Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 235–242

www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

Enhancement of solar thermal energy storage performance

using sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate of a conventional
solar water-heating system
Suat Canbazoğlua,*, Abdulmuttalip Şahinaslana, Ahmet Ekmekyaparb,
Ý. Gökhan Aksoya, Fatih Akarsua
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, İnönü University, 44280 Malatya, Turkey
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, İnönü University, 44280 Malatya, Turkey
Received 20 March 2004; received in revised form 5 June 2004; accepted 15 June 2004

Abstract

The time variations of the water temperatures at the midpoint of the heat storage tank and at the outlet of the collector in a conventional
open-loop passive solar water-heating system combined with sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate-phase change material (PCM) were
experimentally investigated during November and then enhancement of solar thermal energy storage performance of the system by
comparing with those of conventional system including no PCM was observed. It was observed that the water temperature at the midpoint of
the storage tank decreased regularly by day until the phase-change temperature of PCM after the intensity of solar radiation decreased and
then it was a constant value of 45 8C in a time period of approximately 10 h during the night until the sun shines because no hot water is used.
Heat storage performances of the same solar water-heating system combined with the other salt hydrates-PCMs such as zinc nitrate
hexahydrate, disodium hydrogen phosphate dodecahydrate, calcium chloride hexahydrate and sodium sulfate decahydrate (Glauber’s salt)
were examined theoretically by using meteorological data and thermophysical properties of PCMs with some assumptions. It was obtained
that the storage time of hot water, the produced hot water mass and total heat accumulated in the solar water-heating system having the heat
storage tank combined with PCM were approximately 2.59–3.45 times of that in the conventional solar water-heating system. It was also
found that the hydrated salts of the highest solar thermal energy storage performance in PCMs used in theoretical investigation were disodium
hydrogen phosphate dodecahydrate and sodium sulfate decahydrate.
# 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solar energy; Latent-heat storage; Phase-change material; Enhancement of heat energy storage

1. Introduction has found considerable interest in recent times due to its

The storage of solar energy is necessary for an effective
usage of this energy due to the fact that the solar energy has
an unsteady characteristic during the day. Traditionally,
available heat has been stored in the form of sensible heat
(typically by raising the temperature of water, rocks, etc.) for
later use. In most of the low temperature applications, water
is being used as a storage medium. Latent heat storage, on
the other hand, is a new and developing technology, which
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: scanbazoglu@inonu.edu.tr (S. Canbazoğlu).
operational advantages of smaller temperature fluctuation,
smaller size and lower weight per unit of storage capacity. It
has been demonstrated that, for the development of a latent
heat thermal energy storage system, the choice of the phase
change material (PCM) plays an important role in addition to
heat transfer mechanisms in the PCM. It is very important to
provide the storage of solar energy during the day and then to
use this stored energy for water-heating during the evening
and night after the sunset. By choosing a suitable phase
change material for the latent heat absorbed during the phase
change of the material from solid form to liquid form, large
part of solar energy can be stored during daytime and then

0378-7788/$ – see front matter # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2004.06.016
236 S. Canbazoğlu et al. / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 235–242

able, inexpensive, and melt at different temperatures relating

Nomenclature
to their carbon-chain length. Fatty acids come from meat by-
products and vegetables. They are cheap, renewable, and
cp,PCM-L specific heat of PCM in the liquid state (kJ/
readily available. Like paraffins, different types of fatty
kg K)
acids have different melting points.
cp,PCM-S specific heat of PCM in the solid state (kJ/
Phase change drywall or wallboard, which is only pro-
kg K)
duced for research, is an exciting type of building-integrated
cp,w specific heat of water (kJ/kg K)
heat storage material [1]. This type of gypsum wallboard
hSL specific melting latent heat of PCM during the
incorporates PCMs within its structure to moderate the
phase change (kJ/kg)
thermal environment within the building. Initial findings
m the mass of hot water produced to use (kg)
suggest that PCM drywall could also save energy in some
mPCM the mass of PCM (kg)
conventional heating and cooling applications. There have
mt total water mass in the conventional heat
been many studies on solar thermal energy storage using
storage tank (kg)
PCMs [2–21]. Two passive storage collector walls using
mw the water mass in the heat storage tank includ-
calcium chloride hexahydrate have been tested at Los Ala-
ing PCM (kg)
mos during the 1980 winter season [2]. The results were
m_w the mass flow rate of the hot water required to
presented, along with a sensitivity study on yearly perfor-
use (kg/s)
mances obtained from a validated simulation model. Advan-
PCM(s) phase-change material(s)
tages provided by such a material against classical storage
QL latent heat (kJ)
materials were also emphasized.
QS sensible heat (kJ)
The development of available thermal energy storage
Qw the sensible or total heat stored in the conven-
(TES) technologies and their applications for space and
tional heat storage tank (kJ)
water-heating areas were reviewed [3]. Attempts have also
Q_w the sensible or total heat stored per unit time in
been made to utilize technical grade phase change materials
the conventional heat storage tank (kW)
as a storage media and embedded heat exchanger tubes/heat
tPCM the storage time of hot water in the heat
pipes with extended surfaces in order to enhance the heat
storage tank including PCM ð¼ QPCM =Q_w Þ,
transfer rate to/from the PCM. Another paper described the
(s)
thermophysical properties and thermal behavior of the phase
tw the storage time of hot water in the conven-
change materials that have been identified as potential
tional heat storage tank ð¼ Qw =Q_w Þ, (s)
materials for solar thermal energy storage applications
Tg cold feeding water temperature in the pipe
[4]. PCMs that include salt hydrates, paraffins, non-paraf-
network of city (=15.5 8C)
fins, eutectics of inorganic and/or organic compounds, and
Tr the required hot water temperature (=45 8C)
polyalcohols were discussed. A method of thermal energy
DT the temperature difference required to heat the
storage at a temperature of 0–12 8C was developed for
water mass of 82.2 kg in the heat storage tank
application to solar space heating, water-heating and air
including PCM (=25 8C)
conditioning [5]. Latent heat of crystallization is continu-
DT1 the difference between the maximum tempera-
ously released on cooling and absorbed on heating, resulting
ture of hot water in the heat storage tank and
in specific heat capacities up to 480% of the specific heat of
the melting temperature of PCM (K)
water over a 10 8C range of temperature. It was defined that
DT2 the difference between the temperature of hot
total costs for the storage device were 1/4–1/2 of the cost of
water taken from the heat storage tank and the
devices using sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate or 50%
melting temperature of PCM (K)
water–ethylene glycol. The transient behaviors of phase-
change energy storage (PCES) units such as air- and liquid-
based systems utilizing sodium sulfate decahydrate and
this energy can be used for water-heating at a later time. paraffin wax as a storage media were examined [6]. The
PCMs can be used to provide this advantage in various solar effects of storage capacity, heat transfer characteristics of
energy applications. storage unit, collector area and location on the system
PCMs absorb, store, and release heat when they change performance were investigated. Comparison was made
state, such as from a solid to a liquid. When the temperature between systems utilizing PCES and those using sensible
in a hot water storage tank rises above a PCMs transition heat storage via rock beds in air-based systems and water
temperature (the point at which the material changes phase), tanks in liquid-based systems. The effects of location and
the PCM absorbs heat and melts. As the hot water tempera- collector energy and collector area were given for systems
ture in the heat storage tank decreases, the PCM releases the utilizing both types of storage. An analytical and experi-
stored heat and returns to a solid state. PCMs such as salt mental program was conducted on a one-tenth scale model
hydrates, paraffins, and fatty acids are used to store heat of a high temperature (584 K) phase change thermal energy
energy in various applications. Paraffins are readily avail- storage system for installation in the solar total energy test
 S. Canbazoğlu et al. / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 235–242
facility of the Sadia Laboratories at Alburquerque, New
Mexico, USA [7]. Thermal storage medium was anhydrous
sodium hydroxide with 8% sodium nitrate. The program
produced data on the dynamic response of the system to
repeated cycles of charging and discharging simulating
those of the test facility. Data was correlated with a math-
ematical model, which was then used in the design of the
full-scale system.
The various heat transfer enhancement methods for latent
heat thermal storage systems were discussed and the findings
of this experimental study carried out to augment heat
transfer were reported [8]. Solar storage systems having
direct contact with heat exchanger using sodium sulfate
decahydrate-PCM were theoretically and experimentally
examined [9]. The time variations of heat transfer coefficient
according to the volume of PCM were also investigated. The
melting and solidification times of paraffin in the solar
storage system having an annular pipe type storage tank
whose annular section was filled with paraffin-PCM were
investigated theoretically and experimentally [10]. An air-
based solar heating system including a storage tank with
paraffin-PCM was used to heat a greenhouse and it was seen
that most of the heat requirements of the greenhouse pro-
vided with heat storage tank after the intensity of solar
radiation decreased [11]. A numerically solved theoretical
model was applied on an integrated solar collector storage
system based on a salt hydrate-PCM and validated against
experimental data [12]. The results of parametric studies on
the effect of the transition temperature and of the thickness
layer of the salt hydrate-PCM on the thermal performance of
the charging process were also presented. In another theo-
retical study, the performance of a solar assisted cylindrical
energy storage tank including PCM was investigated and
defined that PCM, cylinder radius, mass flow rate and inlet
temperature of heat transfer fluid must be chosen carefully in
order to optimize the performance of the tank [13]. The
performance characteristics of combination of solar collec-
tor and stearic acid-PCM in one unit were studied theore-
tically and experimentally [14]. The phase change and heat
transfer characteristics of a eutectic mixture of palmitic and
stearic acids as PCM during the melting and solidification
processes were determined experimentally in a vertical two
concentric pipes energy storage system [15].
Thermal energy storage in general, and phase change
materials in particular, have been a main topic in research for
the last 20 years, but although the information was quanti-
tatively enormous, it was also spread widely in the literature,
and difficult to find. A review paper focusing on materials,
heat transfer and applications has been carried out of the
history of the thermal energy storage with solid–liquid phase
change [16]. This paper lists over 230 references and con-
tains listed over 150 materials used in research as PCMs, and
about 45 commercially available PCMs. It was also studied
that the possibility of including a PCM-module at the top of
a stratified water tank and the results stated increase of
energy storage and a better performance of the tank [17,18].
237
The effects of various thermal and geometric parameters on
the whole PCM melting time for different PCMs and tank
configurations were theoretically studied [19]. The config-
urations were those of a tank with PCM packed in cylinders
and the heat transfer fluid flows parallel to it; the second is a
tank where pipes containing the fluid are embedded in the
PCM.
In solar energy applications, sensible heat storage is more
common, but there is active research in improved latent
storage materials. Unfortunately, few inorganic or organic
materials such as Glauber’s salt (sodium sulfate decahy-
drate), calcium chloride hexahydrate and some paraffins
have yet been brought to a stage of practical application
[20]. Although these compounds are fairly inexpensive, the
packaging and processing necessary to get consistent and
reliable performance from them is complicated and costly.
In the present study, sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate being
one of the hydrated salts was selected as a PCM due to some
advantages such as the low cost, the easy obtaining, the
proper phase change temperature of 48.5 8C for solar heat
storage applications and high latent heat storage capacity.
The primary objective of the present study is to experimen-
tally investigate unsteady thermal performance of an open-
loop passive solar water-heating system, which is also called
as a system with natural circulation and but whose the hot
water is not used, by measuring the water temperatures at the
midpoint of the storage tank and at the outlet of the collector,
and the enhancement of solar thermal energy storage per-
formance using sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate-PCM in the
heat storage tank of the same solar water-heating system
during November. The second objective is to theoretically
estimate the enhancement of solar thermal energy storage
performance of the system in case of the use of the different
salt hydrates-PCMs in the heat storage tank of the actual
conventional passive solar water-heating system used in the
present experimental study.
2. Experimental system
The experiments were performed during November in
Malatya, Turkey where a cold and dry climate (latitude:
388200 1600 N; longitude: 388130 0300 E; altitude 964 m) is
generally seen. The intensity level of average incident solar
radiation at a horizontal plane is at a relatively small value of
8.469 MJ/m2 per day for November, which is equal to
approximately one-third of that in July. The experimental
open-loop conventional passive solar energy system with
natural circulation, which is generally used to provide
domestic hot water requirements in buildings, consists of
solar collectors, hot water and cold water tanks, measure-
ment and data logger systems and its general appearance is
given in Fig. 1 [21]. Flat parallel aluminum solar collectors
with fixed-plate of 1.94 m  0.94 m  0.10 m have single
cover glass and black-painted absorber plate. Solar collec-
tors faced to the south also have the net absorption area of
238 S. Canbazoğlu et al. / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 235–242

Fig. 1. Side view of the experimental open-loop passive solar water-heating system.

1.65 m2 for each one and the tilt angle of 308 with horizontal volume of bottles used in the heat storage tank was selected
plane. Insulated cold water feeding tank has the volume of as the relatively small value of 0.44 l to minimize various
18 l. It has a buoyancy ball to prevent inlet of cold water by problems detected during the melting and solidification of
controlling maximum water level in the heat storage tank PCM. Many bottles mean the larger heat transfer surface for
when tank filled. All of the pipes and fittings used in the PCM. The volumes of PCM and water in the heat storage
experimental system were also insulated. tank are equal to 107.8 and 82.2 l, respectively. The total
A computer aided electronic measurement system was mass of PCM used in the heat storage tank was found
installed to measure the temperatures and to accumulate the approximately as 180 kg using the density in the solid state
data. The measurement system consists of a PC computer, an of PCM of 1666 kg/m3. The bottles do not let the water flow
external analog/digital converter card and an internal input/ in horizontal direction due to their close location. Therefore,
output card. The water temperatures at the midpoint of the the heat storage tank has cavities in the upper and lower parts
heat storage tank and at the outlet of the collector, and the to obtain a more homogenous heat distribution horizontally
ambient temperature were presented in the present study in the heat storage tank due to the water flow through the
although the temperature measurements were carried out on vertical cavities between the bottles although it is known that
the total 8 points given in Fig. 1 by using the temperature the upper part of the heat storage tank had a thermal
sensors. The other temperatures measured are the water stratification of the higher level [17,18].
temperatures at the upper point in the heat storage tank,
at the lower point in the heat storage tank, at the inlet of the
collector, at the midpoint in the cold-water tank and at the
outlet of the heat storage tank, respectively. It was found that
the water temperatures at the midpoint of the heat storage
tank were approximately equal to the average of the tem-
perature values measured at the upper and lower points of the
heat storage tank. The time variations of the water tempera-
tures at the upper point in the heat storage tank, at the lower
point in the heat storage tank, at the inlet of the collector, at
the midpoint in the cold-water tank and at the outlet of the
heat storage tank were not presented herein in order to
observe the effects on the average temperature of water
mass in the heat storage tank of PCM. The temperature
sensors had a sensitivity of 0.1 8C. They were calibrated
with a water–ice mixture before the experiments.
Fig. 2 shows detailed cross-sectional view of well-insu-
lated cylindrical galvanized steel heat storage tank having a
volume of 190 l and combined with PCM. The insulation
material is glass wool. As shown in Fig. 2, the polyethylene
bottles of 0.44 l each of which contains PCM mass of Fig. 2. Detailed cross-sectional view of the cylindrical heat storage tank
0.7347 kg, were filled into the tank as three rows. The combined with PCM.
 S. Canbazoğlu et al. / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 235–242 239

3. Results and discussion
The thermal performances of hydrated salt-PCMs such as
sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate (Na2S2O35H2O), zinc
nitrate hexahydrate (Zn(NO3)26H2O), disodium hydrogen
phosphate dodecahydrate (Na2HPO412H2O), calcium
chloride hexahydrate (CaCl26H2O) and sodium sulfate
decahydrate (Na2SO410H2O) called as Glauber’s salt were
examined theoretically using the mean values of meteoro-
logical data during November in Malatya, Turkey where a
cold and dry climate is generally seen.
The heat stored per unit time in the conventional heat
storage tank including no PCM can be calculated using Eq.
(1),
Q_w ¼ m_w cp;w ðTr  Tg Þ ¼ ð0:1Þð4:1868Þð45  15:5Þ
¼ 12:351 kW
Where m_w , cp,w, Tr and Tg are the mass flow rate of the hot
water required to use (0.1 kg/s), the specific heat of water
(4.1868 kJ/kg8C), the temperature of domestic hot water
required to use (45 8C) and the cold feeding water tempera-
ture in the pipe network of city (15.5 8C) or the minimum
ground temperature at a depth of 1 m obtained by using the
monthly meteorological data, respectively. The required hot
water temperature, when the sensible heat is being stored in
the heat storage tank, was not constant during the experi-
ments and its mean value was assumed as 45 8C.
The sensible or total heat stored in the water mass (mt) of
190 kg in the heat storage tank of 190 l including no PCM
can be calculated using Eq. (2), due to the fact that the
maximum water temperature at the midpoint of the conven-
tional heat storage tank is equal to 70 8C during the experi-
ments.
Qw ¼ mt cp;w DT ¼ 190ð4:1868Þð70  45Þ
¼ 19; 887:3 kJ
The storage time of hot water in the conventional heat
storage tank including no PCM, t was found as tw = 1610 s or
26.83 min using the ratio Qw =Q_w . Finally, the mass of hot
water produced to use m, by using the values of m_w and tw in
the equation m ¼ m_w tw , was obtained as 161 kg.
Sensible, latent and total heats for the cylindrical heat
storage tank combined with PCM can be defined with Eqs.
(3)–(5),
QS ¼ mw cp;w DT þ mPCM ðcp;PCML DT1
þ cp;PCMS DT2 Þ (3)
QL ¼ mPCM hSL (4)
and;
QPCM ¼ QS þ QL (5)
The storage time of hot water tPCM and the mass of hot
water produced to use in the heat storage tank including
(1) PCM can be calculated by using the equations tPCM ¼
QPCM =Q_w and mw ¼ m_w tPCM , respectively. In the Eqs.
(2)–(5); mw, cp,w, DT, mPCM, cp,PCM-L, DT1, cp,PCM-S, DT2,
hSL and QPCM are the water mass of 82.2 kg in the heat
storage tank including PCM, specific heat of water, the
temperature difference given in the Eq. (2) for the water
mass (=25 8C) or the temperature difference required to heat
the water mass in the heat storage tank including PCM, the
mass of PCM, the specific heat of PCM in the liquid state,
the difference between the maximum temperature of hot
water in the heat storage tank and the melting temperature of
PCM, the specific heat of PCM in the solid state, the
difference between the temperature of hot water taken from
the tank and the melting temperature of PCM, the specific
melting latent heat of PCM during the phase change and
total heat stored in the PCM, respectively. The latent heat
stored in the PCM is balanced with the total heat losses of the
tank since the hot water in the heat storage tank is not
consumed.
If some hydrated salts filled into the total 245 bottles in
(2) the same storage tank are used to store heat in the heat
storage tank, the storage latent, sensible and total heats, the
storage time of hot water and the mass of hot water produced
to use by using the Eqs. (1)–(5) are predicted as given in
Table 1. The storage time of hot water, the mass of hot water

Table 1
Thermophysical properties of hydrated salts used, latent, sensible and total heats, the storage time of hot water and the mass of hot water produced to use for the
solar thermal energy storage tank combined with some hydrated salt-PCMs used in the present study
Salt hydrates Metlting Melting Specific Density Mass Latent Sensible Total Timea Produced Mass
point (8C) latent heat heat cp (kg/m3) [kg] heat heat heat (min.) hot water ratiob
(kJ/kg) (kJ/kgK) (kJ) (kJ) (kJ) mass (kg)
Solid Liquid Solid Liquid
Zinc nitrate hexahydrate 36.1 146.95 1.34 2.26 1954 211 31007 – 16166 55777 75.26 452 2.81
Sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate 48.5 208,80 1.46 2.38 1666 180 37584 920 9211 56319 76.00 456 2.83
Disodium hydrogen 35.0 278.84 1.55 2.51 1522 164 45730 – 14407 68741 92.76 557 3.45
phosphate-dodecahydrate
Calcium chloride hexahydrate 29.7 169.98 1.46 2.13 1560 168 28557 – 14421 51582 69.60 418 2.59
Sodium sulfate decahydrate 32.4 254.00 1.76 3.31 1458 157 39878 – 19540 68022 91.79 551 3.42
a
The storage time of the produced hot water.
b
The ratio of hot water mass produced in the heat storage tank combined with PCM to that in the conventional heat storage tank.
240 S. Canbazoğlu et al. / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 235–242

Fig. 3. The daily time variations of time-averaged ambient, tank midpoint and collector outlet temperatures for the heat storage tank including PCM during the
first 10 days of November.

produced to use and total heat accumulated in the heat
storage tank combined with some hydrated salts used in
the present study are approximately 2.59–3.45 times grater
than that of conventional solar energy system. The hydrated
salts of the highest solar thermal energy storage performance
in PCMs used in theoretical investigation are disodium
hydrogen phosphate dodecahydrate and sodium sulfate dec-
ahydrate as expected because of their high latent heat
capacities. This result means the use of smaller tank volume,
less insulation material and therefore lower cost when these
hydrated salts are used in the solar water-heating system.
Fig. 3 shows the daily time variations of time-averaged
water temperatures at the midpoint of the storage tank, at the
outlet of the collector and the ambient temperature during the
first 10 days of November for the experimental solar thermal
energy storage system including sodium thiosulfate pentahy-
drate-PCM. In this case, large part of total energy in the solar
energy storage tank is latent heat as given in Table 1. It was also
observed that the water temperature at the midpoint of the
storage tank decreased regularly by day until the phase-change
temperature of PCM after the intensity of absorbed solar
radiation decreased and then it was a constant value of
45 8C in a time period of approximately 10 h during the night
until the rising time of the sun because of no hot water
consumption. Hot water produced was not consumed due to
the fact that the intensity of monthly average solar radiation
was at a relatively lower value during November as mentioned
before. It is obvious that the values of water temperatures at the
midpoint of the storage tank and at the outlet of the collector,
and the storage time of hot water of 10 h decrease to the
smaller values when hot water is consumed. It can be said that
the temperature at the outlet of the collector had a time-
averaged value of approximately 32 8C at the same time period
due to the hot water circulation between the heat storage tank
and the collectors but the decrease and increase in the setting
and rising times of the sun.
Fig. 4 shows the daily time variations of time-averaged
water temperatures at the midpoint of the storage tank and

Fig. 4. The daily time variations of time-averaged ambient, tank midpoint and collector outlet temperatures for the heat storage tank including no PCM during
the second 10 days of November.
 S. Canbazoğlu et al. / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 235–242
at the outlet of the collector, and the ambient temperature
during the second 10 days of November for the experi-
mental solar thermal energy storage system known as
conventional system including no sodium thiosulfate
pentahydrate-PCM. In this case, all of the energy in the
solar energy storage tank is sensible heat. It was observed
that the temperatures at the midpoint of the storage tank and
at the outlet of the collector decreased quite regularly
during the day until the rising time of sun. Their tempera-
ture difference has an approximately constant value of
7.5 8C. As the temperature at the outlet of the collector
decreases continuously until at 16.00 (4 p.m.), it increased
slightly when the effectiveness of the sun decreased. The
reason of this interesting result is due to the fact that the
natural circulation of water in the collector was stopped
because of the participating in thermal stratification in the
heat storage tank of water mass in the collectors when the
effectiveness of the sun decreased. The temperature at the
outlet of the collector by relating to the changing of the
thermal stratification in the heat storage tank by beginning
at 8.30 a.m. after the sun rose increased regularly due to the
fact that the water circulation in the collector stops by
participating in the thermal stratification in the heat storage
tank of water in the collectors. If the difference of tem-
peratures between the midpoint of the heat storage tank
and the outlet of the collector in Figs. 3 and 4 is compared
with each other, it can be seen that the temperature differ-
ence in case of the heat storage tank combined with PCM
was a grater value as an average value of approximately
6 8C. This temperature difference is a considerable differ-
ence although the experiments were carried out during
November.
The phase change temperature of sodium thiosulfate
pentahydrate was found as 48.5 8C during the experiments.
This temperature value is lower than that in the conventional
solar water-heating systems; therefore, the tank midpoint
temperature has a lower value during the day and thus the
system efficiency increases while the heat losses decrease
due to the decrease in the temperature difference between
the system and the ambient by day and by night. Problems in
long term stability of sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate
and its encapsulation were also observed during the experi-
ments. It was observed that phase changeability feature of
sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate lost fully at the end of
the cycles consisting of the melting and solidification pro-
cesses of 25–30 times. The reason of this variation at the
physical property of PCM is due to the fact that a part of
salt mass which was not dissolved in the water accumulated
at the bottom of the storage bottles by leaving PCM
of the water molecules in the crystal structure of PCM
during the melting process. The structural change in
sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate during the experiments
is very similar to that of sodium sulfate decahydrate (Glau-
ber’s salt). This problem can be partially solved by adding
xanthan glue to the solution of sodium thiosulfate pentahy-
drate [22].
241
4. Conclusion
The solar energy systems combined with PCMs can be
used for the solar thermal energy storage due to its opera-
tional advantages of smaller temperature fluctuation, smaller
size and lower weight per unit of storage capacity. It was
observed that the actual open-loop passive solar water-
heating system combined with PCM used in the present
study increased the thermal storage effectiveness of solar
radiation although the experiments were carried out during
November. It is very important to provide the storage of solar
energy during the day and then to use this stored energy for
water-heating during the evening and night after the sunset.
In the present study, it was observed that the monthly time-
averaged water temperature at the midpoint of the storage
tank decreased regularly by day until the phase-change
temperature of PCM after the intensity of solar radiation
decreased and then it was a constant value of 45 8C in a time
period of approximately 10 h during the night until the rising
time of the sun since the hot water is not consumed. The
difference between the temperatures at the midpoint of the
heat storage tank and at the outlet of the collector for the heat
storage tank combined with PCM is a grater value as an
average value of approximately 6 8C than that of the system
including no PCM. This temperature difference is a con-
siderable difference exhibiting the high heat storage perfor-
mance of the heat storage system combined with PCM
although the experiments were carried out during Novem-
ber. It is obvious that the passive solar water-heating systems
combined with PCM will be able to exhibit a better perfor-
mance in summer seasons because of the higher intensity of
absorbed solar radiation and the lower heat losses of the
system. The active solar water-heating systems including a
pump, which is generally called as a system with forced
circulation, can be exhibited much better performance when
they have a heat storage tank including PCM.
The storage time of hot water, the mass of hot water
produced to use and total heat accumulated in the heat
storage tank combined with some hydrated salts used in
the present study are approximately 2.59–3.45 times grater
than that of conventional solar energy system having the heat
storage tank including no PCM. The hydrated salts of the
highest solar thermal energy storage performance are dis-
odium hydrogen phosphate dodecahydrate and sodium sul-
fate decahydrate (Glauber’s salt). This result means the use
of smaller tank volume, less insulation material and there-
fore lower cost when these hydrated salts are used in the
solar water-heating system.
By choosing a suitable phase change material for the
latent heat absorbed during phase change of the material
from solid form to liquid form, large part of solar energy can
be stored during daytime and then this energy can be used for
water-heating at a later time. Since PCMs such as hydrated
salts absorb moisture, which decreases their effectiveness,
hydrated salts require costly and impractical encapsulation,
with a semi-impermeable coating for improved perfor-
242 S. Canbazoğlu et al. / Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 235–242
mance. However, the solar thermal energy storage systems
combined with PCMs will be able to be used efficiently and
widely in practical applications when PCMs have the longer
using life, the lower cost and improved performance by
technological improvements. The additional cost of solar
thermal energy storage system including PCM used in the
present study have been estimated as US$ 0.5 per the unit
volume of the heat storage tank in liter. However, the volume
of hot water tank required to store the same heat in energy
storage system including PCM will be smaller than that of
conventional solar energy storage system. Therefore, it is
obvious that the use of PCM in the system may not cause an
important increase in cost.
Acknowledgements
The experiments were carried out with the supports of
İnönü University Research Foundation (Research Project
Number: 2000/33), Ýstek Solar Energy Company and Şems
Heat Company. The authors gratefully acknowledge to İnönü
University Research Foundation, Ýstek Solar Energy Com-
pany and Şems Heat Company for the support of this study.
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