Water Heater System using Solar Collector for Cleaning In Place (CIP) Equipment of Raw Milk Collecting Center

Abstract

This research dealt with a study and design of water heating system using solar collector suitablefor the CIP equipment at raw milk collecting center of a dedicated company in Chiang Mai. The heatingsystem was designed with the solar collector size of 4 m2 with a collecting tank of 360 l and flow rate of1 lpm. Result shows that the solar collector provided an accumulating thermal energy during 8-hr collectingperiod of 42.5 MJ. Appling the system at the raw milk collecting center, temperature of the collectingtank was increased by 30.3 oC, deviated from a theoretical temperature by 1.3%. The initial investment oftest rig was 80,000 bahts. Annual heating cost for the CIP was saved by 21,900 bahts/year with a payback period of 3.7 years and an internal rate of return of 27.2%

Keywords : Solar Collector / Water Heating System / CIP System / Raw Milk Collecting Center1 Assistant