Climatic predispositions of Yugoslavia for solar energy application

Abstract

This paper is a summary report of an extended investigation of the practical usability of solar energy in Yugoslavia. The main tool for calculation was TRNSYS simulation program. Meteorological data and technical parameters of typical commercial solar devices were used as input data. Solar flux data on tilted planes were obtained by means of the Liu and Jordan method. For five locations, chosen to characterize all typical climatic regions in Yugoslavia, a detailed hour by hour simulation of the performance of the typical commercial domestic hot water solar heating system (DHW) was carried out. In summer the efficiency of such a device was similar for all locations, ranging from 40 to 45 per cent. In the winter months the efficiency varied from 30 per cent in sunny coastal regions to less than 10 per cent in poluted urban areas. The same type of calculations were worked out for a combined solar-traditional space-heating system, including the investigation of the influence of some important parameters on the efficiency of the solar part of the system. Calculations show that in every polluted urban areas only low-temperature load heat exchangers are to be recommended; in the coastal and southern parts of the country, however, higher working temperature (50°C) is allowed which results in the average efficiency of the system of more than 25 per cent even if the worst month and even if the ordinary black-paint, double glazed collectors are used.