TY - JOUR
TI - Performance comparison of aboveground and underground solar ponds
AU - Sogukpinar Haci
AU - Bozkurt Ismail
AU - Karakilcik Mehmet
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2018
VL - 22
IS - 2
SP - 953
EP - 961
PT - Article
AB - This paper deals with the modeling of two different solar ponds which has  some different structural parameters such as aboveground and underground, and  its performance evaluation. The solar pond system generally consists of three  zones, and the densities of these zones decrease from the bottom of the pond  to the surface. The most significant decrease in the density distribution of  the salt between bottom and up of the pond is the gradient zone. The  convective heat loss in the solar pond is prevented with this zone. In this  study, aboveground and underground solar ponds were modeled at the same  dimensions, but different structural parameters in the same conditions. In  this model, the temperature distributions of the solar pond were obtained  during a year. The thermal performances of the solar pond were calculated and  the results were compared with an experiment. This study shows that the  efficiency of the aboveground solar pond is observed to be a maximum of  25.93% in July, a minimum of 4.53% in January. Furthermore, the efficiency of  the underground solar pond is observed to be a maximum of 21.49% in July, a  minimum of 6.55% in January. This study indicates that the underground  construction of solar ponds, designed to be insulated using appropriate  insulation materials, is found to be more efficient with respect to the  aboveground pond.