Method for Sizing of Solar Storage Tank Considering Domestic Hot Water Load Profiles
Abstract
The storage tank of the solar thermal system is installed as a type of thermal buffer, because the time to accumulate the solar energy and the time to use the gathered energy do not match. The amount of water to store the excess collector output and return it when needed varies depending on the load profile. Therefore, the load profile should be considered when designing the storage tank. Even though the amounts of loads are equal, the required capacity of the storage tank varies with time when the load occurs. In order to use solar energy as much as possible, i.e. to increase the solar fraction of the system, the size of the storage tank should be estimated according to the load profile.