Abstract
Solar heating technologies hold a significant potential to supplement or replace the fossil fuel-driven heating systems in residential and industrial applications. This paper presents a techno-economic study aiming to assess the use of Unglazed Transpired Solar Collectors (UTSC) coupled with an energy system assisted by Exhaust Air Heat Pump (EAHP) in cold climates applied to a residential building cluster. The performance of the system and its components is assessed for different sizes of solar collector field. In addition, a rule-based algorithm is developed to manage the airflow into the UTSC, and a comparative analysis is carried out with conventional flow control. The existing EAHP assisted energy system of a multifamily building cluster in Sweden is modelled by using a simulation software TRNSYS, and the effects of the UTSCs integration on the performances of the energy system are evaluated. Results show that the integration of UTSCs has a small but positive impact on the overall system performance. Moreover, the developed control based on the variation of the collector airflow rate for UTSC is an effective control strategy to increase the seasonal performance factor of the overall system and to maximize the savings.
Highlights
The efforts for the decarbonisation of the global energy supply is primarily focused on increasing the share of renewables in the electricity generation sector by using solar photovoltaic, wind turbines, biomass, etc
This paper presents a techno-economic study aiming to assess the use of Unglazed Transpired Solar Collectors (UTSC) coupled with an energy system assisted by Exhaust Air Heat Pump (EAHP) in cold climates applied to a residential building cluster
The results show that the variation in the collector airflow rate can increase the savings up to 60% in a UTSC-Air source heat pump (ASHP) system configuration, and airflow control can be used as an effective control strategy to improve the collector and overall system performance
Summary
The efforts for the decarbonisation of the global energy supply is primarily focused on increasing the share of renewables in the electricity generation sector by using solar photovoltaic, wind turbines, biomass, etc. The use of solar thermal collectors for pre-heating of the ventilation air in residential and industrial buildings is studied and demonstrated in IEA SHC Task 14 on “advanced active solar energy systems”, with results well documented in the related deliverables (IEA, 1997). Solar air heating collectors capture the solar radiation using spectrally sensitive absorber surface and transfer the collected heat to a cold air stream using different techniques. The Unglazed Transpired Solar Collector (UTSC) is a type of solar air collector that makes use of a perforated absorber plate with high solar absorptivity coating to absorb the radiation and transfer the heat to the air stream (Hall et al, 2011). The passage of ambient air in the transpired solar collector and the connection ducts causes an additional pressure drop that is usually compensated by a fan. The inlet air from the collector perforations and Abbreviations: UTSC, Unglazed transpired solar collector; EAHP, Exhaust air heat pump; HP, Heat pump; ASHP, Air source heat pump; COP, Coefficient of performance; SCOP, Seasonal coefficient of performance; SPF, Seasonal performance factor; DHW, Domestic hot water; SH, Space heating; KPI, Key performance indicator
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