Performance assessment of a small solar pond stratified with magnesium chloride water

In this study, we present an experimental investigation of energy and exergy efficiencies of a small solar pond stratified with magnesium chloride water. The solar pond system is filled with varying density magnesium chloride water in order to form layers of the respective inner zones. A data acquisition system is employed to measure the hourly temperatures at various locations in the inner zones. It is found that the gradient of the different density layers considerably affect the energy storage performance of the solar pond. Thus, the energy and exergy efficiencies of the solar pond are decreased with the increasing the erosion of layers. The efficiencies of the inner zones are defined in terms of temperatures as the average representative solar energy from August to November of the year. As a result, the maximum and the minimum energy efficiencies of the solar pond are observed in August as 27.41 % and 12.64 % in November, respectively. Also, the maximum and the minimum exergy efficiencies of the solar pond are observed in August as 26.04 % and 12.62 % in November, respectively. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014