Comparison of Thermal Behavior of Solar Ponds with Flat (or Conventional) and Corrugated Bottom

The heat extraction from the lower convective zone or storage zone of salinity gradient solar pond with corrugated bottom is investigated with the aim of increasing the overall efficiency of collecting solar radiation, storing heat and delivering this heat to different applications. The energy balance equations for each zone have been used to develop the expression of temperature distribution in the solar pond. Then this equation has been used to develop the equation for efficiency of the solar pond. The analysis is based on the boundary conditions at the interface between the zones and the matching conditions. In this method, heat is extracted from the storage zone of the solar pond. A theoretical analysis is conducted to obtain expression for the variation of temperature with depth of solar pond. The dependence of the energy efficiency of the solar pond on the thickness of storage zone, temperature of delivered heat, variation combinations of the pond and storage zone heat extraction only explored. The theoretical analysis suggests that heat extraction from the storage zone has the potential to increase the overall efficiency of a solar pond delivering heat at a relatively high temperature by up to 50 %, compared with the conventional solar pond method of heat extraction solely from the storage zone. The potential gain in efficiency using storage zone heat extraction is attributed to the storage zone that can be achieved with this method. The results are then obtained by computer simulation. The effects of system and operating parameters of the solar pond like area enhancement factor (β), heat extraction rate, heat capacity rate and depth of the pond on the temperature distribution and efficiency have been developed. It has been found that the temperature distribution in the solar pond is a strong function of system and operating parameters.