Construction of a Solar Pond and Evaluation of Its Performance with Phase Change Materials

Due to the absence of the sun from sunset to sunrise, the use of energy storage systems is of considerable importance. In this research, a solar pond with a circular cross-section with a diameter of 110 and a height of 120 cm was constructed. In this pond, to extract heat from its lower area, an internal and external heat exchanger was considered, which transferred heat from the solar pond to the consumer by circulating fluid in this area. To receive stable heat, paraffin wax phase change materials were used in the external heat exchanger. The tests were performed and analyzed in two days, without paraffin wax and with it. The thermal discharge period of paraffin wax lasted about 12 hours. To analyze the temperature difference of the external heat exchanger, the data were analyzed using a t-test in two independent groups using SPSS 16 software at a significant level (P