Design and Demonstration of Solar Energy Based Water Heating System for Household purpose: An Experimental Approach

Abstract

The demand for energy world-wise is usually met by burning fossil fuels such as charcoal, petroleum, natural gas, kerosene, etc., or by the use of electricity. These conventional energy sources are exhaustible, unstable, and not environmentally friendly. However, electricity generation is not sufficient enough to meet the demand for energy over an extended period of time. Solar energy therefore appears to be the only veritable and viable alternative source of energy to heat water. It is inexhaustible, has no effect on the environment, and can be converted to many other forms of energy. Converting it to thermal energy in order to heat water is done with a solar water heating system. In the present study, the design and demonstration of a solar energy-based water heating system for household purposes is described. In this work, a water heater with a heat pipe for a solar energy collector is designed and demonstrated, which provides a maximum temperature of 46℃ and a maximum rise of about 1℃ within 10 minutes on a typical sunny day, the solar intensity range is about 700 to 900W/m2. With an environment temperature range of 29-33℃, the maximum rise in water temperature was about 6℃ of 3-liter water in one hour. The efficiency of the developed system is found to be 18.75%. It is concluded that this experimental setup works satisfactorily. All the materials used are locally available hence it is cheaper than other solar water heaters which is available in the market. This type of solar water heater can be used as an alternative to an electrical heating system if the desired temperature is less than 50- 55℃.