Investigation of the performance of an insulated and covered cylindrical model solar pond (CMSP)

Solar ponds, systems having three zones, collect and store solar energy for along time. Storage zone is the most important zone that collects and stores heat in thesystem. Non-convective zone is an important insulation zone that prevents heat lossfrom the storage zone to upper convective zone and finally to air. Furthermore, usinga heat insulation in the system ables to trap heat energy in storage zone for a longtime. One of them is using a transparent glass covers for the upper surface. In thisstudy, heat energy loss is prevented due to conduction, evaporation and wind effectby convering the open surface of the solar pond by using such a class cover. The solarpond used has an insulated wall as well as the glass cover for the upper surface and isa cylindrical model solar pond (CMSP). As a results, if the upper surface of the solarpond is closed in winter days, it is seen the temperature differences between daytimeand nighttime, especially for the upper zone, decrease approximately to 1 ºC. Thus, itproves that the cover in proves the performance of the system.Key Words: Solar Energy, Solar Ponds, Thermal Storage, Heat Transfer