Are plastic heat exchangers feasible for solar water heaters? Part 1: A review of the technology, codes and standards, and commercial products

Conference · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:20030570

Davidson, J; Oberreit, D; Liu, W; Mantell, S

As a first step toward assessing the possibility of using plastic heat exchangers in solar water heating systems, the authors present product design specifications for water-to-water and antifreeze-to-water heat exchangers, review the plumbing codes and standards as they apply to use of heat exchangers and polymer components, and discuss the suitability of commercially available plastic heat exchangers. Analysis of overall heat transfer shows that a counterflow, tube-in-shell heat exchanger made of thin wall plastic tubes is capable of meeting the thermal requirements of a solar water heating system with less than a 50% increase in heat transfer surface area compared to a commercial copper heat exchanger. The plumbing codes allow use of approved polymer heat exchangers or piping in domestic solar water heating systems. Single wall heat exchangers can be used with a non-toxic heat transfer fluid, such as propylene glycol. Unfortunately, commercially available plastic heat exchangers are either prohibitively expensive, too small, or incapable of withstanding the pressure and temperature requirements of this application. A review of polymer materials for this application is given in part 2 of this paper.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (US)
• OSTI ID: 20030570
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
BUILDING CODES
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER FLUIDS
PLASTICS
SOLAR WATER HEATERS
SPECIFICATIONS