Solar Energy 79 (2005) 216218 www.elsevier.

com/locate/solener

Brief Note

Comparison of solar water tank storage modelling solutions

K. Johannes
a,*

, G. Fraisse a, G. Achard a, G. Rusaoue n

a nierie de lEnvironnement (LOCIE), Equipe Ge nie Civil et Habitat (GCH), Laboratoire Optimisation de la Conception et Inge rieure dInge nieurs de Chambe ry, Universite de Savoie Campus Savoie Technolac, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac Cedex, France Ecole Supe b quipe thermique du ba timent, Avenue des Arts, CEntre THermique de lInstitut de Lyon (CETHIL) INSA de LYON, e 69621 Villeurbanne, France

Received 7 April 2004; received in revised form 8 November 2004; accepted 24 November 2004 Available online 31 December 2004 Communicated by: Associate Editor Jean-Louis Scartezzini

Abstract In this brief note, we have carried out an analysis of the temperature eld inside a solar storage tank without any specic stratication device. The purpose of this study is to verify the ability of TRNSYSs Types 60 and 140 to reproduce the temperature eld in the storage tank, so as to use one of these type in a large solar system, and to analyze uid motion by means of CFD simulations. This part has highlighted the mixing in the top of the tank due to the inlet conguration, but also the limits of the stratied uid models with the multinode approach used in TRNSYS. The validation of a global model for a large solar system using Type 140 will be done later. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction As stratication is important in solar systems, we perform experiments on a traditional solar storage tank. This tank is said to be traditional because it contains no stratication device. These experiments were compared with simulations carried out with TRNSYSs Types 60 and 140 (Klein et al., 1996) and with the FLUENT software based on CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code. These comparisons will allow us to reveal the ability of the models to reproduce the dynamics of the temperature eld with some dierences in the

values. CFD allows to describe uid motion inside the tank so as to nd out about the stratication process.

2. The congurations studied To test the accuracy of the dierent tank models available in the TRNSYS library, we conducted two experiments on a traditional tank corresponding to the following two cases: supply case of the tank (Fig. 1), draw-o case of the tank (Fig. 2). The experiments are carried out on a solar 374-l tank. This natural stratication tank contains water mixed with antifreeze uid (40%). In both cases, the tank inside is equipped, with PT 1000 temperature sensors (Figs. 1 and 2), up to the top. In the rst case, 16 temperature sensors are positioned every 5 cm upwards while in the second case,

Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 4 79 75 86 68; fax: +33 4 79 75 81 44. E-mail address: kevyn.johannes@univ-savoie.fr (K. Johannes).

0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2004.11.007

K. Johannes et al. / Solar Energy 79 (2005) 216218

T(C) 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 0 5 10 t(mn) 15 20

217

25

T1_exp T6_exp

T1_Type60 T6_Type60 T13_Type60

T1_Type140 T6_Type140 T13_Type140

Fig. 1. Supply conguration.

T13_exp

Fig. 3. Comparison of experimental and simulation temperatures during the supply test.

T (C) 70

Dbit (l/h) 700

T1

60 50 40 30
T6

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2500

T16_Type140 T16_exp T16_Type60

T4

20 10 0

T16

Fig. 2. Draw-o conguration.

500
T1_Type140 T1_exp T1_Type60 Qecs

1000

t (s)

1500

2000

T4_Type140 T4_exp T4_Type60

T6_Type140 T6_exp T6_Type60

sensors are arranged from bottom to top at 10 cm intervals. Sensors are set approximately 10 cm o the tanks side. Each simulation is made with outside temperature of 18 C, an overall heat coecient of 1.44 W/K and a 34-node tank model. The rst scenario consisted in injecting the uid (700 l/h, 56 C) in the initially stratied upper part of the tank. In the second case, 2 water tapping are made (Fig. 4) respectively 400 l/h and 620 l/h with an 18 C inlet temperature.

Fig. 4. Comparison of experimental and simulation temperatures during the draw-o test.

in the TRNSYS model to reach the same temperature. In Fig. 4, we notice the store is much more stratied than at initial time but steady temperatures are not the same. Numerical sensors T4 and T6 may display a 12 C discrepancy regarding experimental temperatures. 3.1. CFD simulations with internal heat exchanger The study is conducted using version 6.1.18 FLUENT software. The main associated choices of a numerical and physical modelling are: laminar ow and unsteady state with 20 s time step. The heat exchanger present inside the tank is introduced as a porous material with viscosity to estimate

3. Experimental and numerical results We obtain the following temperature distribution. Fig. 3 shows the uniform temperature of 55 C in the upper part of the tank. The dierence in T1 is probably due to the conguration of the tank. Indeed, the water supplied induces a stream, which can explain the fast temperature rise, while it takes longer for the mixing

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K. Johannes et al. / Solar Energy 79 (2005) 216218

its inuence in the uid dynamic behaviour. To allow sucient precision, the tank was meshed in an unstructured way and includes 450,000 tetrahedral cells, for approximately 110,000 nodes. This code allowed us to understand uid behaviour during simulation. For example, we could see the ow motion (Fig. 5) during the supply test. We noticed that when the warm water was injected through the inlet device, the conguration of the top of the tank made the mixing easier. So, the temperature in the upper half of the tank got homogeneous. Fig. 5 seems to validate the actual behaviour of the uid inside the solar storage tank, however it is necessary to compare the CFD values with the experimental ones. Fig. 6 conrms the good approach of the model. The dynamic state is respected. However some dierences persist in the temperature val-

ues at steady state. The dierence of the time constant for sensor T13_CFD is certainly connected to the presence of the heat exchanger. Indeed, the geometry of the heat exchanger is not perfectly known and consequently, errors are made in the modelling. We can notice a dierence of 4 C between the experimental values and the simulation values at steady state probably owed to the friction coecient taken for the porous material (modelling principle of the heat exchanger), which plays an important role in the simulation. The CFD modelling shows a bi-directional mass transfer in the layers that induce a non-uniform temperature probably due to inlet design. A zonal model would therefore be better adapted (Kenjo et al., 2002) but simulation time would increase.

4. Conclusion We decided to analyse the capacity of TRNSYS Type 60 and 140 models to reproduce temperature eld within the tank. According to the results, dierences are noted in both scenarios probably due to mixing hypothesis and convective resistance which is not take into account. As Type 140 allows the integration of a stratication device, we will continue our study with this Type. However, we will have to focus our attention onto stratication which is very important to energy performances. Concerning the CFD simulations, the model allows us to appreciate the uid motion inside the tank, and to conclude that a layer is not at uniform temperature. Consequently, it would be interesting to develop a zonal model if we wish to represent the detailed stratication over reasonable simulation time. The continuation of this study concerns the integration of Type 140 in a global model for a large traditional solar system.

Fig. 5. Temperature in the tank with heat exchanger at t = 4 mn.

Acknowledgments
60 55 50 45 40 35 30
0 5 10 15 20 25 T1_exp T1_CFD T13_exp T13_CFD

T ( C)

This study is nanced by the RHONE-ALPES regional council in the framework of the programme Avenir 2002.

References
t (s)

Fig. 6. Comparison of experimental values with CFD simulation values (with heat exchanter).

Klein, S.A. et al., 1996. TRNSYS, version 14.2, Solar Energy Laboratory, University of Wisconsin. Kenjo, L., Buscarlet, C., Inard, C., 2002. Etude du comport bit. ement thermique dun chaue-eau solaire a faible de FIER2002, pp. 102107.