Experimental Evaluation of Sand-Based Sensible Energy Storage System

Sun is supplying ample amount of solar energy throughout the day. But due to the intermittent nature of this solar energy, one storage is required. Sensible energy storage (SES) stores the heat energy during shining hours and supply that heat in the absence of solar energy. In the present study, an experimental work is carried out to observe the usability of sand as the SES material. Polycarbonate sheet is used as the glazing material and also acts as a container to storage material. The sheet is kept at different tilt angle (20°, 25°, 30°, 35°, and 40°) to observe the effect of inclination on energy stored in SES. Maximum global solar radiation is received during 11.00 AM to 11.30 AM. The maximum average temperature and energy stored in storage found when tilt angle is 30° due to receiving of higher solar radiation in that inclination. The average temperature and stored energy is lowest when SES placed at 20° tilt angle. Further, the conversion efficiency of SES is calculated for all the tilt angles. It is found that SES with 30° tilt angle provides maximum conversion efficiency around 20%, whereas efficiency is lowest at tilt angle 20°.