KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF SOLAR THERMAL AND

HYDRONIC FLOOR HEATING SYSTEM

PROJECT MEMBERS PROJECT SUPERVISOR

Shradhha Kuikel(32134) Prof. Dr. Bivek Baral
Akriti Thapa(32148) Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sunil Singh(015143) PROJECT COORDINATOR
Mr. Niranjan Bastakoti
Department of Mechanical Engineering
SIGNIFICANCE

• To study wide range of

parameters which would not
be as feasible in experimental
approach.
PRESENTATION CONTENTS
1. Objectives
2. Significance
3. Introduction
4. Methodology
5. Results and Findings
6. Limitations
7. Gantt Chart
8. Work Accomplished
9. Conclusion and Recomendations
10.References
 OBJECTIVES
• To study and calculate the area, different losses
and efficiency of the collector of solar water
heating system.

• To determine the temperature variation in

concrete slab in hydronic floor heating system
by using computational analysis
 INTRODUCTION
CENTRAL HEATING SYSTEM
• Provision of central heating and hot water from solar energy in
which the water is heated centrally by arrays of solar thermal
collector and distributed through district heating pipe networks.

• Hydronic Floor Heating System

In hydronic floor heating, pipes are embedded into the concrete floor,
or underneath the plywood floor.
Tubes are laid beneath the flooring which carry hot water during
system’s operation in the heating season.
Because the heat emitted from an underfloor system is more evenly
distributed than a single radiator, the system can use water at a lower
temperature.
It's a more efficient way of heating the home.
 Collector Types
BATCH COLLECTORS, also called INTEGRATED COLLECTOR-
STORAGE (ICS) systems, heat water in dark tanks or tubes
within an insulated box, storing water until drawn.
• Water can remain in the collector for long periods of time if
household demand is low, making it very hot.

FLAT-PLATE COLLECTORS typically consist of copper tubes fitted

to flat absorber plates.

• The most common configuration is a series of parallel tubes

connected at each end by two pipes, the inlet and outlet
manifolds.

EVACUATED TUBE COLLECTORS are the most efficient collectors

available.
• Each evacuated tube is similar to a thermos in principle.
• A glass or metal tube containing the water or heat transfer
fluid is surrounded by a larger glass tube.
• The space between them is a vacuum, so very little heat is
lost from the fluid.
• Can cost twice as much per square foot as flat plate
collectors.
 CIRCULATION SYSTEMS
DIRECT SYSTEMS
• circulate water through solar collectors where it is heated by the sun.
• The heated water is then stored in a tank, sent to a tankless water heater, or used
directly.
• These systems are preferable in climates where it rarely freezes.

ClOSED-LOOP, OR INDIRECT, SYSTEMS

• use a non-freezing liquid to transfer heat from the sun to water in a storage tank.
• Then, this fluid passes through a heat exchanger in the storage tank, transferring
the heat to the water.
• The non-freezing fluid then cycles back to the collectors.

ACTIVE, OR FORCED-CIRCULATION, SYSTEMS

• use electric pumps, valves and controllers to move water from the collectors to
the storage tank.

PASSIVE SYSTEMS
• require no pumps.
• Natural convection moves water from the collectors to the storage tank as it heats
up.
COMPONENTS OF HYDRONIC FLOOR
HEATING SYSTEM
• The heat source: A boiler or heat pump supplies heat to the
system by heating the water that is pumped through it.
• Primary pipework carries the heat from the heat source to
the manifold(s).
• Manifolds distribute the heat to the underfloor pipe loops.
• Pipe loops, with hot water flowing through them, heat the
floor, typically at least 1 loop for every 20m2 of heated floor
area.
• Controller switches the heat source on and off, and directs
the heat to where it is needed to heat the rooms to the
desired temperature.
Figure 5 Schematic diagram of hydronic heating system
METHODOLOGY
CALCULATION OF SOLAR COLLECTOR
AREA AND NO. OF COLLECTOR
To calculate the number of FPC-A32 solar collector where
4kW power required.
Total Power Output = Total Area x Solar Irradiance x
Conversion Efficiency
• Total Area = = =

• Therefore, 8 number of collector are required to generate

4kW power.
Plots
After the calculation of solar radiation using diffuse and beam
radiation data
Ploting of solar radiation with time for the 28th October,2009.
The graph of Efficiency against (Tinlet -
Ta)/Ic is plotted
RESISTANCE VS. INSULATION
 PHYSICAL MODEL

re 5. Dimension of the room using Solvespace

Figure: Dimension of the room(in m)

 CALCULATING HEATING LOAD

•Conductivity of glass (K glass) =0.7443W/mk

•Conductivity of concrete (K concrete) =0.92W/mk
•Conductivity of brick (K brick) =0.72W/mk
•Conductivity of plaster (K plaster) =0.74W/mk
•Conductivity of asbestos (K asbestos) =0.154W/mk
•Conductivity of RCC (K RCC) =9W/mk
•Heat transfer coefficient for door = 0.64W/m2k

Heat loss through the wall,

=+
=0.480
U = 2.08 W/m2k
Heat loss through the wall,
Assuming worst winter temperature for Kathmandu
valley=273k
PART HEAT LOSS (Q)/W
• Q=UAdt

For infiltration loss WALL 1 274.14

Q=1.2*(1000*v*2/3600) *20
WALL 2 289.12
=350W
Total heat loss WALL 1’ 222.14
=2.38KW
WALL 2’ 312.00
DOOR 23.04

WINDOWS 462.88
ROOF 455.70
 MATHEMATICAL MODELLING

Figure: The floor construction the homogenous floor

• If the surface temperature of system is altered, the

temperature at each point in the system will also begin to
change.
• The change will continue to occur until a steady-state
temperature distribution is reached.
• As the heat from the fluid (water) inside the pipe flows
outward changes the temperature over the slab which
varies with time
• So, for this we have considered the heat transfer
process from the pipe to the slab to be 2-
dimensional transient heat conduction.

• The 2-dimensional heat equation is

=

• Using separation of variables to find the general

solution for the heat equation
T(x, y, t)=
• The general solution for the o 1D heat equation in y-
direction is

• The general solution for 2D heat equation

Calculation for surface temperature of
pipe
Inlet temperature of water in pipe=47
Outlet temperature of water =45
Velocity of water(u)=0.6m/s
Diameter of pipe=28mm
Kinematic viscosity(v)=m2/s
Re==
Therefore, the flow is turbulent.
S.No. Parameters Formulae

1 Bulk mean Tb
temperature

4. Specific heat capacity Cp 4179.5J/kgK

4 Nusselts number Nu=0.023Re0.8Prn 146.36

5 Convective heat h= 3
transfer coefficient
6 Mass flow rate kg/s
7 Surface Temperature Ts=
of pipe
 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
Based on boundary condition temperature within the domain
changes as function of position and time.
Dirichlet Boundary Conditions: Temperature is specified at
boundary.

T=15

T=15 T=15

Ts =42
RESULT AND FINDINGS

Figure : Temperature vs Distance

The plate takes 21560 seconds i.e.5.8 hours Color Temperature
to reach steady-state temperature. Red dot
Red dot 26.48
is 26.48 which is about 9cm away from pipe.
Green dot 23.51
Therefore, appropriate thickness of concrete
Blue dot 20.63
was found to be 9cm .
Figure: Temperature vs time iteration for 2-D transient
heat transfer
 LIMITATIONS

• The project is limited only to computer

simulation, experimental procedures will not
be performed to verify the result.
• Since only concrete slab is considered, use
of different material may change the
outcome.
GANTT CHART
WORKS ACCOMPLISHED

• Literature review on solar thermal and hydronic

floor heating system .
• Graphs were generated and accessed using
MATLAB for calculations of solar irradiance on the
surface area of the collector, and overall heat loss
parameters and efficiency of the collector.
• Mathematical modelling of the 2-Dimensional
transient heat conduction was done.
• Graph of temperature distribution over the slab
after reaching steady state was plotted with varying
length and width.
• Finally, required depth for the pipe was found to be
9cm below the concrete slab.
CONCLUSION AND RECCOMENDATION

• Initially solar irradiance, area of collector, efficiency of

collector were determined.
• Furthermore, we calculated the heat load estimation for the
selected reference room and calculated the flow rate
required.
• From the general solution of the 2D transient heat equation
we plotted the graph of temperature with respect to the
depth of the concrete floor in MATLAB.
• For more accurate evaluation of the system which was only
analyzed by mathematical modeling, experimental
observation and calculation can be performed.
 REFRENCES

[1]Alternative Energy Tutorials. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.alternative-energy-

tutorials.com/solar-hot-water/evacuated-tube-collector.html
[2]Apricus Solar Hot Water. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.apricus.com/flat-plate-
solar-collectors-3/#.XTivvOgzZPY.
[3]Duffie, J. A. (1991). Solar engineering of thermal processes. New York: Wiley.
[4]Frank O. Incopera, D. P. (2014). Fundamentals of Heat and Mass TRansfer. John
Wiley and Sons.
[5]Iordanou, G. (2009). Flate plate solar collectors for water heating with improved
heat transfer for application in climatic conditions of the Mediterranean Region.
( Durham University) Retrieved from http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/174/1/
[6]Sukhatme, S. (2009). SOLAR ENERGY Principles of Thermal Collection and
Storage. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Private Limited.
[7]Walker, A. (2013). Solar Energy Technology and project. New Delhi: Wiley India Pvt
Ltd.
[8]Xing Jin, X. Z. (20 February, 2010). A calculation method for the floor surface
temperature in radiant floor system. Energy and Builing, 6.
[9]Yunus A. Cengel, A. J. (2016). Heat and Mass Transfer. Mc Graw Hill
THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND

ATTENTION !