EVALUATION OF DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCE OF A PASSIVE SOLAR WATER HEATER

EVALUATION OF DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCE OF A PASSIVE SOLAR WATER HEATER

Background of the Study

Energy is seen as a primary source of income creation and an important role in economic growth. The importance of energy in economic growth is broadly acknowledged, and historical evidence confirms that there is a significant link between energy availability and economic activity. According to Reindl, Beckman, and Duffie (2020), although the worry in the early 1970s, following the oil crises, was the expense of energy, during the last two decades, the risk and reality of environmental deterioration have grown increasingly obvious. Since the environmental effect of human activities has expanded considerably, the growing evidence of environmental concerns is attributable to a combination of numerous factors. This is due to rising global population, energy consumption, and industrial activity. Solving the environmental difficulties that mankind is facing now necessitates long-term prospective measures for sustainable development. Renewable energy appears to be one of the most efficient and effective options.

Kudish, Santamaura, and Beaufort (2015) assert that solar thermal energy is the most plentiful renewable energy source accessible, and it is available in both direct and indirect forms. The Sun emits energy at a rate of 3.8 x 1023 kW, of which roughly 1.8 x1014 kW is intercepted by the Earth, which is positioned around 150 million kilometres away from the Sun. Approximately 60% of this quantity reaches the earth's surface. The remainder is returned to space and absorbed by the atmosphere. When converted at a 10% efficiency, around 0.1% of this energy would power four times the world's entire producing capacity of about 3000 GW (Mirunalini, et al.,2010). It is also worth mentioning that the total yearly solar radiation falling on Earth is more than 7500 times more than the world's total annual primary energy consumption of 450 EJ (Mirunalini et al., 2010).

The yearly solar radiation reaching the earth's surface, around 3,400,000 EJ, is an order of magnitude more than all estimated nonrenewable energy resources (known and undiscovered), including fossil fuels and nuclear energy ( Mirunalini et al. , 2010). However, fossil fuels account for 80% of current global energy use.

Global demand for fossil fuels (beginning with oil) is predicted to outstrip yearly output during the next two decades (Mirunalini et al., 2010). Oil and gas shortages may potentially spark international economic and political crises and wars. Furthermore, the combustion of fossil fuels emits hazardous pollutants such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, aerosols, and so on, which have an impact on the local, regional, and worldwide environment. Solar radiation may be turned into other kinds of energy via many techniques, including photovoltaic conversion into electrical energy, photochemical conversion into chemically bound energy, and photo thermal conversion into heat. Solar radiation heat is ideally adapted to providing home hot water and space heating. In most places of the world, a single family house's annual solar radiation is many times larger than the energy required for domestic hot water and space heating ( Mirunalini et al., 2010).

For many years, Belessiotis and Mathioulakis (2017) opined that solar domestic hot water (DHW) systems have gotten a lot of attention because of their significant energy savings, environmental protection, and comparatively low cost. The goal of a solar DHW system is to convert solar radiation into thermal energy, which is subsequently used for domestic hot water heating, hence lowering reliance on and use of conventional energy. Environmental concerns have recently increased interest in solar DHW systems. There are some major differences between solar DHW systems and traditional fossil-fuel systems. For starters, the power density of solar radiation is poor, therefore the collector must cover a big area. As a result, solar DHW systems cannot be as small as conventional units. Second, solar radiation changes greatly throughout the day, over the course of a year, and between various regions.

As a result, the solar energy collected by a collector varies irregularly with time and place, and the collector's power output cannot be adjusted in the same way that traditional heating systems can. Heat storage and auxiliary energy are thus necessary to adapt the supply to the load.

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