Performance investigation of a solar pond

Abstract

This work consists of both experimental and theoretical parts. In the experimental part, an insulated solar pond with a surface area of 4 m 2 and a depth of 1.5 m was built at Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey to conduct performance experiments. The system was filled with salty water of various densities to form three salty water zones (upper convective, non-convective and heat storage). During the months of January, May and August, a data acquisition device was used to measure and record the temperature readings at various locations in the pond (distributed vertically within and at the bottom of the pond, and horizontally and vertically within the insulated side-walls). In the theoretical part, we developed a performance model to determine the thermal efficiencies of the pond and its various zones. Temperature difference was seen to be the key driving force in heat transfer, particularly in heat rejection. As expected, the highest thermal efficiency was obtained for August as follows: 4.5% for the upper convective zone, 13.8% for the non-convective zone and 28.1% for the heat storage zone, respectively.