Analysis of the Optimum Solar Collector Installation Angle from the Viewpoint of Energy Use Patterns

• Main Authors: Yong-Joon Jun, Young-Hak Song, Dae-Young Kim, Kyung-Soon Park
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-11-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: solar energy; energy simulation; solar hot water supply system
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/11/1753

While solar energy is the most efficient energy source for heating, many problems can occur when the capacity selection of the system is wrong: a definite possibility in a place where the seasonal climate change is large, such as Korea. For example, if a system is designed for use in the winter, the system will be overloaded if it does not discard the energy it collects during the summer months. Conversely, if the capacity of the system is in accordance with the summer season demand, it will be necessary to input supplementary energy in the winter season. Solar energy also depends on the altitude and azimuth of the sun, and the amount of energy collected on the slope depends on the latitude of the area in which it is installed. Therefore, this study is divided into investigating the collection energy, heat radiation energy and auxiliary energy input according to the installation angle of the solar collector and the capacity of the heat storage tank according to latitude of the installation area. To this end, we formulate appropriate energy equations. Simulation coding was performed to track the temperature changes in each part. Additionally, we considered the amount of solar energy that can be effectively used, not simply the amount of solar energy collected, by substituting the actual hot water usage schedule.