Thermal stratification built up in hot water tank with different inlet stratifiers

Thermal stratification in a water storage tank can strongly increase the thermal performance of solar heating systems. Thermal stratification can be built up in a storage tank during charge, if the heated water enters through an inlet stratifier. Experiments with a test tank have been carried out in order to elucidate how well thermal stratification is established in the tank with differently designed inlet stratifiers under different controlled laboratory conditions.

The investigated inlet stratifiers are from Solvis GmbH & Co KG and EyeCular Technologies ApS. The inlet stratifier from Solvis GmbH is a rigid plastic pipe with holes for each 30 cm. The holes are designed with flaps preventing counter flow into the pipe. The inlet stratifier from EyeCular Technologies ApS is made of a flexible polymer with openings all along the side and in the full length of the stratifier.

The flexibility of the stratifier prevents counterflow. The tests have shown that both types of inlet stratifiers had an ability to create stratification in the test tank under the different test conditions. The stratifier from EyeCular Technologies ApS had a better performance at low flows of 1-2 l/min and the stratifier for Solvis GmbH & Co KG had a better performance at 4 l/min.

In the intermediate charge test the stratifier from EyeCular Technologies ApS had a better performance in terms of maintaining the thermal stratification in the storage tank while charging with a relative low temperature. [All rights reserved Elsevier].