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The use of solar energy to heat water is the more critical application of solar energy. Researchers are trying to develop different methods to improve the efficiency of solar water heaters to meet the increasing demand for hot water due to global population growth. To reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of solar heaters, the solar collector and the storage tank are combined into one part, and this system is called solar storage collector. It can be defined as geometric shapes filled with water, painted black, and placed under the influence of sunlight to gain the largest amount of solar energy. This article presents the various designs of solar storage collector. This review showed that design variables and design shape significantly affect the efficiency of the solar heating system. Climate and operational factors also have a strong influence on the performance of solar heating. Furthermore, scientists and researchers have also used nanotechnology, solar cells, and mirrors to improve other stored solar collectors' performance. Finally, recently published articles indicate an increase in interest in improving the efficiency of solar storage collector by creating new designs that enhance the economic and practical viability.

Hybrid solar collector (PV/T) is designed to produce electricity, hot water, or hot air at the same time as they operate solar cells and solar heaters in one system. This system is designed to increase the electrical efficiency of solar cells by absorbing heat from these cells. The fuzzy logic (FL) is a tool usually used to optimize the operation of the systems. In this paper, the FL is to monitor and correct the mainsystem parameters to remain optimization efficiency at a better level. Three affected variables were studied: Effect of reflective mirrors, the effect of the glass cover, and the effect of the lower reflector angle on the performance of the PV / T hybrid solar system. These three parameters are traveled to be inputs for the FL, and the PV temperature in addition to system efficiency is the output for it. The effect of solar radiation was found to have a great effect on the efficiency of the hybrid solar collector. The thermal efficiency was 82% for the given value of the PV and mirrors, while the efficiency down to 50 for another angle. By using the artificial intelligent the system behavior depends on its output, which called feedback close loop control, at a real-time process that optimizes the system efficiency and its output.

ABSTRACTIn this article, an idea has been presented that utilizes the heat produced from the petroleum gas burning accompanying the process of oil extraction to enhance the solar chimney performance. The simulation software tool ANSYS Fluent 2020R1 was used to know the possibility of exploiting this waste energy of gas and combining it with a solar chimney. Seven gas channel configurations were tested on the solar chimney to determine which can produce the most electricity. The simulation results showed that this idea could be exploited to produce higher electric energy, and the efficiency of the solar chimney was increased so that the electric energy production process continues for 24 hours instead of production during the sunshine period only. Different designs were considered for the channels inside the solar collector. Case1 and Case2 were meant for validation purposes only. Good agreement was achieved with the previous research with a maximum error of 2%. The results showed that the circular design of the two-ring burner was the best choice which gave the optimum electric power from the system of about 121.1 kW. It was noted that the circular design of the two-ring burner achieved the highest thermal efficiency, which amounted to 0.523%.

Renewable energy sources, especially solar energy, can meet part of the global energy needs, especially for domestic uses at present. The combination of Trombe walls and solar cells is currently one of the most extensive research topics and this system is named a Photovoltaic/Trombe wall (PV/TW). A PV/Trombe wall system can simultaneously generate electricity, heat water, and heat homes. The current article discusses studies that have been conducted on this system in several countries over the past few decades. The current review covers the effect of operational parameters including a DC fan that can assist in cooling the solar cells and raising the interior temperature, air gap thickness, and thermal insulation effect. The use of double glazing reduces the temperature of photovoltaic cells and enhances the efficiency of the system. The efficiency of the PV/TW can be improved using porous media, binary fluids, nano-fluids, and phase change materials.