Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 15231542

www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Experimental evaluation of energy and exergy eciency of a

seasonal latent heat storage system for greenhouse heating
zturk
H. Huseyin O

Department of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Cukurova, Balcali, 01330 Adana, Turkey
Received 7 January 2004; received in revised form 25 March 2004; accepted 18 July 2004
Available online 15 September 2004

Abstract
In the following work, a seasonal thermal energy storage using paran wax as a PCM with the latent
heat storage technique was attempted to heat the greenhouse of 180 m2 oor area. The system consists
mainly of ve units: (1) at plate solar air collectors (as heat collection unit), (2) latent heat storage
(LHS) unit, (3) experimental greenhouse, (4) heat transfer unit and (5) data acquisition unit. The external
heat collection unit consisted of 27 m2 of south facing solar air heaters mounted at a 55
tilt angle. The
diameter and the total volume of the steel tank used as the latent heat storage unit were 1.7 m and 11.6
m3, respectively. The LHS unit was lled with 6000 kg of paran, equivalent to 33.33 kg of PCM per
square meter of the greenhouse ground surface area. Energy and exergy analyses were applied in order
to evaluate the system eciency. The rate of heat transferred in the LHS unit ranged from 1.22 to 2.63
kW, whereas the rate of heat stored in the LHS unit was in the range of 0.652.1 kW. The average daily
rate of thermal exergy transferred and stored in the LHS unit were 111.2 W and 79.9 W, respectively. During the experimental period, it was found that the average net energy and exergy eciencies were 40.4% and
4.2%, respectively. The eect of the temperature dierence of the heat transfer uid at the inlet and outlet of
the LHS unit on the computed values of the energy and exergy eciency is evaluated during the charging
period.
 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Latent heat storage; Paran; Energy and exergy eciency

Tel.: +90 322 3386408; fax: +90 322 3387165.

E-mail address: hhozturk@cu.edu.tr

0196-8904/$ - see front matter  2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2004.07.001

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Nomenclature
A
cp
d
k
L
Q_
t
T
s
v_
W_
Greek
N_
W
a
g
k
q

area, m2
specic heat, J/kg K
diameter, m
heat transfer coecient, W/m2K
length, m
rate of heat transfer, W
time, s
temperature, K
thickness, m
volumetric ow rate, m3/s
power consumption, W
letters
rate of exergy transfer, W
exergy eciency, %
heat convection coecient, W/m2K
energy eciency, %
heat conduction coecient, W/mK
density, kg/m3

Subscripts
a
ambient
b
bottom
c
charging
e
equivalent
h
horizontal
i
inlet, or inner
l
loss
o
outlet, or outer
p
paran
r
reference
s
stored
t
transferred
1
steel plate
2
glass wool
3
storage tank

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1. Introduction
Solar energy, an abundant, clean and safe source, is an attractive substitute for conventional
fuels for passive and active heating applications. During the day, excess solar heat is collected
for short or long term storage, and it is recovered at night in order to satisfy the heating needs
of greenhouses. Ecient and economical heat storage is the main factor in utilization of solar energy for agricultural purposes. Solar thermal energy can be stored as sensible heat, latent heat,
heat of reaction or a combination of these. In most storage systems, it is stored as sensible heat
in materials such as water and rocks. In air collection systems, rock beds are normally used to
store heat, while water tanks store the heat in liquid systems. In latent heat storage (LHS) systems,
the latent heat arising from the phase change of a material is used for thermal energy storage. The
phase change materials (PCMs) can store large amounts of heat (latent heat of fusion) in changing
phase from solid to liquid. LHS systems using PCM, in general, provide much higher energy storage density than systems using sensible heat storage. For solar heating applications, the use of
LHS systems for thermal energy storage has become an attractive design option in terms of
construction cost and storage eciency. The eciency of seasonal storage as well as that of daily
storage depends on system congurations, climate conditions and various set points for environmental control.
Several authors have investigated the present status, technical potentials and regional distribution of renewable energy resources in Turkey [118] and concluded that Turkey has extensive
renewable energy resources that can be developed as a signicant source of energy. Turkey also
has great solar energy potential due to its location in the Mediterranean Region (36
and 42

North latitudes). The sunshine period of Turkey is 2624 h/year with a maximum of 365 h/month
in July and a minimum of 103 h/month in December. The main solar radiation intensity is about
3.67 kWh/m2 day. The cumulative total of this is about 1.340 MWh/m2 year. The amount of solar
radiation received over all of Turkey, in other words, the gross solar energy potential is 3517 EJ/
year [19]. With rising energy costs and an increasing demand for renewable energy sources, thermal energy storage (TES) systems are becoming an interesting option. TES is a key component of
any successful thermal system, and a good TES system should allow minimum thermal energy
losses [20]. In recent years, TES has been recognized as a potentially signicant means by which
primary energy consumption can be reduced in domestic, commercial and industrial processes
[21]. Comprehensive studies have been conducted concerning the application and modelling of
LHS systems and the thermal properties of PCMs by many researchers [6,2249]. Latent heat
thermal energy storage has been proved to be an eective method for utilization of clean energy
sources, such as solar energy, because of its high energy storage density and small temperature
variation from storage to extraction. Therefore, a number of investigations that aimed at improving the eciency of LHS systems have been done by some researchers in the design, modeling and
testing of LHS systems [5057]. El-Dessouky and Al-Juwayhel [58] developed second law analysis
for a phase change thermal energy storage system using paran wax and calcium chloride hexahydrate as the PCM.
Consequently, this study is devoted to an analysis and operation of a large scale LHS system for
greenhouse heating. Energy and exergy analyses were applied for evaluating the eciency of a solar thermal latent heat storage application. In this experimental study, solar energy was stored
using paran as a PCM with the latent heat technique for heating a plastic greenhouse of

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180 m2. In the present paper, the energy and exergy eciencies of a LHS system, using paran as
the PCM, dened as the ratio of the energy and exergy stored in the LHS unit to the energy and
exergy originally delivered to the LHS unit, respectively, are introduced for the rst time. Thus,
the performance of the LHS system for greenhouse heating was evaluated by energy and exergy
analyses, and the energy and exergy eciencies of the LHS system were compared during the
charging periods. The objectives of the present study are: (1) to achieve more ecient utilization
of solar energy in greenhouse heating systems; (2) to determine the annual fraction of the greenhouse heating demand that can be supplied by the LHS system under ambient conditions of the
C
ukurova region in Turkey; (3) to investigate the thermal performance of the LHS system using
paran as a PCM under the operating conditions; (4) to design and build external collection and
heat storage units based on paran with a melting temperature range of 4860
C and latent heat
of melting of 190 kJ/kg; (5) to compare the energy eciency of the LHS system with its exergy
eciency; and (6) to determine the feasibility of using a PCM as a possible alternative to other
storage techniques for storage of solar thermal energy for the C
ukurova climate.

2. Description of the system

In the following work, seasonal thermal energy storage using paran wax as a PCM with the
latent heat storage technique was attempted to heat a greenhouse of 180 m2 oor area. The schematic arrangement of the LHS system for greenhouse heating is given in Fig. 1. The system consists mainly of ve units: (1) at plate solar air collectors (as heat collection unit), (2) LHS unit, (3)
experimental greenhouse, (4) heat transfer unit and (5) data acquisition unit. The greenhouse
heating system utilizes seasonal latent heat storage located in the C
ukurova region of Turkey.
The constructional features of the LHS system are described in detail in the following sections.

Data Acquisition Unit

F AN
A

V E R T O P L AM A V E
KONTROL N TES

Valves

Valves

IS I D E P
O LAM A NUnit
TE S
Heat
Storage

3
IS I T O P L AM A

N TES

Flat Plate Solar Air Collectors

FAN
B

Heat
IS I D EStorage
P O L AM A H ATT I
Heat Recovery
Greenhouse

P L AS T K S E R A

Fig. 1. The arrangement of the heat storage and greenhouse heating system.

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2.1. Flat plate solar air collectors

Flat plate solar air collectors were used to collect solar energy. The external heat collection unit
consisted of 27 m2 of south facing solar air heaters mounted at a 55
tilt angle (Fig. 1). Solar air
collectors that have packed air ow passages were used in the heat collection unit. Each of the
solar air collectors has an absorber plate area of 1.5 m2. The Raschig ring type of packing was
used to increase the heat transfer from the plates to the heat transfer uid underneath the absorber plates of the air collectors. The characteristic diameter of the Raschig rings, made of polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) tube, was 0.05 m. The aluminum based absorber of the air heaters is covered with
a 4 mm glass sheet, and the underside is insulated with glass wool. The dimensions of the air collectors are 1.9 0.9 m, and 18 of them form the external heat collection system. The absorber surface area of the installed air collectors was 0.225 m2 per square meter of the tunnel greenhouse
ground surface area. The heat collection unit was supplied with air from the environment by a
centrifugal fan that had a volumetric ow rate of 600 m3/h. The heat collection unit was installed
outside the greenhouse and mounted on a galvanized steel structure.
2.2. Latent heat storage unit

50

A cylindrical steel tank was used as the seasonal LHS unit. The dimensions of the LHS unit and
the placement of the heat exchanger in the LHS unit are given in Fig. 2. The diameter and the
total volume of the steel tank used as the LHS unit were 1.7 m and 11.6 m3, respectively. The
whole surface of the LHS unit was insulated with 0.05 m of glass wool and 0.001 m of steel plate,
respectively. The LHS unit was placed horizontally on the ground surface at a distance of 2 m
from the experimental greenhouse. The LHS unit volume per square meter of greenhouse ground
surface area was 0.066 m3/m2, while the storage volume per square meter of the solar air collector
was about 0.44 m3/m2. The LHS unit was attached to the experimental greenhouse by means of
polyethylene (PE) pipes. Solar energy, collected by the solar air collectors, was transferred to the
LHS unit by circulating air through the PE pipes. Perforated PE pipe as the heat exchanger was
installed in the LHS unit (Fig. 2). Perforated PE pipe was used to ensure direct contact between
the heat transfer uid and the PCM in the LHS unit. The total length and diameter of the perforated PE pipe were 97 m and 0.1 m, respectively.

1700

425

5200

850

Fig. 2. The latent heat storage unit and sensor placement; all dimensions in mm.

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2.3. Heat storage material

In general, materials that have a large change in internal energy per unit volume minimize the
space needed to store energy. A large number of organic and inorganic substances are known to
melt with a high heat of fusion in any required temperature range (0120
C). However, for their
employment as heat storage materials in LHS systems, these PCMs must exhibit certain desirable
thermodynamic, kinetic and chemical properties. Moreover, economic considerations of cost and
large scale availability of the materials must be considered. Paran was used as a PCM in the
present LHS system due to several desirable properties. Parans qualify as heat of fusion storage
materials due to their availability in a large temperature range and their reasonably high heat of
fusion. Furthermore, they are known to freeze without subcooling. Because of cost considerations, however, only technical grade parans may be used as PCMs in LHS systems. Hawlader
et al. [59] found that encapsulated paran wax shows a good potential as a storage materials.
In the selection of PCM for the present LHS system, the following desirable properties of the
paran as a PCM were taken into account: high latent heat of fusion per unit mass, chemical stability, melting in the desired operating temperature range, small volume changes during the phase
transition, self nucleating and fast phase transition, little subcooling during freezing, availability
in large quantities, non-corrosiveness to construction materials, easily packaged and inexpensive.
The distribution of Catoms of the technical grade paran used in this experiment is C22C45,
and its purity (oil content) is 5%. The thermal properties of the paran used as the PCM were
measured with a dierential scanning calorimeter (DSC): the melting temperature range and
the latent heat of fusion were 4860
C and 190 kJ/kg, respectively. The PCM required for the
greenhouse heating was calculated on the basis of the heat storage capacity per unit volume of
the selected paran and the total heat requirement of the experimental greenhouse. The LHS unit
was lled with 6000 kg of paran, equivalent to 33.33 kg of PCM per square meter of the greenhouse ground surface area.
2.4. Experimental greenhouse
The experiments were conducted in a PE greenhouse that was aligned northsouth. The experimental greenhouse, consisting of galvanized steel tube, has continuous side openings operated by
a rolling mechanism. The openings in the sidewalls, created by rolling a plastic lm up or down,
were used for ventilation. The greenhouse was covered with a double skin PE material (thickness
of 0.35 mm) that contains ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) stabilizers. The dimensions of the
greenhouse were: width 12 m; length 15 m and height 3 m. The warm air from the LHS unit
was distributed by perforated PE ducts lying on the ground surface inside the greenhouse. The
diameter of the PE ducts was 0.15 m.
2.5. Heat transfer unit
In this experiment, heat transfer with forced convection between the heat collection unit, LHS
unit and the experimental greenhouse was accomplished with two centrifugal fans (fan A and fan
B in Fig. 1). Two dierential thermostats were used to control the charging and discharging process by controlling the centrifugal fans, which can be operated independently. When the dierence

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1529

between the outside air temperature and the LHS system temperature exceeds the preset value,
one of the dierential thermostats activates fan A (charging fan). During the summer, heat collected by the at plate solar air collectors was used to charge the LHS unit. During the charging
operation, the air from outside was circulated through the heat collection unit by the charging fan
and then passed through the LHS unit. During the winter, when the air temperature of the experimental greenhouse fell below a preset value, fan B (discharging fan) was activated during the
extraction operation. The discharging fan drove the greenhouse air through the LHS unit during
the night and then returned it to the interior of the experimental greenhouse via the perforated PE
ducts. The operation of the electric motor activating the discharging fan was controlled by a time
clock between 22:00 and 02:00 h.
2.6. Operational procedures
There are many factors that aect the performance of a LHS system, such as the average temperatures of the LHS unit and the fractions of time during which the LHS unit is charged and
discharged. These factors depend primarily on the amount of incident solar energy relative to the
heating load of the experimental greenhouse. In this experiment, the directions of the heat ow
between the heat collection unit, LHS unit and experimental greenhouse were controlled by ve
valves. The ve valves and two fans, shown in Fig. 1, were installed to control the operation
modes of the LHS system. All valves and fans were activated and controlled by the computer
programs according to the data logger records and preset values of the outlet temperature of
the at plate solar air collectors and the air temperature inside the greenhouse. During the
charging operation, valves 1, 2 and 4 were open, and 3 and 5 were closed. The warm air, coming
from the heat collection unit, was circulated through the heat exchanger embedded in the
paran in the LHS unit. The paran, used as a PCM in the LHS unit, changed its phase
(solid-liquid phase transition) and stored heat (heat of fusion) during this process. During the
discharging process in the winter, valves 2, 3 and 5 were open, and 1 and 4 were closed. During
the discharging of the LHS unit, the paran released its latent heat and solidied (liquidsolid
phase transition).
2.7. Data acquisition unit
All air temperatures at the inlets and outlets of the at plate solar air collectors and the LHS unit
and inside the tunnel greenhouse were measured with thermistors. The range of the thermistors
was
20 to +80
C, and the accuracy was 0.2
C over the range 070
C. The sensors consisted
of a stainless steel clad thermistor probe with a 5 m cable. The temperatures of the paran, as the
PCM, and the circulating air, as the heat transfer uid, were measured with 2 kX thermistors distributed uniformly throughout the LHS unit. Fifteen thermistors were placed in the LHS unit to
measure the temperature of the paran and heat transfer uid. The thermistors that were used to
measure the temperature of the paran and heat transfer uid were installed in three rows at 0.425
m depth in the LHS unit (Fig. 2). The distance between the thermistor rows was 0.425 m. These
thermistors were located at the distance of 0.85 m on each of the thermistor rows in the LHS unit.
The sensors that were used to measure the temperature of the PCM were positioned in such a way
that the temperature of the paran was measured in the LHS unit. Four thermistors were located

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to measure the temperature of the heat transfer uid at the inlet and outlet of the LHS unit. The
average temperatures of the PCM and heat transfer uid were determined by averaging the measurements of the sensors. Air temperature inside the tunnel greenhouse was measured with 2 kX
hermetically sealed thermistors with an accuracy of 0.1
C over the range 080
C; the accuracy
was 0.13
C at
20
C. The sensors were mounted in an open cylindrical probe made from a
material that has a low anity for water and that ts inside a cylindrical louvered radiation screen
made of anodized aluminum, which protects the sensor against solar radiation and rain. Six sensors were used to measure air temperature inside the tunnel greenhouse. These sensors were placed
at a height of 1.5 m at three dierent locations of the tunnel greenhouse. Two sensors were placed
at each of the inlet, the middle and at the end of the tunnel greenhouse. The ow rates of the heat
transfer uid were measured at the inlet and outlet of the heat storage unit. The ow rates of the air
ow were measured with an anemometer (OMEGA HHF7P1) with a range of 0.53.5 m/s and an
accuracy of 1%.
A data logger was used for taking and storing readings from the sensors; it could accept digital
inputs in the form of voltages, resistances, counts and frequencies. The recorded data were stored
in memory for output to a printer or to a computer for storage on disk. Data can be retrieved
from the logger, and the current readings of the sensors can be examined without interrupting
the logging process. Readings can be taken at regular intervals, which can be dierent for each
channel. To optimize use of the logger memory, timed readings taken on a channel over specied
periods can be recorded as single values, representing the average, maximum or minimum reading
for the period. Recording of the temperatures was made at 1 s intervals and averaged over 30 min
in the experiment.

3. Energy and exergy analysis for the charging period

The rate of heat transfer Q_ t in W from the heat collection unit to the LHS unit was calculated
during the charging period by using the following equation:
Q_ t t v_ qcp T i t
T o t

where v_ is the volumetric ow rate of the charging uid in m3/s; q is the density of the heat transfer
uid in kg/m3; cp is the specic heat of the heat transfer uid in J/kg K; Ti and To are the inlet and
outlet temperatures of the heat transfer uid in K; and t is the time in s.
The rate of heat stored in the LHS unit Q_ s in W was determined with respect to the heat transfer
rate into the LHS unit and the heat losses from the LHS unit for the charging period:
2
Q_ s t Q_ t t
Q_ l t
where Q_ l is the rate of the overall heat loss from the LHS unit in W. The rates of the heat losses
from the bottom and horizontal surfaces of the LHS unit and the overall heat loss were calculated
from:
Q_ l t Q_ lh t Q_ lb t

Q_ lb t 2k b Ab T p t
T a t

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Q_ lh t k h Ah T p t
T a t

1531

where Q_ lb and Q_ lh are the rates of heat loss from the bottom and horizontal surfaces of the LHS
unit in W; kb and kh are the heat transfer coecients for the bottom and horizontal surfaces of the
LHS unit in W/m2K; Ab and Ah are the bottom and horizontal surface areas of the LHS unit in
m2; Tp and Ta are the temperatures of the paran and the ambient air in K, respectively.
It was assumed that heat was transferred from the LHS unit to the surroundings by conduction
and free convection. The temperature of the inner surfaces of the LHS unit was assumed to be
equal to that of the PCM. The overall heat loss coecient was calculated on the basis of the heat
conduction and convection coecients, the thickness of the insulating materials, the inner and
outer surface areas of the LHS unit and the temperatures of the PCM and the ambient (see
Appendix A for the related equations).
The energy eciency for the charging period was dened as the ratio of the heat stored in the
LHS unit to the heat transfer from the heat collection unit. Then, the total energy eciency during
the charging period gc(total) in % can be formulated as follows:
gctotal t

Q_ s t
 100
Q_ t t

When the power consumed by the electric motor that was used to activate the charging fan for the
charging period is considered, the net energy eciency during the charging period gc(net) in % was
dened as follows [6066]:
gcnet t

Q_ s t
 100
Q_ t t W_

where W_ is the power of the electric motor in W.

The rate of thermal exergy transfer from the heat collection unit to the LHS unit N_ t in W was
calculated during the charging period from the following equation [6066]:
T i t
N_ t t Q_ t t
T ra v_ qcp ln
T o t

where Tra is the reference ambient temperature in K.

The rate of thermal exergy stored in the LHS unit N_ s in W was determined in relation to the
exergy transfer rate to the LHS unit and the exergy losses from the LHS unit for the charging
period:
9
N_ s t N_ t t
N_ l t
where N_ l is the rate of thermal exergy loss from the LHS unit in W. During the charging period,
the rate of thermal exergy losses associated with the heat losses from the LHS unit to the surroundings was evaluated as follows [6066]:


_Nl t Q_ l t 1
T a t
10
T p t
Similar to the energy eciency, the total and net exergy eciencies during the charging period
were determined by the following equations, respectively.

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1532

Wctotal t

Wcnet t

N_ s t
 100
N_ t t

N_ s t
 100
N_ t t W_

11

12

where Wc(net) is the net exergy eciency during the charging period in %; and Wc(total) is the total
exergy eciency during the charging period in %.

4. Results and discussion

There are a lot of factors aecting the eciency of LHS systems as solar energy collection/storage systems for greenhouse heating. The eciency of the heat storage system depends on the thermal and physical properties of the PCM, the heat storage temperature, the geometry of the heat
exchanger and the system conguration. Furthermore, an exergy eciency of the LHS systems is
a new approach to determine the net eciency of the system. The results of energy and exergy
analyses of the LHS system were evaluated for the charging periods.
4.1. The results of the energy and exergy analyses during the charging period
The rates of heat and thermal exergy stored in the LHS unit during the charging periods were
calculated by using Eqs. (2) and (9), respectively. The results of the energy and exergy analyses
during the charging periods are explained in the following sections. The changes of the rates of
heat and thermal exergy stored in the LHS unit during the charging periods are shown as a function of time in Fig. 3. The rates of heat and thermal exergy stored in the LHS unit increased as the
inlet temperature of the heat transfer uid increased during the charging period.
The rate of heat transferred in the LHS unit ranged from 1.22 to 2.63 kW, whereas the rate of
heat stored in the LHS unit was in the range of 0.652.1 kW (Fig. 3a). The rate of heat stored in
the LHS unit, which was only 0.65 kW at 11:00 h, reached its maximum value (2.1 kW) at 14:00 h
during the experimental period. The average daily rates of the transferred and stored heat in
the LHS unit were 2.15 and 1.63 kW, respectively. The rates of heat loss from the LHS unit were
in the range of 0.460.57 kW during the charging period. Fig. 3b shows that the rate of thermal
exergy varied with time during the same charging period. The rate of thermal exergy stored in the
LHS unit was in the range of 3.9116.9 W. The average daily rate of thermal exergy transferred
and stored in the LHS unit were 111.2 and 79.9 W, respectively. Thus, the average daily rate of
exergy loss was 31.9 W during the experimental period. The rate of thermal exergy stored was signicantly dierent from the rate of heat stored in the LHS unit during the charging periods. This
dierence is due to the fact that the quality of energy was taken into account to calculate the thermal exergy transfer [Eq. (9)]. However, in the calculation of thermal energy transfer [Eq. (2)], only
the quantity of the energy was taken into account. In other words, the useless part of the thermal
energy stored in the LHS unit was ignored in the calculation of the thermal exergy transfer.
The dierences between the rates of heat and exergy stored in the LHS unit may be explained as
follows. (1) During the experimental period, the average daily rate of heat stored in the LHS unit

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1533

Rate of heat transfer, W

3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
11

12

13

14

15

16

17

16

17

Time, h

Rate of exergy transfer, W

(a)

Transferrred

Stored

Loss

200
150
100
50
0
11

(b)

12

13

14
Time, h

Transferred

Stored

15
Loss

Fig. 3. The rates of heat and thermal exergy stored in the heat storage unit during charging.

was higher than that of the thermal exergy. Since the rate of exergy depends on the temperature of
the heat transfer uid and its surrounding, the rate of exergy increased as the dierence between
the inlet and outlet temperatures of the heat transfer uid increased during the charging periods.
(2) The rate of exergy transfer is higher at high temperatures than that at low temperatures. (3)
Moreover, the percentage increase in the thermal exergy at high temperatures was higher in comparison with the thermal energy. In this study, it was also found that the percentage increase in the
thermal exergy was higher than that of the thermal energy during the charging periods. These results may be simply explained in terms of heat transfer considerations. The possible amount of
thermal energy stored in the LHS unit decreased as the dierence between the inlet and outlet temperatures of the heat transfer uid decreased during the charging periods. The percentage decrease
in the possible amount of thermal energy stored in the LHS unit was higher in comparison with
the thermal exergy during the charging periods. The dierences between the thermal energy and
exergy stored in the LHS unit are attributed to the dierences in the inlet and outlet temperatures
of the heat transfer uid and the ambient temperature.
4.2. Energy and exergy eciency during the charging period
The total and net energy and exergy eciencies of the heat storage system during the charging
period were calculated by using Eqs. (6), (7), (11) and (12), respectively. The changes of the energy

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and exergy eciencies during the experimental period are shown as a function of time in Fig. 4.
The energy and exergy eciencies of the LHS system increased as the inlet temperature of the heat
transfer uid increased.
The total energy eciency ranged from 53.7% to 79.6%, while the net energy eciency was in
the range of 22.147.9% during the rst charging period (Fig. 4a). While the net exergy eciency
at 11:00 h was only 22.1%, it reached its maximum value (47.9%) at 14:00 h. During the experimental period, it was found that the average daily total and net energy eciencies were 74.3% and
40.4%, respectively. On the other hand, the total exergy eciency ranged from 10.5% to 80.6%,
whereas the net exergy eciency was in the range of 0.26.2% during the same charging period
(Fig. 4b). The average daily total and net exergy eciencies were 65.2% and 4.2%, respectively.
When the net energy eciency is compared with net exergy eciency during the charging period, the following results can be drawn: (1) The net energy eciency was always higher than the
net exergy eciency. This is expected because the total energy content of the hot air used as heat
transfer uid is taken into account in order to calculate the net energy eciency. In other words,
to calculate the net energy eciency, the quantity of the energy transferred is taken into account,
and the quality of the energy transferred is neglected. (2) For all charging periods, similar results
were obtained in terms of the net energy eciency of the LHS system. The average daily net
energy eciency of the LHS system remained nearly constant (approximately 75%) during the
charging periods. The net energy eciency of the heat storage system did not change much during

Energy efficiency, %

100
80
60
40
20
0
11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Time, h

Total exergy efficiency, %

Net efficiency

100

10

80

60

40

20

0
11

(b)

12

13

14
Time, h

Net efficiency

15

16

Net exergy efficiency, %

Total efficiency

(a)

17

Total efficiency

Fig. 4. The change of eciency of the latent heat storage system during the charging period: (a) energy eciency;
(b) exergy eciency.

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the charging periods. However, the net exergy eciency of the LHS system changed during the
charging periods. The above results indicate that the net exergy eciency of the LHS system
was always lower than the net energy eciency at the higher temperatures. (3) It was found that
the average net exergy eciency was only 4.2% during the charging period. This result indicates
that the heat storage system investigated in this study is inecient in terms of the exergy eciency.
The eect of the temperature dierence of the heat transfer uid at the inlet and outlet of the
LHS unit on the computed values of the net energy and exergy eciencies during the charging
period is presented in Fig. 5. A linear regression of the plotted points was used to nd the relationship between the net energy and exergy eciencies and temperature dierence in terms of
intercept (%) and slope (%/K). The temperature dierence in the LHS unit was observed to have
much inuence on the net energy and exergy eciencies of the LHS system, their values being
higher for higher temperature dierences. In other words, the net energy and exergy eciencies
increased as the temperature dierence increased during the charging period. Initially, the temperature dierence of the heat transfer uid at the inlet and outlet of the LHS unit was small, but it
increased with time. It was obtained that the highest temperature dierence was 40 K in the LHS
unit during the charging period. While the temperature dierence was only 16.1 K in the morning,
it reached 40 K in the early afternoon. For the period of time covered by Fig. 4, the average temperature dierence in the LHS unit was 31.2 K. The net energy and exergy eciencies (%) as a
function of temperature dierence (K) during the charging period were (Fig. 5):
R2 0:98

gcnet 5:2961 1:1243DT

Wcnet
4:0143 0:2629DT

13

R2 0:96

14
2

The linear regression coecient of determination (R ) for the net energy and exergy eciencies
were 98% and 96%, respectively. The results of the variance analysis (ANOVA) for the relationships between the net energy/exergy eciency and temperature dierence are given in Table 1. The
relationships between the net energy/exergy eciency and temperature dierence are statistically
important (P = 2.59 10
5 and P = 1.29 10
4) at the 95% probability level. For that reason,
the obtained regression equations (Eqs. (13) and (14)) represent the relationships between the

60

Efficiency, %

50
40

y = 1.1243x + 5.2961
R2 = 0.9775

30
20

y = 0.2629x - 4.0143
R2 = 0.9574

10
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

Temperature difference, K
Energy efficiency

Exergy efficiency

Fig. 5. Eect of temperature dierence on eciency of the latent heat storage system.

 zturk / Energy Conversion and Management 46 (2005) 15231542

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Table 1
The results of the variance analysis (ANOVA)
For Eq. (13)
Regression
Dierence
Sum

For Eq. (14)

df

SS

MS

df

SS

MS

1
5
6

438.8
10.08
448.9

438.8
2.01

217.6

2.59E
05

1
5
6

23.9
1.06
25.06

23.99
0.213

112.4

0.000129

Table 2
The results of the regression analysis
For Equation (13)
Coecients

Standard error

For Equation (14)

t Stat

a 5.29614
2.43997
2.170575
b 1.124323
0.076219
14.75128
Standard error of regression equation

P value

Coecients

Standard error

t Stat

P value

0.082083
2.59E-05
1.420112

4.01428
0.2629
0.461891

0.793599
0.02479

5.05832
10.60504

0.003906
0.000129

variables at the 5% signicant level. The results of the uncertainty analysis for any calculated results are given in Table 2.
The values for the net energy and exergy eciencies (%) were computed for a temperature difference of 50 K using the above determined relationships for the LHS unit. The net energy and
exergy eciencies at a temperature dierence of 50 K were estimated to be 61.5% and 9.1% for
the LHS unit.
The PCM and the conguration of the heat exchanger dene the theoretical maximum limit of
the net eciency of a LHS system. In fact, the eciency of a LHS system is more sensitive to the
properties of the PCMs than to its thermal losses. The dierences between the energy and exergy
eciencies of the present LHS system may be explained as follows: (1) the exergy eciency of the
LHS system increased at a fast rate until the temperature dierence was 40 K. The exergy eciency decreased sharply as the temperature dierence decreased during the charging period; (2)
it was also found that the percentage increase in the exergy eciency of the LHS system was higher than that of its energy eciency; (3) for the maximum temperature dierence in the LHS unit,
the maximum net energy eciency of the LHS system was 47.9%, whereas its maximum net exergy eciency was 6.2% during the experimental period. These results may be simply explained in
terms of heat transfer considerations.

5. Conclusions
The LHS system for greenhouse heating was analysed, and its energy and exergy eciencies
were obtained. The eects of various factors on the net energy and exergy eciencies were examined. The following conclusions are general in nature and are expected to be valid, independent of
location and weather.

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5.1. Greenhouse heating with solar energy

The use of solar energy for greenhouse heating has gained an increasing acceptance during recent
years. The main problem is related to the selection and sizing, or more appropriately the passive or
active technology, for the specic application. Active solar systems applied to greenhouses can supply a signicant part of the heating requirements. However, there are some problems related to the
cost of the heat collection unit, of the occupied land, the backup system and the heat storage methods. A signicant investment cost is necessary with active solar systems; especially for the metallic
glazed collectors used as the heat collection unit. The investment cost of the present system was
$US 3500. Basic and applied research and development is needed to improve performance analysis,
reduce operation cost of installed systems, assure their long term trouble free operation and improve their eciency. The economics and thermal eciency of each new system must be carefully
evaluated in a total system context; otherwise, it is not certain if a concept has sucient merit to
warrant further development for solar application. In each application, system studies with realistic
cost estimates are needed to dene the economic worth of storage in the intermediate temperature
range. An active solar system for greenhouse heating can be coupled with a heat pump in order to
increase its eciency. In addition, the storage volume and capacity of the heat storage material
should be chosen carefully. Research and development on active solar systems for greenhouse heating have given a certain number of technical solutions aimed at overcoming the above problems.
5.2. Heat storage material for greenhouse heating
For intermediate temperature sensible heat storage, the commercially available liquids are generally
expensive. Research directed toward improving the lifetime of sensible heat storage uids could be useful. Solid materials are economically more attractive for high temperature storage than uids, and their
volume requirements are nearly comparable. However, research and development are needed to nd
heat transfer uids that can be used in direct contact with the solids over long time periods. Development and low cost containment and direct heat technology could signicantly reduce the cost of greenhouse heating systems with solar energy in the intermediate temperature range. Direct contact between
the solid storage media and a heat transfer uid is vital to minimise the cost of heat exchange in a sensible heat storage system. If the same heat exchanger is used for the charging and discharging processes, considerable attention should be given to the design of the heat exchanger. In this case,
technical limitations should be taken into account. LHS using PCMs, in general, provides much higher
energy storage density than systems using sensible heat storage. High energy storage densities over a
narrow temperature range make PCMs attractive for greenhouse heating. There are problems with
repeatable cycling, heat transfer rate and containment that need to be solved before LHS systems
can become commercially and economically viable for intermediate temperatures. Future studies
should focus on: LHS for greenhouse heating and modelling the eciency of the heat storage systems.
Such experimental studies will be very useful to optimise the management of the heat storage systems.
5.3. Evaluation of the system eciency
The results of this study show that the dierence between the results of energy and exergy
analyses is signicant. Since exergy is a measure of the quality of energy, exergy eciency is

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1538

more signicant than energy eciency, and exergy analysis should be considered in the evaluation and comparison of thermal energy storage systems. Exergy analysis clearly takes into account the loss of availability of heat in storage operations, and hence, it more correctly
reects the thermodynamic and economic value of the storage operation. Optimisation of the
design and exploitation of thermal energy storage systems can be made by means of exergy analysis. When optimising the thermodynamic eciency of a thermal energy storage system, both
design and operational parameters must be considered. The real purpose of a thermal energy
storage system is not to store energy, but to store exergy. According to the results of the experiments, LHS systems are inherently inecient devices in terms of the exergy eciency. Exergy
loss and auxiliary energy consumptions for the charging and discharging processes could be reduced to improve the exergy eciency of the thermal energy storage systems for a particular
application. The unit should be capable of receiving energy at the maximum rate without excessive driving forces. Analyses of the thermal performance of systems, the costs of solar equipment
and the costs of auxiliary energy systems can be used to determine the optimum size of the system components for a particular application. Exergy analysis is essential to cost eective design
and management of the thermal energy storage systems. Therefore, exergy analysis must be used
to design thermal energy storage systems with the highest possible thermodynamic eciencies. In
conclusion, the charging and discharging processes of a thermal energy storage system must be
analysed in order to optimise system eciency.

Appendix A
Equations for the heat transfer coecients for bottom and horizontal surfaces of the LHS unit
1
s3
s2
s1
1

k b Ab k3 Ab3e k2 Ab32e k1 Ab21e ao Ab1o

1
s3
s2
s1
1

Ah Ah k3 Ah3e k2 Ah32e k1 Ah21e ao Ah1o

Equations for the equivalent surface areas for bottom and horizontal surfaces of the LHS unit
For the bottom surfaces:
Since the cross section of the LHS unit is a circle, the equivalent surface areas for the bottom
surfaces were calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of the inner and outer surface areas of
the bottom surfaces of the LHS unit as follows:
Ab3e

Ab3i Ab3o
2

Ab3i pd 23i =4

Ab3o pd 3i 2s3 2 =4

Ab32e

Ab2o Ab3o
2

Ab2o pd 3o 2s3 s2 2 =4

Ab21e

Ab1o Ab2o
2

Ab1o pd 3o 2s3 s2 s1 2 =4

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For the horizontal surfaces:

Since the shape of the LHS unit is a cylinder, the equivalent surface areas for the horizontal
surfaces were calculated on the basis of the logarithmic mean of the inner and outer surface areas
of the horizontal surfaces of the LHS unit as follows:
Ah3e

Ah3o
Ah3i
ln AAh3o
h3i

Ah3o pd 3i 2s3 L3

Ah3i pd 3i L3

Ah32e

Ah2o
Ah3o
ln AAh2o
h3o

Ah2o pd 3o 2s3 s2 L3

Ah21e

Ah1o
Ah2o
ln AAh1o
h2o

Ah1o pd 3o 2s3 s2 s1 L3

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