SOLAR WATER HEATER WITH SHELL AND HELICAL COILED

TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER AS A STORAGE TANK

*
Dr. Karima E. Amori Dr. Faiz F. Mustafa** SAHAR MAJEED*
*Mech. Eng. Dep., Univ. of Baghdad **Manufacturing Dept. ,Al-Khwarizmi Engineering Univ.

ABSTRACT
In this work an experimental study is performed to evaluate the thermal performance
of locally made closed loop solar hot water system using a shell and helical coiled tube
heat exchanger as a storage tank. Several measurements are taken include inlet and outlet
temperatures of both collector and supply water and temperature distribution within the
storage tank. This is beside the water flow rate in both collectors and load cycle. The
main parameters of the system are obtained.
ِِِ
Keywords: Solar, Flat plate collector, Storage tank, coiled tube.
‫الخلصاة‬
‫يتضمن العمل الحالي دراسة عملية لتقييم الداء الحراري لسخان شمسي مصنع محليا ذو خزان مكون من قشرة وأنبوب ملتف‬
‫ أجريت عدة قياسات لدرجة حرارة دخول وخروج الماء لكلل من المجمع الشمسي والخزان و ماء‬. ‫حلزونيا كمبادل حراري‬
. ‫ هذا بالضافة الى قياس معدل تدوير الماء في المجمع وماء الستهلكا‬. ‫ و توزيع درجات الحرارة داخل الخزان‬, ‫الستهلكا‬
.‫تم التوصل الى تحديد المؤثرات الرئيسية المتحكمة بالمنظومة‬

INTRODUCTION
Solar hot water systems function as heat exchangers. They receive solar radiant
energy and transfer it to the flowing fluid. The performance of solar systems varies as the
design variables change, so it is necessary therefore to predict the parameters affecting
this design and the operational variables.
Keltt et.al.(1984) studied experimentally the thermal performance of submerged coil
heat exchangers for single wall coil and double wall coil for different tank sizes namely
(300L and 450 L) for different load flow rates. Khalifa (1999) investigated a
thermosyphon domestic hot water system to show the important variables that affect the
performance of the solar system such as the temperature variation along the absorber fins,
tubes and in the flow direction as well as the thermosyphonic mass flow rate. The design
of an efficient heat exchanger has been investigated by Shokouhmand et.. al. (2008) with
different coil pitches and curvature ratios. An enhancement in heat transfer rate is
obtained due to the centrifugal force due to the curvature of the tube, results in the
secondary flow development. The objective of the present work is to evaluate the thermal
performance of a locally made solar hot water system for two cases; first the storage tank
is of type shell and helical coiled tube heat exchanger and second a car radiator inserted
inside a shell used as a storage tank

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experimental apparatus shown in fig.(1) consist of a flat plate solar collector
(2m *0.7m ) in size made of mat black painted copper sheet (form the absorber plate) of
thickness (0.7 mm). Seven copper tube risers of (3/8 " i.e 9.5 mm) diameter are welded to
two copper headers of (7/8 " i.e 22.2 mm) diameter, and all welded to the absorber which
in turn is fixed in wood box of (25 mm) thickness and covered by single glass panel of (4
mm) thickness. Glass wool insulation of (10 mm) is used to cover each side and back

1
face of the absorber to minimize heat losses. The collector is mounted at a tilt angle of
(33.3o) from horizontal faces south. The storage tank is of type shell and helical coiled
tube, the shell was a cylinder of (0.4 m diameter and 1 m height) made of Galvanized
plate of 20 BWG have four ports (two inlets and two outlets), it is wrapped with (10
mm) glass wool insulation. To prevent pressure build up the tank was equipped with a
pressure relief valve. A (0.6 m) height coiled tube is made by winding copper tube of (3/8
" i.e 9.5 mm) diameter around a cylinder to form (0.25 m outside coil diameter) , a spacer
was placed between each two consecutive coil turns to ensure a uniform pitch along the
coil which was (0.05 m). For all temperature measurements (18) copper constantan
thermocouples are connected to a digital electronic thermometer with a resolution of (0.1
o
C) through (20) channel selector switch.

Test procedure
The experimental tests are carried out during July 2008 from (8:30 to 16:00). At the
beginning of each test the rig should be drained out from air then the water is circulated
at a flow rate of 0.2 m3/hr (the minimum reading of the flow meter used ). All
temperatures are recorded for different load flow rates: no load, 900 mL/hr and 450
mL/hr ) which were measured by using graduated cylinder and stop watch. The selected
load flow rates represent evacuating the storage tank once , twice and four times a day
respectively.

THEORY
Thermal analysis is covered in many solar thermal engineering texts (Duffi &
Beckman, and Lunde). Therefore, only equations which describe the thermal performance
of the system will be described in this paper.

Actual Collector and supply Useful Energy Gain

For collector closed loop cycle the hourly useful energy gain can be calculated by:

Q coll  m coll C p (T2  T1 )

(1)

Q sup  m sup C p (T17  T16 )

(2)

Where

Q coll heat transferred in W, m  mass flow rate (kg/s) , C p water specific heat (J/kg.K)

and Ti measured temperature at location i (oC) .

Effectiveness of Heat Exchanger

To define the heat transfer rate of the heat exchanger, the conventional definition of
the effectiveness (  ) can be used , it can be written for the storage tank as:

2
 m  c p ) sup . * (T17  T16 )

m  c p ) min (T13  T16 )
(3)

Where ( m c p ) min is the lesser value of hot or cold fluid in the storage tank

In the case of no load (i.e. m c p ) min is zero ) this equation is not appropriate , Klett
et. Al. (1984) defines the effectiveness for the storage tank in terms of an average tank
temperature, TST computed as the average of several temperatures taken along the tank
centerline (i.e.)

TST  (T3  T4  T5  T6  T7 ) / 5 (4)

Hence the effectiveness can be defined as

(T13  T14 )
 1
(T13  TST )
(5)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Several performance tests were obtained to investigate the collector alone and the
SWH system. Fig. (2) shows the temperature difference (∆T) across the collector obtained
when it is tested alone for two flow rates namely (450 mL/min and 1100 mL/min), it is
clear that high flow rate leads to approximately uniform the temperature difference along
the day, which is agrees with the enhancement of heat transfer due to the increasing of
flow rate (Nusselt No. proportions with fluid velocity). The increase in water temperature
across the collector was in the range of 10-54 oC as indicated by table (1) and Fig.(2).
For solar water heater (collector and storage tank), Fig.(3) shows the variation of
collector inlet, outlet and ambient temperatures which is found to follow with some time
lag due to thermal capacity.

Stratification In The shell and coiled tube Storage Tank

The stratification phenomena is indicated in the storage tank in the present work, this
phenomena demonstrate the conduction heat transfer mode of water when it is classified
as not mixed thermal layers. Figures (4, 5 and 6) show the stratification along the
centerline of the storage tank at different times of the day for different continuous load
flow rates namely zero , 450 mL/min and 900 mL/min respectively while the collector
(closed loop) flow rate was (0.2 m3/hr ). It is clear that the temperature increases with
time (reaches the peak after solar noon ) then drops slowly. More heat is conserved in the
storage tank as the rate of hot withdrawal reduces.

Effect of Load Flow Rate

Figure (7) shows that increasing the load flow rate (which is the flow rate extracted by
the user) decreases the inlet and outlet temperatures of the helical coiled tube for the
same closed loop circulation flow rate which was (0.2 m3/hr or 3333 mL/min). This

3
means that the heat removed by the supply water is higher for high flow rates since heat
transfer coefficient is increases with increasing Reynolds No. The same trend is shown in
figs.(8) and (9) where the calculated heat removed by load is higher for higher flow rates
but for the period after solar noon the lower flow rates remove higher values , this is due
to the stratification effect in the storage tank which was higher (refer to figs.(5 and 6)).
The clear oscillations in the maximum and minimum values of the calculated useful heat
gain in fig's.(8 &9) are due to the oscillations in the hourly calculated temperature
differences between collector's outlet and inlet temperatures for both load flow rates
(refer to fig.(3) and eq.(1) for load flow rate of 900 mL/min).

Effectiveness of The Storage Tank

The effectiveness of the storage tank is shown in fig.(10), it starts at high value and
drops to rise again to the peak value then drops again rapidly. At the last day hour's the
effectiveness rises rapidly due to the stratification effects in the storage tank.

Effect of Type of Heat Exchanger Type

Tests have been conducted when inserting a Brazilian car radiator in the storage tank
instead of the helical coiled tube to examine the thermal performance of them in the solar
hot water system. Figure(11) shows the hourly inlet and exit temperature also the
temperature difference of the circulating hot water for both coiled tube and radiator for no
load , 0.45 L/min and 1.0 L/min load flow rate while the circulating flow rate was 0.2
m3/hr . A valuable hourly temperature variations are obtained due to the differences in the
design configurations between the coiled tube and radiator. The later gives better results
than the first, where larger temperature differences indicated for the same load flow rate.

CONCLUSION
This work shows that the system thermal behavior is sensitive to any part and can
be enhanced further by investigating the design parameters and material selections.
The following concluding remarks can be drawn during this work
 The stratification obtained in the storage tank is affected strongly on the collector
inlet temperature.
 The stratification obtained in the storage tank is related strongly to the type of
load rate (or load withdrawal pattern).
 Increasing the flow rate of the load decreases the stratification in the storage tank
 The effectiveness of the storage tank (shell and coiled tube ) reaches
approximately 78% for (450 mL/min) load flow rate.
 Using car radiator instead of the coiled tube enhances the thermal performance of
the storage tank.

4
 Table (1): Measured Inlet And Outlet Temperature For Collector
When Tested Alone on 14 - 15/7/2008

Circulation rate

m• =0.45 l/min m• =1.1 l/min

Tamb=36 oC 14-7-2008 Tamb=38 oC 15-7-2008
No. Time
Tin Tout ∆T Tin Tout ∆T

1 11:00 32 53 21 29 43 14

2 11:15 33 63 30 30 43 13

3 11:30 34 65 31 30 43 13

4 11:45 35 66 31 30 44 14

5 12:00 38 83 45 30 44 14

6 12:15 40 93 53 31 45 14

7 12:30 42 96 54 31 45 14

8 12:45 42 97 55 31 46 15

9 13:00 42 97 55 30 46 16

10 13:15 42 96 54 30 45 15

11 13:30 42 96 54 30 44 14

12 13:45 42 96 54 30 42 12

13 14:00 42 96 54 30 42 12

14 14:30 36 89 53 30 41 11

15 15:00 36 82 46 30 40 10

5
 v e n t v a lv e

13 12 17
2 7
s u p p ly o u t

11
R 6
TO

230 m m
EC
LL

1 m
5 10
CO

1
4 9
F lo w m e te r 14 s u p p ly in
(ta p w a te r)

PUM P 3 8
400 m m 16
STORAGE TANK

Fig.(1): Configuration of the Solar Water Heater

60 46
c o lle c t o r
1 4 a n d 1 5 /7 /2 0 0 8
55 flo w r a t e

4 5 0 m L /m in 44
50 1 1 0 0 m L /m in

42
45

40 40

35
DT ( C)

T (C )

38
30

25 36

20
34
c o lle c . flo w r a te
15 = 0 .2 m 3 /h r

32 a m b ie n t
10 c o lle c . in
c o lle c . o u t
5 30

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
T im e (h r ) T im e (h r )
Fig.(2): Collector Outlet-Inlet Temperature Fig.(3): Time Variation of Inlet, Outlet &
Difference for different flow rates Ambient Temperature for 900 mL/min
supply load (18-7-2008)

6
 70 56
lo a d 0 .4 5 L /m in

7
65 52 6
5
60
48 4
3
55
44

50
T ( C)

T( C)
40
45

36
40 th e r m o c o u p le
No.

7 32
35
6
5
30 28
4
3
25 24

5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
T im e (h r ) T im e (h r )
Fig.(4): Temperature Variation in Storage Fig.(5): Temperature Variation in Storage
Tank With no Load of Water Supply on Tank With Load (450 mL/min) on
19-7-2008 At Baghdad 19-7-2008 At Baghdad

7
 1000 1000
4 5 0 m L /m in
0 .9 L /m in
900 900 c o lle c .
c o lle c .
s u p p ly
s u p p ly
800 800

700 700

600 600

h e a t (W )
h e a t (W )

500 500

400 400

300 300

200 200

100 100
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
tim e (h r ) tim e (h r )
Fig.(8): Hourly Collector Useful Gain and Fig.(9): Hourly Collector Useful Gain
Heat Transferred to Supply Water and Heat Transferred to Supply Water
(900 mL/min Load) (450 mL/min Load)

56 60
lo a d 0 .9 L /m in T 1 3 (0 .4 5 L /h r )
7 T 1 3 (0 .9 L /h r)
52 56
6
T 1 4 (0 .4 5 L /h r )
5
T 1 4 (0 .9 L /h r)
48 4
52
3

44 48
T( C)

T (C )

40 44

36 40

32 36

28 32

24 28
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
T im e (h r ) T im e (h r )
Fig.(6): Temperature Variation in Storage Fig.(7): Effect of Supply Water Load Flow
Tank With Load (900 mL/min) on (18-7- Rate on Helical Coiled Inlet And Outlet
2008) At Baghdad Temperature Hourly Variation

8
 0 .8 0

0 .7 0

0 .6 0
e ffe c tiv e n e s s

0 .5 0

0 .4 0

0 .3 0

0 .2 0 4 5 0 m L /m in
9 0 0 m L /m in

0 .1 0

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
T im e (h r )
Fig.(10): Hourly Calculated Shell and Helical Coiled Tube Heat Exchanger
(Storage Tank) Effectiveness
60 16
r a d ia t o r
14 c o ile d

55
12

10
50
T e m p .(C )

D T (C )

8
in c o ile d

45 o u t c o ile d
6
in r a d ia to r
o u t r a d ia to r
4
40
2

35 0
1 4 .6 1 4 .8 1 5 .0 1 5 .2 1 5 .4 1 5 .6 1 4 .6 1 4 .8 1 5 .0 1 5 .2 1 5 .4 1 5 .6
lo c a l tim e (h r ) (a) lo c a l tim e (h r ) (b)

9
 60 16
r a d ia to r
in le t
58 c o ile d
14
c o ile d tu b e 0 .4 5 l/m in
56 o u t le t lo a d flo w r a te
12
54
10
T e m p . (C )

52

D T (C )
8
50 in le t
r a d ia to r 6
48

46
4

44 2

42 0
1 2 .5 1 3 .0 1 3 .5 1 4 .0 1 4 .5
1 2 .4 1 2 .8 1 3 .2 1 3 .6 1 4 .0 1 4 .4
T im e (h r ) (c) lo c a l tim e (h r ) (d)
48 16
r a d ia t o r
14 c o ile d
0 .9 l/m in
44 lo a d flo w r a te
12

10
40
T e m p .(C )

D T (C )

in c o ile d 8
o u t c o ile d
36 in r a d ia to r 6
o u t r a d ia t o r
4
32
2

28 0
9 .0 1 0 .0 1 1 .0 1 2 .0 1 3 .0 9 .0 1 0 .0 1 1 .0 1 2 .0 1 3 .0
lo c a l tim e (h r ) (e) lo c a l tim e (h r ) (f)

Fig.(11): Effect of Type of Inserted Tube In The Storage Tank on The Hot Water Inlet & Exit
Temp. and Temp. Difference. a,b)no Load, c,d)0.45L/min e,f)1.0L/min load flow rate)

REFERENCES:
Duffi J. A.,and Beckman W. A. (1974)"Solar Energy Thermal Process ", John Wiley &
sons Inc. New York.

Khalifa A. N.,(1999),"Thermal Performance Of Locally Made Flat Plate Solar Collectors

Used As Part Of A Domestic Hot Water System", Energy Conversion & Management 40,
PP. 1825-1833

Klett D.E.,Goswami D.Y.,and Saad M.T. (1984),"Thermal Performance Of Submerged

Coil Heat Exchangers Used In Solar Energy Storage Tanks", Journal of Solar Energy
Engineering, Aug., vol. 106, PP. 373-375

Lunde P. (1980) ,"Solar Thermal engineering, Space heating and hot Water Systems",
John Wiley & sons Inc. New York.

10
Myrna Dayan, (1997),"High Performance In Low Flow Solar Domestic Hot Water
Systems", MSc. Thesis Mechanical Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Shokouhmand H., Salimpour M.R. and Akhavan-Behabadi M.A.,(2008),"Experimental

Investigation Of Shell And Coiled Tube Heat Exchangers Using Wilson Plots",
International Communications In Heat And Mass Transfer, 35, PP. 84-92

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