IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i18p10270-d635240.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Cost-Effective and Efficient Electronic Design for Photovoltaic Systems for Solar Hot Water Production

Author

Listed:
  • Luis Cámara-Díaz

    (Department of Electrical Engineering and Automatics, Campus of Rabanales, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain)

  • José Ramírez-Faz

    (Department of Electrical Engineering and Automatics, Campus of Rabanales, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain)

  • Rafael López-Luque

    (Department of Applied Physics, Radiology and Physical Medicine, Campus of Rabanales, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain)

  • Francisco José Casares

    (Department of Electrical Engineering and Automatics, Campus of Rabanales, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain)

Abstract

A significant percentage of energy consumption in buildings is to produce hot water. Photovoltaic solar heating can be considered a clean and renewable energy option—easy to install, silent, and without maintenance—to replace the consumption of fossil fuels used in this process. This paper presents a study that simulates the heating process using thermal electrical resistors powered by photovoltaic solar energy. For this purpose, a solar hot water installation has been set up. This installation consists of a water tank with an electric resistance connected to photovoltaic modules by means of a low-cost experimental electronic conversion system. This electronic system has been developed to avoid the need for inverters or batteries, typical of traditional photovoltaic solar installations. It is an isolated system since it is not connected to the power grid. The photovoltaic solar modules, the tank, and its heating resistance correspond to commercial models. This electronic system has a 95.06% yield, and it operates across the whole irradiance’s daily curve, having verified its operation over several months. Even though this is an experimental electronic device, it is financially viable as the cost of its components is below EUR 60 per kW peak capacity. The results obtained in a proper functioning system are promising, demonstrating the technical feasibility and economic advantages of using this type of isolated photovoltaic system to power heating processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis Cámara-Díaz & José Ramírez-Faz & Rafael López-Luque & Francisco José Casares, 2021. "A Cost-Effective and Efficient Electronic Design for Photovoltaic Systems for Solar Hot Water Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-21, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10270-:d:635240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10270/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10270/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meyers, Steven & Schmitt, Bastian & Vajen, Klaus, 2018. "Renewable process heat from solar thermal and photovoltaics: The development and application of a universal methodology to determine the more economical technology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1537-1552.
    2. Panagiotidou, Maria & Aye, Lu & Rismanchi, Behzad, 2020. "Solar driven water heating systems for medium-rise residential buildings in urban mediterranean areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 556-569.
    3. Lin, W.M. & Chang, K.C. & Chung, K.M., 2015. "Payback period for residential solar water heaters in Taiwan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 901-906.
    4. Lugo, S. & García-Valladares, O. & Best, R. & Hernández, J. & Hernández, F., 2019. "Numerical simulation and experimental validation of an evacuated solar collector heating system with gas boiler backup for industrial process heating in warm climates," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1120-1132.
    5. Klamka, Jonas & Wolf, André & Ehrlich, Lars G., 2020. "Photovoltaic self-consumption after the support period: Will it pay off in a cross-sector perspective?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 2374-2386.
    6. Wang, Xinru & Xia, Liang & Bales, Chris & Zhang, Xingxing & Copertaro, Benedetta & Pan, Song & Wu, Jinshun, 2020. "A systematic review of recent air source heat pump (ASHP) systems assisted by solar thermal, photovoltaic and photovoltaic/thermal sources," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 2472-2487.
    7. Brinkley, Jordyn & Jiang, Lun & Widyolar, Bennett & Hota, Sai Kiran & Bhusal, Yogesh & Diaz, Gerardo & Winston, Roland, 2020. "Thermal, electrical, and cost study of advanced optical photovoltaic thermal system (ADOPTS)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    8. Casanovas-Rubio, Maria del Mar & Armengou, Jaume, 2018. "Decision-making tool for the optimal selection of a domestic water-heating system considering economic, environmental and social criteria: Application to Barcelona (Spain)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 741-753.
    9. Fuentes, E. & Arce, L. & Salom, J., 2018. "A review of domestic hot water consumption profiles for application in systems and buildings energy performance analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1530-1547.
    10. Sharma, Ashish K. & Sharma, Chandan & Mullick, Subhash C. & Kandpal, Tara C., 2017. "Solar industrial process heating: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 124-137.
    11. Jack, M.W. & Suomalainen, K. & Dew, J.J.W. & Eyers, D., 2018. "A minimal simulation of the electricity demand of a domestic hot water cylinder for smart control," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 104-112.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francisco Álvarez-Sánchez & Jassón Flores-Prieto & Octavio García-Valladares, 2021. "Annual Thermal Performance of an Industrial Hybrid Direct–Indirect Solar Air Heating System for Drying Applications in Morelos-México," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Kutlu, Cagri & Zhang, Yanan & Elmer, Theo & Su, Yuehong & Riffat, Saffa, 2020. "A simulation study on performance improvement of solar assisted heat pump hot water system by novel controllable crystallization of supercooled PCMs," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 601-612.
    3. Yildiz, Baran & Roberts, Mike & Bilbao, Jose I. & Heslop, Simon & Bruce, Anna & Dore, Jonathon & MacGill, Iain & Egan, Renate J. & Sproul, Alistair B., 2021. "Assessment of control tools for utilizing excess distributed photovoltaic generation in domestic electric water heating systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    4. Pomianowski, M.Z. & Johra, H. & Marszal-Pomianowska, A. & Zhang, C., 2020. "Sustainable and energy-efficient domestic hot water systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    5. Josué F. Rosales-Pérez & Andrés Villarruel-Jaramillo & José A. Romero-Ramos & Manuel Pérez-García & José M. Cardemil & Rodrigo Escobar, 2023. "Hybrid System of Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal Technologies for Industrial Process Heat," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-45, February.
    6. Gil, Juan D. & Topa, A. & Álvarez, J.D. & Torres, J.L. & Pérez, M., 2022. "A review from design to control of solar systems for supplying heat in industrial process applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    7. Schoeneberger, Carrie A. & McMillan, Colin A. & Kurup, Parthiv & Akar, Sertac & Margolis, Robert & Masanet, Eric, 2020. "Solar for industrial process heat: A review of technologies, analysis approaches, and potential applications in the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    8. Guangming Yang & Guofang Gong & Qingqing Gui, 2022. "Exploring the Spatial Network Structure of Agricultural Water Use Efficiency in China: A Social Network Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, February.
    9. Moudakkar, Touria & El Hallaoui, Z. & Vaudreuil, S. & Bounahmidi, T., 2019. "Modeling and performance analysis of a PTC for industrial phosphate flash drying," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1134-1148.
    10. Sommerfeldt, Nelson & Pearce, Joshua M., 2023. "Can grid-tied solar photovoltaics lead to residential heating electrification? A techno-economic case study in the midwestern U.S," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    11. Yang, Junqin & Zhao, Hui & Li, Chenchen & Li, Xiuwei, 2021. "A direct energy reuse strategy for absorption air-conditioning system based on electrode regeneration method," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 353-364.
    12. Michael J. Ritchie & Jacobus A.A. Engelbrecht & Marthinus J. Booysen, 2021. "Practically-Achievable Energy Savings with the Optimal Control of Stratified Water Heaters with Predicted Usage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, April.
    13. Yurtsev, Arif & Jenkins, Glenn P., 2016. "Cost-effectiveness analysis of alternative water heater systems operating with unreliable water supplies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 174-183.
    14. Piotr Kowalski & Paweł Szałański & Wojciech Cepiński, 2021. "Waste Heat Recovery by Air-to-Water Heat Pump from Exhausted Ventilating Air for Heating of Multi-Family Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, November.
    15. Abdelrazik, A.S. & Shboul, Bashar & Elwardany, Mohamed & Zohny, R.N. & Osama, Ahmed, 2022. "The recent advancements in the building integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) systems: An updated review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    16. Tzinnis, Efstratios & Baldini, Luca, 2021. "Combining sorption storage and electric heat pumps to foster integration of solar in buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    17. Allouhi, A. & Agrouaz, Y. & Benzakour Amine, Mohammed & Rehman, S. & Buker, M.S. & Kousksou, T. & Jamil, A. & Benbassou, A., 2017. "Design optimization of a multi-temperature solar thermal heating system for an industrial process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 382-392.
    18. Baxter Williams & Daniel Bishop & Patricio Gallardo & J. Geoffrey Chase, 2023. "Demand Side Management in Industrial, Commercial, and Residential Sectors: A Review of Constraints and Considerations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-28, July.
    19. Hertel, Julian D. & Canals, Vincent & Pujol-Nadal, Ramón, 2020. "On-site optical characterization of large-scale solar collectors through ray-tracing optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    20. Simon Pezzutto & Silvia Croce & Stefano Zambotti & Lukas Kranzl & Antonio Novelli & Pietro Zambelli, 2019. "Assessment of the Space Heating and Domestic Hot Water Market in Europe—Open Data and Results," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-16, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10270-:d:635240. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.