Study on shallow solar pond applications at Tehran

In this study, a theoretical model which is validated experimentally is used to predict the performance of a shallow solar pond in Tehran. The theoretical and experimental results show good agreement. The maximum hourly water temperature of the shallow solar pond is found to lag behind the maximum hourly ambient temperature and solar radiation by 1-2 and 3.5 h, respectively. The maximum monthly daily-average water temperature follows the trend of the monthly daily-average solar radiation but leads the monthly daily-average ambient temperature in one month. The shallow solar pond, with 10-cm water depth, cannot be used as a thermal source in winter but can be used for many thermal applications in summer. With 5-cm water depth, the shallow solar pond can be used as a thermal source for low heat applications in most of the winter but can be used, even for moderate applications, where high temperature up to 95°C is obtained in summer. Using a reflector makes the 10-cm depth shallow solar pond useful for low heat applications and the 5-cm depth useful for moderate heat applications in most of the winter. Using a double cover top glazing is found to have no effect on improving the system performance.