Energy performance investigation of a solar water heating system for single-family houses in Mediterranean climate

Algeria is one of the sunniest countries in the world and therefore solar energy is the most promising alternative energy source that can contribute strongly in the reduction of its energy consumption especially in residential sector. This paper investigates the energy performance of a solar water heating system under Algiers climate conditions. Two different models of storage tank are studied; fully mixed tank and stratified tank. A parametric study was performed in order to determine the optimum size of the thermal collector, storage tanks and mass flow rate. The optimized systems was used to simulate the annual energy performance of the solar water heating system under Algiers climate conditions. The simulation results show that the solar fraction of the solar system with a stratified storage tank is very important (96%) than the solar fraction in the case of a fully mixed tank (88%).