Improving the accuracy of predicting the performance of solar collectors through clustering analysis with artificial neural network models
Loading...
Access rights
openAccess
publishedVersion
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
This publication is imported from Aalto University research portal.
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Other link related to publication (opens in new window)
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Other link related to publication (opens in new window)
Authors
Date
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
12
Series
Energy Reports, Volume 8, pp. 3970-3981
Abstract
Accurate prediction of collector performance is important for optimal planning of solar thermal systems. Here, a novel prediction method combining clustering of data with artificial neural network (ANN) model is presented. A novel all-glass straight-through tube solar collector is employed as reference solar technology. In the present approach, experimental collector performance data was first collected during different weather conditions (sunny, cloudy, rainy days) subject to a clustering analysis to screen out outlier samples. The data was then used to train and verify the neural network models. For the ANN, the Back Propagation (BP) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models were used. For predicting the performance (thermal efficiency) of the solar collector, solar radiation intensity, ambient temperature, wind speed, fluid flow rate, and fluid inlet temperature were used as the input parameters in the model. The prediction accuracy of the neural network models after full-data-screening were superior to that of the pre-screening and partial-screening models. The CNN model provided somewhat better efficiency predictions than the BP model. The R2, RMSE and MAE of the CNN model prediction in sunny conditions with full-screening was 0.9693, 0.0039 and 0.0030, respectively. The average MAPE of the BP and CNN models for all three weather types dropped by 30.7% and 13.8%, respectively, when applying data pre-screening and partial-screening only. The accuracy of the ANN collector prediction model can thus be improved through data clustering, which provides an effective method for performance prediction of solar collectors.Description
Funding Information: This work is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 51736006 ). The support of Aalto University is also acknowledged.
Other note
Citation
Du, B, Lund, P D & Wang, J 2022, 'Improving the accuracy of predicting the performance of solar collectors through clustering analysis with artificial neural network models', Energy Reports, vol. 8, pp. 3970-3981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.03.013