Preface

Solar energy is the most abundant renewable energy that can meet all the energy requirements without getting depleted and harming the environment. A lot of research is going on to harness solar thermal energy for space heating, water distillation, and electricity generation. So, there is a need for a resource that can provide knowledge regarding solar energy and research on solar thermal systems. This will help develop more efficient solar systems that are more compact, reliable, portable, and able to eliminate the dependency on conventional energy sources for meeting the energy requirement for various daily life and industrial purposes.

This book encapsulates the solar thermal systems available to meet the need of food, fresh water, cooking food, heating water etc. The fundamentals of thermodynamics, heat transfer and solar energy are covered in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. The basics of some solar thermal devices along with their thermal modeling are covered in Chapter 3. The basics of solar still, its thermal modeling, applications, development in past few years and potential of solar distillation system in India is discussed in Chapter 4-6. The design, development and applications of solar cookers along with their thermal modeling are covered in Chapter 7-8. Thermal modeling of semi-transparent PVT systems and its application is discussed in Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 covers the development in solar photovoltaic technology. Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 discusses about thermal modeling of greenhouse solar dryer and case study on hybrid active greenhouse solar dryer. Chapter 13 covers the thermal analysis of photovoltaic thermal (PVT) air heater employing thermoelectric module (TEM). The applications of various solar systems in building sectors and the development in this field are covered in Chapter 14. Chapter 15 deals with exergo and environ- economics analysis of biogas integrated semi-transparent photo-voltaic thermal (Bi-iSPVT) system for Indian composite climate.

The book has a broad scope and helps students and researchers in universities, industries, and national and commercial laboratories to learn the fundamentals and in-depth knowledge regarding thermal modeling and developments in solar thermal systems in the past few years. It is a research-oriented book in which different researchers have contributed in the form of different chapters. I hope that the book will provide sufficient knowledge regarding solar systems and will not discourage the readers. This book can be used as a reference tool for teaching the solar energy and thermal modeling of solar thermal systems to the students and research fellows in universities and research organizations.