Solar Pond

Solar Pond Power Plant (1902)

(Boil gases such as
Freon or propane)

Rankine cycle.

Inland or big dam or lake

(Black Plastics)

Central Australia, California, Israel, Soviet Union and Africa

A solar pond has three zones with following salinity with depth:

• Surface convective zone or upper convective zone (0.3 – 0.5 m),

salinity <5%
• Non-convective zone 1 to 1.5 m, salinity increases with depth
• Storage zone or lower convective zone (1.5 to 2 m, salinity ≅20%
• The concept of a solar pond was first proposed in 1902.
• The solar pond is simple and consists of water with a very high
saline content. The heated salty water can boil gases such as
Freon or propane.
• Afterwards, the heated gas can turn the blades of a turbine
next to the solar pond and the turbine can then drive a
generator to produce electricity.
• Before the electricity generation process, the following set-up
is required:
• There must be a large body of water. This can be an inland sea,
a lake or a big dam. If a dam is built for the purpose of
electricity generation, the bottom of the dam is usually lined
with black plastic. This black plastic lining will act as an
efficient absorber of solar radiation.
• The water must be two to three meters deep over its entire area.
• The depth must be constant for most of the year.
• There must be a minimum of movement in the water. This
means that there must be a limited movement of wind across
the surface and minimal currents within the body of water.
• Concentrated salt water can reach temperatures of 80°C to 100 °C,
using only the sun as the heat source.
• In some places in the world, temperatures close to boiling can be
found at the bottom of natural salt water lakes and ponds.
• Such places with natural salt water lakes include Central Australia,
California, Israel, the Soviet Union and Africa.
• There are two gradients that are important in understanding the
solar pond:
• First, a salt pond gets saltier as the water deepens but it is almost
fresh at the surface – a salt gradient.
• Second, the salt water is hotter at the bottom, where the salt
concentration is greatest, and cooler at the top – a thermal (heat)
gradient.
• A solar pond has three zones with following salinity with depth:
• Surface convective zone or upper convective zone (0.3 – 0.5 m),
salinity <5%
• Non-convective zone 1 to 1.5 m, salinity increases with depth
• Storage zone or lower convective zone (1.5 to 2 m, salinity ≅20% )
• The heating of the pond depends on
wind speed, humidity and temperature.
• To some extent, these influences can
be controlled and the solar pond will
reach a high-enough temperature in the
bottom layers.
• Then the engineers get to work to produce electricity from the
solar pond. This is known as a Rankine cycle.
• The generating plant that does this work on a solar pond has
three cycles:
• There is a hot water cycle. The hot water is drawn from the hottest
layer of the salt water at the bottom of the solar pond. This water
goes into a boiler. Remember it has been made hot by the sun, so
it does not need any other fuel to make it hotter.
• There is an organic working cycle, where the gas is boiled by
contact with the hot water. Freon or propane gas is generally used
because it will boil at a much lower temperature than the
temperature of boiling water (which is 100°C). The gas then
evaporates quickly and it is sent to a turbine. The pressure of the
gas turns the blades of the turbine. The turbine is connected to a
generator, which produces electricity.
• There is a cold water cycle. Water is drawn from the surface of the
pond where it is cool. This cool water is pumped into a
condenser, where it is used to cool the hot gas that has been
used to turn the turbine. By cooling the gas, it is being restored to
its original state. It is then ready to be used again. The water in
the condenser is then returned to the surface of the solar pond.
Solar central receiver power plant
 Solar Water Heating System
Uses solar collector
mounted on roof top to
gather solar radiation
Hot Water

Low temperature
range: 100 C
Collector
Applications involves
domestic hot water or Pump
Cold Water
Supply
swimming pool heating
 Solar Space Heating System

Auxiliary Heater

Thermal
Storage
Solar Collector

Pump Space

A collector intercepts the sun’s energy.

A part of this energy is lost as it is absorbed by the cover glass or

reflected back to the sky.

Of the remainder absorbed by the collector, a small portion is lost by

convection and re-radiation, but most is useful thermal energy, which
is then transferred via pipes or ducts to a storage mass or directly to the
load as required
 SOLAR PUMPING
• The solar pumping system utilizes the power generated by
solar energy for pumping of water in assisting irrigation and
drinking water facility.
• Solar thermal energy conversion system or photovoltaic
system can be used for solar pumps
• Solar thermal energy conversion system can be used for
water pumping with cost effectiveness for large scale
application.
• In this system, the water or thermic fluid is heated by solar
energy and the heated fluid is used to drive a pump or turbine.
Figure 3.20 shows the simplified view of a flat plate collector
based pump.
• Water / thermic (heat transport) fluid is heated by a flat plate
collector or the concentrating collector depending on the
required temperature to be achieved for the working fluid

SOLAR PUMPING
solar water pumping
• Flat plate collector, the temperature of the fluid can
be attained upto about 93°C. By concentrating
collector, the fluid is heated upto 215°C.
•
The hot fluid is allowed to flow to the mixing tank /
storage tank and then to the boiler or heat exchanger
of a heat engine to convert the state of the working
• fluid of the heat engine from liquid to vapour.

• The working fluids of the heat engine may be

refrigerant – 113, refrigerant – 11, toluene (CP – 25),
more – chlorobenzene (MCB), trifluoroethanol (TPE –
100 and 85), hexafluoro benzene (HFB), pyridine (CP –
32) and thiopene.
• Among them, R – 115 is considered to be working
fluid it yields high cycle efficiency and it is non-toxic in
nature having low cost. The vapour then drives a
turbine which in turn operates aK.RAVI
SOLAR PUMPING pump set
• The water or heat transport fluid is again fed to the collector by a
circulating pump.
• In the heat engine cycle, the vapour coming out from the turbine is
passed through the condenser where the vapour gets condensed.
The liquid working fluid of the cycle is then sent to boiler or heat
exchanger with the help of a feed pump to complete the cycle. The
water which is pumped from the ground or irrigation well is used as
•
the coolant for the condenser.
•
The overall efficiency of the system is assessed by ηe* ηc
•
Where, ηe is the efficiency of the engine
•
ηc is the efficiency of the collector
•
A higher temperature in the boiler, offers higher engine efficiency.
this, higher collector temperature is needed. This decreases the
collector efficiency. Therefore, there should be an optimum range
of operating temperatures for the solar pumping system, using
solar thermal energy conversion technology, to achieve the
maximum efficiency of the whole system. The energy efficiency,
i.e., percentage of energy collected that is converted in to useful
work.
 Solar Cooling system

Condenser
0
200 C

HR
Compressor
Turbine

Solar
Collector

Air inlet
10 kpa Evaporator
Condenser Cooling Capacity
Qe = 5 kW
Solar Drying
Drying Process
 Advantages
• Reduction of losses in products
• Improved quality of dried products
• Reduced time of drying
• Greater income by production of
marketable crops
• Easy to fabricate / locally made
• Easy to operate
• No need for electric power
• Additional costs involved is off-set by
increased profits
 Types
• Natural convection dryers
• Forced convection dryers
• Batch dryers
• Continuous dryers
• Shallow bed dryers
• Deep bed dryers
• Low temperature drying
• High temperature drying
• With storage
• Without storage
Batch – Tent type
Natural Convection – Shelf type
Natural Convection – Static bed
Chimney Type with Energy
Storage
 Efficiency

• qe is the heat utilized in evaporating the

moisture in the products