low cost, highly reliable in high response, low power
repeated experiments in consumption, and good anti-
addition to its high response interference ability, Detects DC,
due to its low thermal mass AC and pulse current.
Manual Air dampers
Figure…. Below shows the manual Airflow dampers that are added to the system. It is installed close to
the extraction point of the hot transferring air to direct the airflow either to return it back to thermal
collector or to the atmosphere for heating for heat building purposes. The air dampers work manually
therefore the operator must open or close them. The working principle is clear, the gate moves up and
down to open up or shut down the channel. The gate of the dampers are flat slides, which does not
have any pins or edges so that not to affect the airflow. Hence, it has a fully openable planar surface.
Pipping and fittings is required in order to attempt all the connections within the system.
The outdoor experiment of the whole system was continuously operated and recorded in sunny and
cloudy weather conditions throughout the day.
Figure….: Manual Air Dampers
ESP-32 Module
All the discussed components above were connected with an ESP32 module which is enabled with wifi
connectivity and allows the system data to be assessed and monitored by a computer. The chip can
work with a frequency between 80 MHz and 240 MHz which ensures a stable and fast connection (up to
150 Mbps) within a large distance. The module worked within a low voltage of 2.7-3.6V minimizing the
power drawn from the system and can work reliably in certain circumstances such as dirt and rain.
Figure….: ESP-32 Module
Summary
The components that are discussed in this section are vitally important for the success of this project
and the selected components were combined to establish the best configuration possible in order to
collect heat to warm the buildings as well as water heating. The next section of this project discusses the
experimental methodology and procedure in detail.
Solar panel we used it 100 W
3.1 Description of the installed PVT air collector
A test setup was designed to investigate the thermal and electrical performances of PV/T air systems.
This system was installed with the angle of 35o at Zelemiq LTD company in Dean, Salisbury. The figure…
below shows a side view of the installed system.
pipe
Flat thermal
collector Fan
pump
battery
PV panel
Water
tank
Heat
exchanger
Current sensor
valve
Figure….: Overall system
100W polycrystalline solar module is applied in the experiment to generate electricity. The electricity
generated by the solar modules is stored in a 12 Volts battery in order to give power to the fan. An air
channel is attached at the back of the PV module that allowed the air to pass through it. Hence, this heat
will be transferred to the flat plate collector which consists of a glazed cover that captures the radiation
emitted from the sun and transfers it to the black plate that contains fins, it, therefore, it contains the air
that is captured from the PV panel and increase its heating. The air gap between the plate and the
glazing cover traps this heat preventing it from escaping back into the PV panel.
The thermal collector will transfer the heat to the fan. The fan is attached between aluminum flexible
pipes which are embedded in an insulated container to be able to transfer the hot air to the heat
exchanger without any heat loss. The heat exchanger will then heat the water by convection through a
circulation regulated by a controller that determines the activation of the circulation pump. The heated
water will return to the 40 liters insulated tank to be used for domestic applications. The extra heat that
could not be used by the heat exchanger will release through the valve to a thermal collector for
reheating. Therefore, when the heat is recirculating it is called a closed loop. The system can also work
as an open loop to heat the water and warm the buildings and this happens when the valve is open, in
which instead of recirculating the extra heat back to thermal, the heat will be extracted from the heat
exchanger and exit through the valve for domestic heat buildings purposes.
The data is being collected, monitored, and analyzed by using a Nod-Red Dashboard, it provides a set of
Nodes to quickly create a live data dashboard every 30 seconds by using developers to wire up input,
output, and processing nodes so it then connects them with each other and creates a flow to process
data enables the user to control all aspects of data logging as well as being able to monitor the data
through charts, buttons, and gauges. The setup of the Nod Diagram Dashboard for this experiment is
shown in figure…. Below which it shows all the important parameters that can be monitored and
controlled in the design remotely.
Below is a schematic diagram that shows the overall working principle. After the heat has been collected
by the thermal collector, the heat will be absorbed by the fan in order to transfer it to the heat
exchanger. The system can work in two different cases: close and open loop. The system will work as a
closed loop when Vlave1 is open and Valve2 is close, this happens when T3 = T4 in which the outlet
temperature of the thermal collector T 3 is close to the temperature that came out as extra heat from the
heat exchanger. Therefore, some of the heat will work on heating up the water and the extra heated air
that could not be absorbed by the heat exchanger will go back to the thermal collector for reheating.
Regarding working the system as an open loop, Valve 2 will open and Valve1 will be closed, this happens
when T3 > T4 which means that the outlet temperature that came out from the thermal collector needs
to be higher than the extra heat that is coming out from the heat exchanger. Hence, after heating the
water that is flowing through the heat exchanger, the extra heat that is not used will be transferred to
the atmosphere for building heating purposes.
Figure….: A schematic diagram of the experimental set-up.
