Solar thermal collector is a device that converts solar radiation into useful thermal energy (heat). This technology has become mature and cost-effective. However, because its input comes from an intermittent source (sun), its production is variable during the day; also it is vulnerable to climatic conditions. To adopt this technology, it is therefore necessary to invest in energy storage means or to use a secondary energy source. In this work, a solar thermal collector has been studied and modeled. The objective of this study consists of: first, analyze the impact of the geometrical form of the absorbing surface on the solar collector's thermal performance. Three geometries are tested, namely flat, triangular, and corrugated. The solar collector is evaluated under a hot climate considering the meteorological data of Er-rachidia city (Morocco). The second part of the present study consists of integrating a latent heat storage system using phase change materials (PCMs) to store part of the heat and exploit it during the night. Integrating PCM in this system is a relevant technique to overcome the problem of intermittency of solar energy. Moreover, according to the findings of this study, a significant improvement of the solar collector thermal performance has been reached. The reduction of the missed thermal energy is from 5.6485 kW h to 4.4566 kW h with the use of PCM and the corrugated surface.

Currently, the development of energy production projects in the building sector using alternative energy sources such as solar energy are growing rapidly. This increasing technological progress to achieve the needs of comfort and safety can be considered a major priority, particularly with concerns about energy shortages and current environmental issues threatening not only human well-being but ecosystems as well. The present research aims to provide a comprehensive model for enhancing the energetic performance of rural Moroccan houses. The evaluation of the solar floor heating system is carried out by TRNSYS to evidence the effect of various design parameters on performance indexes of the system concerning six Moroccan cities, which representatively correspond to the Moroccan climatic zoning. The examined analyses cover the effect of the collector area, storage tank volume, mass flow rate in the solar loop and the building loop, thickness and piping material. The major finding of this work is optimizing the system performance gives the possibility to meet adequately the heating load. The energetic analysis shows the system's adaptability to the Moroccan climate, whose solar fraction is around 65% and 87%. For most of examined sites, it was observed that the demand for auxiliary energy is limited from October to May. The economic investigations revealed that payback periods of the examined system ranged between 7 and 13 years. Besides, the energy and economic outcomes of such systems in Morocco, they are capable to mitigate huge amount CO² emissions as compared to conventional heating systems.

Buildings frequently utilize radiant heating floors because they offer benefits including effective use of space and homogeneous temperature distribution, which results in increased thermal comfort. The present work aims to investigate the perfect use of floor heating systems analytically and numerically with improved thermal performance to prove their efffficiency in various African climates. The evaluation depends on the functional parameters of the heating system and particularly focuses on floor surface temperature to acquire the desired heat flux and the perfect supply water temperature. According to results, It is desirable to use floor coverings with low thermal resistance and should not exceed R = 0.15 m2 . K/W since it has considerable influence on the thermal efffficiency of the underfloor heating components. The pipe diameter is suggested to be about 20 mm. By comparing pipe spacings of 15 mm and 30 mm, the difference in supply water temperature is approximately 7.4 C. The smaller the pipe spacing, the more energy it delivers and makes the floor much warmer while reducing heating time. Regarding the effect of pipe materials, PE-X is chosen for this study because of its low cost and resistance to corrosion and scaling. As the influence of these studied parameters on floor heating is remarkable, there is also the impact of the ambient temperature of each city on the floor heating efffficiency. The proposed model can be applied and considered potentially beneficial and helpful to the control, and design of floor heating systems, and choosing the right heating source.

Thermal energy storage systems play a pivotal role in addressing the challenge of aligning energy supply with demand, offering diverse applications in energy management. Latent heat storage (LHS), a promising solution, uses the latent heat of phase change materials (PCMs) to store and release thermal energy efficiently. This study provides a novel and in-depth parametric analysis of a tank integrated with PCM, using advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to explore the system's behavior under varying conditions. The research delves into the evolution of heat transfer fluid (HTF) outlet temperature profiles, liquid fraction dynamics within the capsules, PCM temperature fluctuations, and the energy storage and recovery rates throughout both charging and discharging periods. The findings present new insights into the impact of flowrate variations, highlighting that an increase in flowrate from 0.01 kg/s to 0.03 kg/s results in a significant reduction in stored energy, from 28.692 kWh to 10.598 kWh, and recovered energy, from 25.642 kWh to 7.343 kWh. These results contribute to a better understanding of PCM-based LHS systems and offer valuable guidance for perfecting their performance in real-world applications.