The Development of Thermosiphon Heat Exchanger for Solar Ponds Heat Extraction

A salinity gradient solar pond is a combined solar collector and thermal energy storage system, and heat has been successfully extracted from the lower convective zone (LCZ) in working ponds using pump in the past. This paper discusses possibility of heat extraction from solar ponds using a passive heat exchanger by eliminating the use of pump. Here, the development of thermosiphon heat exchanger is presented theoretically applying the related mathematical equations. The developed mathematical model is solved using a simple excel program. The result from this investigation shows good prospects for thermosiphon heat exchanger to be applied for heat extraction from large scale solar ponds passively.