A thermo-economical optimization of a domestic solar heating plant with seasonal storage

In this study, the thermo-economic optimization analysis to determinate economically optimal dimensions of collector area and storage volume in domestic solar heating systems with seasonal storage is presented. For this purpose, a formulation based on the simplified P1 and P2 method is developed and solved by using MATLAB optimization Toolbox for five climatically different locations of Turkey. The results showed that the required optimum collector area in Adana (37 °N) for reaching maximum savings is 36 m2/house and 65 m2/house in Erzurum (39 °N) for same storage volume (1000 m3). The effects of collector efficiency on solar fraction and savings are investigated. The simulation results showed that the solar fraction and savings of the selective flat plate collector systems are higher than the other black paint flat plate collector systems.