Fuat Egelioğlu

Economic variables and electricity consumption in Northern Cyprus

The influence of economic variables on the annual electricity consumption in N. Cyprus for the period of 1988–1997 has been investigated. Utilising historical energy consumption, historical economic databases and multiple regression analyses, it was found that the number of customers, the price of electricity and the number of tourists correlate with the annual electricity consumption. The annual energy consumption was strongly related to the number of the customers, with adjusted R2 equal to 0.906 and 0.930 if the price of electricity and the number of tourists were included in the model. The results indicate that the model using the number of customers, the number of tourists and the electricity prices as regressors has very strong predictive ability and can be used to forecast future annual electricity consumption.

A Review of Solar Photovoltaic Concentrators

Throughout the recent centuries, the limits of using energy resources due to the cost and environmental issues became one of the scientists’ concerns. Because of the huge amount of energy received by the Earth from the sun, the application of photovoltaic solar cells has become popular in the world. The photovoltaic (PV) efficiency can be increased by several factors; concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system is one of the important tools for efficiency improvement and enables for a reduction in the cell area requirement. The limits of the PV area can reduce the amount of absorbing irradiation; CPV systems can concentrate a large amount of sunlight into a smaller one by applying lenses or curved and flat mirrors. However, the additional costs on concentrating optics and cooling systems made CPV less common than nonconcentrated photovoltaic. This paper reviews the different types of PV concentrators, their performance with advantages and disadvantages, concentration ratio, acceptance angle, brief comparison between their efficiencies, and appropriate cooling system.

Empirical investigation of two designs of incline solar water desalination system

Empirical investigation of two designs of incline solar water desalination system This paper presents an experimental investigation of two incline solar water desalination (ISWD) systems. One design uses spray jets for spraying water onto the absorber plate, while the other uses a longitudinal slot for getting the inlet water on the absorber plate. The first ever ISWD system constructed and tested by Aybar et al (2005) used the longitudinal slot with a maximum daily production of 2.995 kg/m2 day. The Aybar et al design produced 3.4 kg/m2-day while the new design produced 6.41 kg/m2-day for wick on absorber plate system day during the hottest months in Famagusta (July-August 2010). Also tested was the influence of porous media (wire mesh), wick on the absorber plate. The effect of number of spray jets used in the system on the daily productivity and efficiency of the systems were also investigated.

Water scarcity in North Cyprus and solar desalination research: a review

Abstract The shortage of water for domestic and agricultural purposes in North Cyprus (N. Cyprus) is obvious. Various measures have been planned and implemented to increase the supply of water and ensure it is used more efficiently. The backbone of the local economy is agriculture, where the exportation of citrus fruits and potatoes was a significant source of revenue for the government back in the 1960s. The present water crisis on the island however has affected the agricultural sector as this has ceased to be functioning. The water crises implies that there is a shortage of water for irrigation purposes, which has affected the yearly quantity of agricultural produce as vast quantities of arable land suffer from a low yield. Furthermore, seawater has seeped into the aquifers, which have also negatively affected citrus fruit cultivation as most produce die naturally due to the high salt content of the water resources available to them. This paper reviews the sources of water in N. Cyprus and discusses th...

Finned Single-pass Solar Air Heaters with Wire Mesh as an Absorber Plate

Single-pass solar air heaters (SAHs) with two and six fins attached and packed with wire mesh layers were experimentally investigated. Wire mesh layers were used between the fins in the place of an absorber plate. The effects of air mass flow rate on the outlet temperature and thermal efficiency were studied. The results showed an increase in the thermal efficiency as the air mass flow rate was increased. The range of the mass flow rate used in this work was between 0.0121and 0.042 kg/s. It was found that for the same mass flow rate the SAH having six fins has higher efficiency compared to the system that has two fins. The maximum efficiencies for the SAHs were obtained at the mass flow rate of 0.042 kg/s. The maximum efficiencies for the six-finned and two-finned SAHs were 79.81% and 71.8%, respectively. In addition, the maximum temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet, ΔT, for the SAH with six fins exceeded the two-finned SAH for the same mass flow rates. The maximum ΔT was 51.1°C for the six-finned SAH and 44.2°C for the two-finned SAH. As expected, the maximum ΔT for each SAH was obtained at the lowest air mass flow rate (i.e., 0.0121 kg/s). A substantial enhancement in the thermal efficiency was achieved in comparison to the results of a single-flow packed bed collector with those of conventional collectors.

An empirical evaluation of an integrated inclined solar water desalination system with spray jets variation

AbstractIn this study, the productivity of an integrated inclined solar water desalination system with spray jets was empirically investigated. The effects of the feed water flow rate, solar radiation, ambient temperature, absorber plate temperature, cavity air temperature, glass cover temperature, variation in number of spray jets, and inlet and outlet temperature of the feed water on the daily production of the system were studied. The results show that the system productivity increases with two spray jets rather than with four and six jets tested on the system. The daily production also increases by cooling the system glazing and by solar radiation intensity. The inclusion of a wick (black cloth) on the absorber plate has a significant effect on the system production. The wick improved the daily production of the system by 23%. The daily production of the system with a wick on the absorber plate in the summer season is recorded as 6.41 kg/m2 while the daily production with a bare plate absorber is reco...

Experimental Study of the Slit Spacing and Bed Height on the Thermal Performance of Slit-Glazed Solar Air Heater

The thermal performances of three slit-glazed solar air heaters (SGSAHs) were investigated experimentally. Three SGSAHs with different bed heights (7 cm, 5 cm, and 3 cm) were fabricated with multiple glass panes used for glazing. The length, width, and thickness of each pane were 154 cm, 6 cm, and 0.4 cm, respectively. Ambient air was continuously withdrawn through the gaps between the glass panes by fans. The experiments were conducted for four different gap distances between the glass panes (0.5 mm, 1 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm) and the air mass flow rate was varied between 0.014 kg/s and 0.057 kg/s. The effects of air mass flux on the outlet temperature and thermal efficiency were studied. For the SGSAH with bed height of 7 cm and glass pane gap distance of 0.5 mm, the highest efficiency was obtained as 82% at a mass flow rate of 0.057 kg/s and the air temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet (∆T) was maximum (27°C) when the mass flow rate was least. The results demonstrate that for lower mass flow rates and larger gaps, the performance of SGSAH with a bed height of 3 cm was better compared to that of others. However, for higher mass flow rates, the SGSAH with 7 cm bed height performed better.

Economic Investigation of Different Configurations of Inclined Solar Water Desalination Systems

This study empirically investigated the performance of four configurations of inclined solar water desalination (ISWD) system for parameters such as daily production, efficiency, system cost, and distilled water production cost. The empirical findings show that in terms of daily productivity improved inclined solar water desalination (IISWD) performed best with 6.41 kg/m2/day while improved inclined solar water desalination with wire mesh (IISWDWM) produced the least with 3.0 kg/m2/day. In terms of cost price of the systems, the control system inclined solar water desalination (ISWD) is the cheapest while IISWDWM is the most expensive system. Distilled water cost price ranges from 0.059 TL/kg, for IISWDW, to 0.134 TL/kg, for IISWDWM system. All the systems are economically and technically feasible as a solar desalination system for potable water in northern Cyprus. Potable water from vendors/hawkers ranges from 0.2 to 0.3 TL/kg.

Experimental study of the effect of slit width and slit spacing on the thermal performance of slit-glazed collectors

An experimental study on the thermal performance of slit-glazed collectors was conducted. Here, glass panes were used as slit glazing cover, and the air was blown continuously through the gaps between them by fan (slit glazing is an uncomplicated and economical process compared to glass perforation). In this study, the effect of the width of glass panes, the distance between the slits, and mass flow rates were studied on three slit-glazed collectors. A glass pane with the length of 131 cm and thickness 0.4 cm was studied for three different slit widths: 6, 5, and 4 cm. The experiments are conducted with four different gap distances between the glass panes (0.5, 1, 2, and 3 mm) and three air mass flow rates (0.014, 0.022, and 0.029 kg/s). The experimental results indicated that the maximum thermal efficiency of 75% was obtained when the gap distance was 0.5 mm, slit width was 4 cm, and the mass flow rate was 0.029 kg/s. The maximum rise in air temperature was noted as 28°C when the gap distance and slit widths were 0.5 mm and 5 cm, respectively. Hence, the best thermal performance was achieved with the smallest slit width and gap distance parameter values.

A Compact Design of Water Heating–Humidification Processes for Solar HDD Systems

This work investigates the thermal performance of a solar humidification technique that is suitable to use in a Humidification Dehumidification Desalination system (HDD). Water heating and air humidification processes have been merged to take place in a direct contact water solar thermal collection unit. Experiments are conducted under the weather conditions of N. Cyprus. Air passes through brackish water in the humidifier and reaches saturation at the outlet. The difference between temperatures and relative humidity at the inlet and outlet of the humidifier were recorded for different airflow rates (8.2, 10.4, and 12.6 kg/h) between December 1 and 4, 2012. The experiment demonstrated that for an average solar radiation of 600 W/m2 and a mass flow rate of 12.6 kg/h of air, the increase in average absolute humidity was 0.62 kg/h m2. As the airflow rate was stepped up, the rate of vapor transfer increased but the efficiency of the humidification process slightly dropped.