What are Low Solar Thermal Energy Systems?
Low solar thermal energy systems use radiation from the sun to heat up domestic or commercial water supplies. The incident solar radiation heats up a transfer fluid, which is pumped through a heat exchanger that is connected to the water supply. Examples of such systems include flat plate and vacuum tube roof top collectors. Low thermal energy systems can also apply to passive solar space heating.
What are the challenges for Low Solar Thermal Energy Systems?
In high latitudes, low solar thermal systems do not generate a lot of heat energy in winter, when it is needed most. Increasing the efficiency of the plates so they can absorb more energy in winter is a significant challenge. Losses occur through the transfer of heat from the tubes in the panels to the hot water system. Furthermore, the storage tanks can be quite large and inconvenient to house. The challenge is to build more effective and space efficient solar thermal water systems for use in Northern Eurpean climates.
How are these challenges being addressed by SISER researchers?
Researchers at Edinburgh Napier University are investigating the underlying heat transfer process to improve the efficiency of low solar thermal systems. This is achieved by modelling heat transferring mechanisms in low solar thermal collectors and comparing the results with real systems. Napier University are also looking into ways to reduce space heating within buildings and to exploit the warmth from daylight by using aerogel windows.
Glasgow Caledonian University are developing an anidolic (non-imaging optic) concentrator solar thermal system. The aim of this system is to improve the collector performance by increasing the temperature of water at high latitudes during winter time, while avoiding overheating during the summer. They are also undertaking rsearch into built-in-storage solar water heaters.
Heriot-Watt University are carrying out work on developing storage of solar thermal energy within solid stone walls of tenement buildings. This will maximise heat ollection by using the solid stone mass of the wall as a thermal store. It will also reduce the loss of effiiciency due to the time lag between suply and demand.
SISER researchers with interest in this area are: Dr Stas Burek, Mr Brian Davison, Dr Tom Grassie, Prof. Tariq Muneer, Dr Roberto Ramirez and Dr Fan Wang.
Full details of all SISER researchers are found on the SISER People Page.
Publications
Siti Hawa Abu-Bakar, Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki, Roberto Ramirez-Iniguez, Stas Burek, Tapas Kumar Mallick, Campbell McLennan, Abu Bakar Munir, Siti Hajar Mohd Yasin and Ieee. Renewable Heat Incentive for Solar Thermal Systems in the United Kingdom: The Next Big Thing?. 2012 Ieee International Conference on Power and Energy series, 2012. Modeling and Experimental Verification of Solar Radiation on a Sloped Surface, Photovoltaic Cell Temperature, and Photovoltaic Efficiency. Journal of Energy Engineering-Asce 139(1):8-11, 2013. M Asif, J Currie and T Muneer. Comparison of aluminium and stainless steel built-in-storage solar water heater. Building Services Engineering Research & Technology 28(4):337-346, 2007. M Asif and T Muneer. Life cycle assessment of built-in-storage solar water heaters in Pakistan. Building Services Engineering Research & Technology 27(1):63-69, 2006. J I Currie, C Garnier, T Muneer, T Grassie and D Henderson. Modelling bulk water temperature in integrated collector storage systems. Building Services Engineering Research & Technology 29(3):203-218, 2008. C Garnier, J Currie and T Muneer. Integrated collector storage solar water heater: Temperature stratification. Applied Energy 86(9):1465-1469, 2009. C Garnier, T Muneer and J Currie. Thermal model for performance prediction of integrated collector storage systems. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy 3(1), 2011. T Grassie, K MacGregor, T Muneer and J Kubie. Design of a PV driven low flow solar domestic hot water system and modeling of the system collector outlet temperature. Energy Conversion and Management 43(8):1063-1078, 2002. Solar assisted, pre-cooled hybrid desiccant cooling system for Pakistan. Renewable Energy 34(1):151-157, 2009. Allan May, Tadhg S O'Donovan and Asme. CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN A HELICAL COIL SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTOR. Proceedings of the Asme International Heat Transfer Conference - 2010, Vol 7: Natural Convection, Natural/Mixed Convection, Nuclear, Phase Change Materials, Solar series, 2010.
Deprecated: Methods with the same name as their class will not be constructors in a future version of PHP; PARSEENTRIES has a deprecated constructor in /mnt/data/vhosts/casite-507181.cloudaccess.net/httpdocs/plugins/content/bibtex/bib/parseentries.php on line 133
Deprecated: Methods with the same name as their class will not be constructors in a future version of PHP; PARSECREATORS has a deprecated constructor in /mnt/data/vhosts/casite-507181.cloudaccess.net/httpdocs/plugins/content/bibtex/bib/parsecreators.php on line 28
BibTeX@book{Renewable Heat Incentive for Solar Thermal Systems in the United Kingdom: The Next Big Thing?,
author = "Abu-Bakar, Siti Hawa and Muhammad-Sukki, Firdaus and Ramirez-Iniguez, Roberto and Burek, Stas and Mallick, Tapas Kumar and McLennan, Campbell and Munir, Abu Bakar and Yasin, Siti Hajar Mohd and Ieee",
title = "Renewable Heat Incentive for Solar Thermal Systems in the United Kingdom: The Next Big Thing?",
series = "2012 Ieee International Conference on Power and Energy",
note = "Times Cited: 0 Pecon IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy (PECon) Dec 02-05, 2012 Kota Kinabalu, MALAYSIA IEEE Malaysia; IEEE Malasia Power Elect (PEL), Ind Elect (IE), Ind Applicat (IA) Joint Chapter; IEEE Malaysia Power & Energy Chapter",
pages = "626-631",
year = 2012
}
BibTeX@article{Modeling and Experimental Verification of Solar Radiation on a Sloped Surface,
photovoltaic cell temperature, and photovoltaic efficiency, author = "Aldali, Yasser and Celik, Ali Naci and Muneer, Tariq",
title = "Modeling and Experimental Verification of Solar Radiation on a Sloped Surface, Photovoltaic Cell Temperature, and Photovoltaic Efficiency",
journal = "Journal of Energy Engineering-Asce",
volume = 139,
number = 1,
pages = "8-11",
note = "Times Cited: 0 0",
year = 2013
}
BibTeX@article{Comparison of aluminium and stainless steel built-in-storage solar water heater,
author = "Asif, M. and Currie, J. and Muneer, T.",
title = "Comparison of aluminium and stainless steel built-in-storage solar water heater",
journal = "Building Services Engineering Research & Technology",
volume = 28,
number = 4,
pages = "337-346",
note = "Times Cited: 2 2",
year = 2007
}
BibTeX@article{Life cycle assessment of built-in-storage solar water heaters in Pakistan,
author = "Asif, M. and Muneer, T.",
title = "Life cycle assessment of built-in-storage solar water heaters in Pakistan",
journal = "Building Services Engineering Research & Technology",
volume = 27,
number = 1,
pages = "63-69",
note = "Times Cited: 1 1",
year = 2006
}
BibTeX@article{Modelling bulk water temperature in integrated collector storage systems,
author = "Currie, J. I. and Garnier, C. and Muneer, T. and Grassie, T. and Henderson, D.",
title = "Modelling bulk water temperature in integrated collector storage systems",
journal = "Building Services Engineering Research & Technology",
volume = 29,
number = 3,
pages = "203-218",
note = "Times Cited: 3 3",
year = 2008
}
BibTeX@article{Integrated collector storage solar water heater: Temperature stratification,
author = "Garnier, C. and Currie, J. and Muneer, T.",
title = "Integrated collector storage solar water heater: Temperature stratification",
journal = "Applied Energy",
volume = 86,
number = 9,
pages = "1465-1469",
note = "Times Cited: 17 17",
year = 2009
}
BibTeX@article{Thermal model for performance prediction of integrated collector storage systems,
author = "Garnier, C. and Muneer, T. and Currie, J.",
title = "Thermal model for performance prediction of integrated collector storage systems",
journal = "Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy",
volume = 3,
number = 1,
note = "Times Cited: 0 0",
year = 2011
}
BibTeX@article{Design of a PV driven low flow solar domestic hot water system and modeling of the system collector outlet temperature,
author = "Grassie, T. and MacGregor, K. and Muneer, T. and Kubie, J.",
title = "Design of a PV driven low flow solar domestic hot water system and modeling of the system collector outlet temperature",
journal = "Energy Conversion and Management",
volume = 43,
number = 8,
pages = "1063-1078",
note = "Times Cited: 11 12",
year = 2002
}
BibTeX@article{Solar assisted,
pre-cooled hybrid desiccant cooling system for pakistan, author = "Khalid, A. and Mahmood, M. and Asif, M. and Muneer, T.",
title = "Solar assisted, pre-cooled hybrid desiccant cooling system for Pakistan",
journal = "Renewable Energy",
volume = 34,
number = 1,
pages = "151-157",
note = "Times Cited: 12 12",
year = 2009
}
BibTeX@book{CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN A HELICAL COIL SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTOR,
author = "May, Allan and O'Donovan, Tadhg S. and Asme",
title = "CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN A HELICAL COIL SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTOR",
series = "Proceedings of the Asme International Heat Transfer Conference - 2010, Vol 7: Natural Convection, Natural/Mixed Convection, Nuclear, Phase Change Materials, Solar",
note = "Times Cited: 0 14th International Heat Transfer Conference Aug 08-13, 2010 Washington, DC",
pages = "491-497",
year = 2010
}
