Thermal Performance Evaluation of Solar Hot Water System according to Flow Rate Control

유량제어방식에 따른 태양열 급탕시스템의 열성능 평가

In this study, the performance and behavior of solar heating system according to the system control scheme, variable flow control (proportional control) and constant flow control (on-off control) was carried out by experiment. The on-off control is used generally for solar thermal system by now. But the proportional control is used for the solar district heating system which is supplied the higher temperature of water than that of desired. The proportional control logic that pump speed is varied in an attempt to maintain a specified outlet temperature of solar heating system was developed and tested for the use widely for the small and medium solar thermal system. The results are as following. First, the proportional controller which is made here could be adopted the characteristics for setting temperature control. Second, the proportional control is better than the on-off control in the side of the performance of thermal stratification in storage tank. Third, the operating energy(electricity consumption by pump) of solar thermal system can be saved more than 60% using the proportional control comparing to the on-off control.