In a significant stride towards fostering sustainable energy education, Ecosense has successfully installed a state-of-the-art Solar Thermal (FPC) Training System at the prestigious Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Warangal. This advanced training setup is designed to provide students with hands-on experience and deep insights into solar thermal technology, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. As the world increasingly turns to renewable energy solutions, the installation at NIT Warangal marks a crucial step in equipping the next generation of engineers and scientists with the skills and knowledge needed to lead the green energy revolution.
Ecosense’s Solar Thermal Training System
Solar Thermal Training System is a small model of real time water heating system and can be used for the characterization and different heat transfer analysis. Different aspects like efficiency, overall heat loss coefficient and heat removal factor and their corresponding calculations can be demonstrated with the help of this system. Special feature of this system is to perform experiments with different wind speeds, different fluid temperatures and different flow speeds.
This system can be divided in three parts viz. main collector system, measuring unit and artificial light unit. Main Collector system consists of a Flat Plate collector with temperature and flow sensors to measure temperature and flow of fluid. Measuring unit consists of a measurement panel displaying different parameters and Artificial light unit/ heat generating unit is a Halogen lamp panel to uniformly illuminate the flat plate collector inside a Lab.
Artificial Light facilitates a user to do his/her work without depending on climatic changes in the environment.
Modular and scalable design of the system allows user to move the system in and out of lab easily and conduct experiment with artificial lights as well as actual sunlight. Using the system, a user will be able to study and understand working and operation of a flat plate collector water heating system and its two modes of operation.
The system helps students in practical understanding of various technical parameters such as Overall heat loss coefficient, heat removal factor and efficiency at different varying input parameters like radiation, wind speed, inclination angle etc. The system has inbuilt sensors which measure parameters like pressure, temperature and flowrate placed at different locations in the system. The system has a datalogging device which automatically records and saves all the readings.
Demonstration of Equipment Conducted
Engineers of Ecosense conducted a detailed demonstration of the systems. The demonstration and training session was joined by faculty members and students of the department focusing on how to get the best results from the system.
Ecosense installed Solar Thermal Training System at NIT Warangal
The Way Forward
The faculty members and students loved to work on our lab equipment. Professors will conduct experiments on the system to understand it more deeply and incorporate this lab set up as part of their regular curriculum.