Solar Water Heater Design for Houses in Arid Zones

This paper shows the simulation and design of a flat plate solar collector system, used to feed hot water to a typical home located in the city of Mexicali, Baja California, México. The system consists of a solar collector, a storage tank, a water pump and accessories and special tools that allow its proper operation. Analyzing the consumption and end use of water in a typical House, a demand profile is established, which combined with the weather information of the region, constitutes the input parameters required for the simulation of the system, which is performed with the software package TRNSYS. Mexicali, due to its location (latitude 32 °, longitude 114 °) and semi-desert condition presents high temperatures in the summer and low in winter, so the design and operation of such systems require special features, not always considered in the conventional ratings. This paper presents methods for simulation and design oriented to optimize the dimensioning and operation of this type of solar heaters in regions with extreme temperature conditions.