Modeling and simulation of solar water heater: A TRNSYS perspective

Product design and optimization is a process of interpolation through iteration. Rating and certification process involves thorough testing of the product in standard test conditions. But real world experiments are full of variations and uncertainties. Moreover it is not feasible to create extreme testing environments in laboratory experiments. In many cases physical experiments are not possible at all due to excessive run duration, trade off and socio-financial implications. In such cases simulation is a promising alternate for performance analysis and design optimization. Professionals and researchers also face similar problems while working on solar energy system. There is a fast growing market of solar water heater worldwide. Solar water heating system is transient in nature and its performance depends on dynamic parameters. TRNSYS is transient system simulation software which provides good agreement within error ranging from 5% to 10%. Critical review of simulation of solar water heating system including early works, comparative analysis of popular simulation tools and their architecture in perspective of TRNSYS is presented. Assumptions, modeling of different components, merits and limitations of simulation are also discussed.