Title: Investigation on the exergy performance of salt gradient solar ponds with porous media

Authors: Hua Wang; Liu Gang Zhang; Yan Yang Mei

Addresses: Energy and Power Engineering Department, Henan Polytechnic University, 2001 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, China ' Energy and Power Engineering Department, Henan Polytechnic University, 2001 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, China ' Energy and Power Engineering Department, Henan Polytechnic University, 2001 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, China

Abstract: The exergy performance of solar pond with porous media added in the lower convective zone (LCZ) has been experimentally and theoretically studied. The effect is investigated under three cases, which are solar pond without adding any porous media (case A), with cinder (case B) and with multi-type porous media of cinder and cobblestones (case C), respectively. The results show case C gains the highest LCZ temperature and exergy efficiency, and case A has the lowest temperature and efficiency; and the maximum transient exergy efficiencies of the three cases are found to be 19.23%, 19.83% and 21.61%, respectively. The daily mean exergy efficiency of case C is 2.66% higher than case A, and 1.87% higher than case B. The results indicate that adding porous media, i.e., cinder or the mixture of cinder and cobblestones increases the LCZ temperature of solar pond, and it also improves the exergy performance of solar pond.

Keywords: salt gradient solar pond; porous media; experiment; exergy performance; temperature evolution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2018.088886

International Journal of Exergy, 2018 Vol.25 No.1, pp.34 - 53

Received: 11 Feb 2017
Accepted: 28 Jul 2017
Published online: 22 Dec 2017 *

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