Chapter 5
Design and Development
of a Concentrated Solar Water
Heating System
Bandi Sai Mukesh, Ravi Teja Parella, Sudipto Mukhopadhyay
and Laltu Chandra
Abstract Solar energy is a promising renewable source to support the growing energy demand. This energy is widely harnessed for solar water heating systems to
provide hot water for both domestic and industrial sectors thus reducing use of conventional energy sources. In this work, a concentrated solar water heater (CSWH)
system is designed and fabricated at IIT Jodhpur. The main objectives are development of a point focus based direct solar water heating system and preliminary
experiment based evaluation of the designed system. The system envisages a flux
concentration of 100 Suns, which will enable receiver area reduction and the use of
other heat transfer fluids like oil in future. The CSWH system consists of (a) receiver
and (b) parabolic dish with two-axis sun tracking provision. In the conventional solar water heater system the irradiance from sun is directly collected by the collector
whereas in concentrated solar water heater the reflected irradiance is received by the
receiver. The reflector consists of a reflecting surface mounted on a parabolic structure and the cavity receiver consists of consists of a serpentine copper tube exposed
to concentrated irradiance. The receiver will be insulated from top in order to prevent
heat loss from one of its surface. An optical model of parabolic dish and receiver has
been developed using TracePro software. This model is used as reference to generate
the flux density distribution. The experimental setup consists of a parabolic dish, a
receiver with thermocouples, a Coriolis flow meter, pump, water tank and NI DAQ.
Coriolis flow meter is used to measure the mass flow rate in the system. K-type
B. S. Mukesh · R. T. Parella · S. Mukhopadhyay
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur,
Jodhpur, Rajasthan 342037, India
e-mail: bandisaimukesh@gmail.com
R. T. Parella
e-mail: teja.1@iitj.ac.in
S. Mukhopadhyay
e-mail: smukhopadhyay@iitj.ac.in
L. Chandra (B)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT BHU, Varanasi 221 005, India
e-mail: chandra.mec@iitbhu.ac.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
H. Tyagi et al. (eds.), Solar Energy, Energy, Environment,
and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0675-8_5
61
Design and Development
of a Concentrated Solar Water
Heating System
Bandi Sai Mukesh, Ravi Teja Parella, Sudipto Mukhopadhyay
and Laltu Chandra
Abstract Solar energy is a promising renewable source to support the growing energy demand. This energy is widely harnessed for solar water heating systems to
provide hot water for both domestic and industrial sectors thus reducing use of conventional energy sources. In this work, a concentrated solar water heater (CSWH)
system is designed and fabricated at IIT Jodhpur. The main objectives are development of a point focus based direct solar water heating system and preliminary
experiment based evaluation of the designed system. The system envisages a flux
concentration of 100 Suns, which will enable receiver area reduction and the use of
other heat transfer fluids like oil in future. The CSWH system consists of (a) receiver
and (b) parabolic dish with two-axis sun tracking provision. In the conventional solar water heater system the irradiance from sun is directly collected by the collector
whereas in concentrated solar water heater the reflected irradiance is received by the
receiver. The reflector consists of a reflecting surface mounted on a parabolic structure and the cavity receiver consists of consists of a serpentine copper tube exposed
to concentrated irradiance. The receiver will be insulated from top in order to prevent
heat loss from one of its surface. An optical model of parabolic dish and receiver has
been developed using TracePro software. This model is used as reference to generate
the flux density distribution. The experimental setup consists of a parabolic dish, a
receiver with thermocouples, a Coriolis flow meter, pump, water tank and NI DAQ.
Coriolis flow meter is used to measure the mass flow rate in the system. K-type
B. S. Mukesh · R. T. Parella · S. Mukhopadhyay
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur,
Jodhpur, Rajasthan 342037, India
e-mail: bandisaimukesh@gmail.com
R. T. Parella
e-mail: teja.1@iitj.ac.in
S. Mukhopadhyay
e-mail: smukhopadhyay@iitj.ac.in
L. Chandra (B)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT BHU, Varanasi 221 005, India
e-mail: chandra.mec@iitbhu.ac.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
H. Tyagi et al. (eds.), Solar Energy, Energy, Environment,
and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0675-8_5
61