Thermal Analysis of Salinity Gradient Solar Pond in Nagpur City

Abstract

A salinity gradient solar pond is one of the technologies which can collect and store thermal energy. It consists of three zones, upper convective zone, non-convective zone, and lower convective zone. The thermal energy received from the sun is stored in the lower convective zone and can be extracted for different low temperature applications. The amount of energy extracted is significantly influenced by the climatic conditions of the location. In this present study, a computational thermal model is used to investigate the behavior of solar pond. The temperature of the lower convective zone is very much influenced by the selection of commencing day of heat extraction. The impact of the rate of heat extraction and commencing day of heat extraction on the temperature behavior of the lower convective zone is reported. It is found that the temperature achieved by LCZ decreases with the rise in the rate of heat extraction. The thermal behavior of the solar pond should be precisely investigated before the selection of commencing day of heat extraction for the particular location.