Experimental investigation on performance comparison of solar water heating-phase change material system and solar water heating system

Abstract

Phase change material can be used as heat transfer fluid in the solar water heating system, which is the latest way to improve thermal efficiency. In this paper, graphene composite paraffin emulsion is used as heat transfer fluid in a solar water heating-phase change material (SWH-PCM) system. By comparing with the traditional solar water heating (SWH) system, the thermal performance characteristics of SWH-PCM system have been investigated experimentally. The SWH-PCM system has higher heat storage than the SWH system. The heat storage of SWH-PCM system and SWH system all increase with the increase of solar irradiance, while the thermal efficiency has the opposite trend. The flow rate has a greater influence on the thermal efficiency of SWH-PCM system than that of the SWH system. With the flow rate of 200 L/h, the thermal efficiency of SWH-PCM system is 14.21% higher than that of the SWH system. In summary, the SWH-PCM system is a promising solar water heating system with high heat storage and thermal efficiency.