Stratification manifolds for thermal storage tanks in high temperature applications

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

OSTI ID:20050702

Acevedo, R; Gonzalez, J E

This paper describes the development of a design tool for stratification manifolds for hot water storage tanks commonly used in solar air conditioning systems. Stratification can be maintained using fabric manifolds. An experiment was designed to investigate properties of flexible manifolds including construction material and flow rate. The experiment consisted of observing the time variation of temperatures inside a well-insulated fiberglass tank with a volumetric capacity of 455 liters with and without flexible manifolds. A stream of water was heated with a 2 kW electric heater during day light hours, simulating a solar collector arrangement, while interacting with the tank. The thermal stratification was measured using twelve T-Type thermocouples that were arranged along the tank in the vertical axis. Data was taken for 54-hour consecutive hours. A mix dimensionless number was defined to compare the different parameters of the experiment. Experimental results indicate that the use of flexible porous manifold influence the effect of mixing in the charge and discharge cycles of thermal storage tanks.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Puerto Rico, Mayagueez (PR)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy
• OSTI ID: 20050702
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
DESIGN
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PIPES
SENSIBLE HEAT STORAGE
SOLAR AIR CONDITIONERS
STRATIFICATION
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE EQUIPMENT