REGULATION OF THE TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION IN A BATCH HEATER
COLLECTOR TANK USING BAFFLES
Gacuca, V.M* 1, Kamau, J. N.2 , Kinyua R.1 and Soita, T.21
Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology and 2 Department of Physics,
1&2Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja, Kenya.
E-mail:gacucav@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

This study examines the problem of getting an even temperature in the tank of an integrated collector storage (ICS) heater. The naturally occurring thermosyphon current, together with baffles (or fins) on the inside of the absorber are used to bring
all water layers inside the tank to an even temperature. The prototype was designed as an outdoor hand-washing cistern with no other means to push the heated water out other than gravity. The results indicate that adding baffles to the underside of
the collector aided in proper mixing of water to reduce the temperature stratification and allow better heat penetration to the lower parts of the tank. The mixing action occurred with variable effectiveness at different collector inclinations. The most
effective mixing was found to occur at 60⁰-collector inclination angle. The bestachieved temperature difference between the top and bottom levels of the tank was
3⁰C.