An indirect solar drier of 25 kg capacity has been developed fitted with solar cell for running the fan. The bulbs are provided in the solar collector for air heating during clouds and evening & morning for faster drying reducing drying time. 15 such solar driers have been installed in the state. Various hill agricultural crops have been dried in solar drier by the farmers and collected. The ma...

In the perspective of the Net Zero Energy Buildings as specified in the EPBD 2010/31/EU, we propose the concept and design of a modular unglazed solar thermal (UST) façade component for facilitating the installation of active solar façades. The renovation of existing buildings offers an opportunity to improve the energy efficiency when using such a system and a novel design methodology tackled ...

Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collector, combining photovoltaic cells with a solar thermal collector, can simultaneously convert solar energy into electricity and heat energy. In this paper, a novel photovoltaic/thermal integrated heat pump (PV/T-HP) system was developed, in which the PV/T collector also acted as evaporator of heat pump. Two types of PV/T collectors with conventional coppe...

A small-scale solar organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is a promising renewable energy-driven power generation technology that can be used in the rural areas of developing countries. A prototype was developed and tested for its performance characteristics under a range of solar source temperatures. The solar ORC system power output was calculated based on the thermal and solar collector efficiency. Th...

The direct steam generation (DSG) in parabolic trough collectors is an attractive option regarding the economic improvement of parabolic trough technology for solar thermal electricity generation in the multi Megawatt range. The European DISS project has proven the feasibility of the direct steam generation under real solar conditions in more than 4000 operation hours. Within the European R&D p...

One of the biggest obstacles to economic profitability of solar water heating systems is the investment cost. Retrofitting existing domestic hot water heaters when a new solar hot water system is installed can reduce both the installation and material costs. In this study, retrofitting existing water heaters for solar water heating systems in Swedish single-family houses was theoretically inves...

The thermal performance of a single pass solar air heater with five fins attached was investigated experimentally. Longitudinal fins were used inferior the absorber plate to increase the heat exchange and render the flow fluid in the channel uniform. The effect of mass flow rate of air on the outlet temperature, the heat transfer in the thickness of the solar collector, and the thermal efficien...

Solar energy systems have emerged as a viable source of renewable energy over the past two or three decades, and are now widely used for a variety of industrial and domestic applications. Such systems are based on a solar collector, designed to collect the sun’s energy and to convert it into either electrical power or thermal energy. In general, the power developed in such applications depends ...

We propose an analytical theory which predicts that Converging Plasmon Resonance (CPR) at conical nanotips exhibits a red-shifted and continuous band of resonant frequencies and suggests potential application of conical nanotips in various fields, such as plasmonic solar cells, photothermal therapy, tip-enhanced Raman and other spectroscopies. The CPR modes exhibit superior confinement and ten ...