An Investigation into a Miniature Saltless Solar Pond

Abstract

A simple, miniature saltless Solar Pond (SP) was designed and constructed in the present work. It consisted of a Plexiglas container with a square cross-section, within which cruciform baffles were suspended in the upper half of the pond, and copper coil tubing was fitted in the middle of the lower zone to function as a heat exchanger without disturbing the pond’s inertia. Different variables’ effect on the water’s temperature rise at various vertical locations within the pond were investigated. These variables included the presence of the cruciform baffles, the inclination of a mirror fixed to the top rim of the pond, a glass transparent cover (GC), and the presence or absence of a gel thickening material to increase the water viscosity inside the SP, the climatic conditions, and the presence of glass wool (GW) in the lower section of the SP. For an experiment, an estimated energy balance was performed, and the thermal storage efficiency was calculated. The best obtained thermal storage efficiency was 32.58% in the presence of the cruciform baffles, a 45° inclination of a mirror fixed to the top rim of the SP, at an ambient temperature of 30 °C on a calm, sunny day with a wind speed of 7 km/h.