PCM integrated glass in glass tube solar collector for low and medium temperature applications: Thermodynamic & techno-economic approach

In present work, techno-economic and thermodynamic analysis of an ETC with/without PCM has been undertaken. The results approved that for all selected flow rates, ETC/S obtained higher energy and exergy efficiencies in comparison to the ETC/WS design. The maximum attained value of average daily energy efficiency for ETC/S and ETC/WS was 78.36% and 54.10% respectively with a high flow rate (24 L/h). Also, at this flow rate, ETC/S and ETC/WS attained peak value of average daily exergy efficiency of 23.15% and 20.06% respectively. The average daily energy efficiency of ETC/S was found to be 53.46%, 30.87%, and 44.85% higher in comparison to ETC/WS for low (8 L/h), medium (16 L/h) and high (24 L/h) flow rate respectively. Hence, the integration of SA (stearic acid) as energy storage material with HP-ETC not only stored the thermal energy but also enhanced the system performance. Furthermore, the techno-economic study revealed that the cost of production of hot water by ETC/S has been found to be lowest compared with ETC/WS and electric geyser. This analysis showed that ETC/S system has a promising potential in terms of supply of hot water from low to medium temperature range at a cheaper rate at lower payback period.