Masters Theses

Keywords and Phrases

Energy Factor; First Hour Rating; Stratification; Thermosyphon

Abstract

"Storage type electric water heaters are one of the most commonly found type of heaters in households today. Due to energy costs and limited generation capacity, there is a need for improving the efficiency of such water heaters. The efficiency of water heating systems have impact both at the household and at the national level, because of their sheer numbers. Efficient water heaters lead to lower utility bills for the consumer and also reduced demand on the grid supplying electrical power to such households. This leads to a reduction in the amount of fuel used in generating electrical power and potentially, greater reliance on more efficient baseload generating capacity. This thesis, investigates the performance of a novel storage type water heater with electric resistance heating elements and quantifies improvements to the First Hour Rating at no loss of Energy Factor. The modified storage type water heater utilizes an internal thermosyphon assembly to avoid large scale internal thermal mixing. First Hour Rating and Energy Factor Rating have been measured for a system configured in the conventional form and in the thermosyphon form. The introduction of a thermosyphon assembly into the storage volume significantly improves the First Hour Rating, by an amount equal to nearly 20%. Computational analysis of the thermosyphon tube is carried out using ANSYS FLUENT. The velocity profiles and skin friction coefficients are computed at different sections of the tube to identify the different flow regimes and pressure drops across the specific sections of the assembly."--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Homan, Kelly

Committee Member(s)

Midha, A. (Ashok)
Kinzel, Edward C.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Spring 2015

Pagination

xiii, 66 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (page 65).

Rights

© 2015 Siddarth Ashokkumar, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Electric water heaters -- TestingHeat -- ConvectionHeat -- Transmission -- Data processing

Thesis Number

T 10662

Electronic OCLC #

913478049

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