Research on the effect of thermal diffusion and salt diffusion by installing porous media at the bottom of the solar pond

Abstract

An experiment of modeling heat storage layer of solar pond transferring heat downward is designed. Temperature distribution and heat transfer law of water when the container is full of water or adding a porous media layer at the bottom are researched. Experiment shows that porous media layer with water can resist heat conduction from solar pond to soil. The experiment of decreasing salt diffusion by porous media layer with water is carried out. Filling the container with 3 layers brine with different salinity, salt diffusion law with or without porous media layer or with porous media of different materials is discovered. Research shows porous media restrains salt diffusion obviously, and it is beneficial to keep salt-gradient, so it saves the salt cost in solar pond. In this paper the characteristics of thermohaline diffusion of porous media layer in the solar pond is also discussed. Copyright © (2007) by the International Solar Energy Society.