Solar Energy Multiple Choice Questions on “Solar Industrial Heating Systems”.
1. Which of the following is/are applications of solar heating systems?
a) Pasteurisation and drying
b) Wetting
c) Rainfall
d) Battery and capacitor technology
Answer: a
Clarification: Pasteurisation and drying are applications of solar heating systems. Battery and capacitor technology are used to store energy from various sources like wind, sun, geothermal, etc. Wetting and raining are not applications of solar heating systems.
2. What is a solar heating system?
a) A system which uses heat to generate sunlight
b) A system which uses sunlight to generate heat
c) A system which uses earth’s heat to generate sunlight
d) A system which uses earth’s heat to generate electricity
Answer: b
Clarification: A solar heating system is a system which uses sunlight to generate heat. This heat can either be directly used or converted to other usable forms of energy like electricity. Geothermal energy is using earth’s heat to generate usable forms of energy.
3. What solar thermal technologies are useful for industrial processes?
a) Photovoltaics and solar air collectors
b) Solar air collectors and geothermal energy
c) Solar air collectors and solar water systems
d) Geothermal and photovoltaics
Answer: c
Clarification: Solar air collectors, solar water systems and solar concentrators are three well known solar thermal technologies used in industrial processes. Geothermal energy and photovoltaics are not solar thermal processes.
4. Which industry primarily uses solar air collectors?
a) Industries manufacturing plastic
b) Industries melting metals
c) Semiconductor industry
d) Food processing industry
Answer: d
Clarification: Food processing industry primarily uses solar air collectors. They replace traditional gas or oil-based drying in the industry. Melting metals requires extremely high temperatures that are not provided by solar air collectors.
5. How does using a solar air collector benefit food processing industry?
a) Reduce gas-or-oil-based drying and/or reduce food spoilage
b) Reduce food spoilage and increase gas-or-oil base drying
c) Increase food spoilage
d) Increase gas-or-oil-based drying and/or increase food spoilage
Answer: a
Clarification: Solar air collectors benefit food processing industry in many ways. They primarily reduce gas-or-oil-based drying and/or reduce food spoilage due to open air drying. Also, they can be built locally and their cost depends on local building materials and labour.
6. Which of the following is a conventional solar water system?
a) Solar air collectors
b) Flat-plate collectors
c) Parabolic dish collectors
d) Linear Fresnel collectors
Answer: b
Clarification: Conventional solar water systems consists of flat-plate collectors (FPC) or evacuated tube collectors (ETC). Solar air collectors are not solar water system.
7. Which application is best suited for a solar water system?
a) Food industry
b) Semiconductor industry
c) Residential applications
d) Liquid adsorption
Answer: c
Clarification: Solar water systems are best suited for residential applications and if required can be installed on rooftops to meet temperature demands upto 125 degree Celsius. Solar air collectors are mainly used in food industries.
8. Which of the following are types of solar concentrators?
a) Solar air collectors
b) Flat-plate collectors
c) Parabolic flat plate collectors
d) Linear Fresnel collectors
Answer: d
Clarification: Solar concentrators include parabolic dish collectors, linear Fresnel collectors and linear parabolic trough collectors. Solar air collectors are not a type of solar concentrators. There is no such thing as parabolic flat plate collector because the shape can either be parabolic or flat.
9. What is a solar cooling technology?
a) Sun’s thermal energy is transferred to a heat transfer fluid which passes through a heat exchanger
b) Sun’s thermal energy is transferred to a heat transfer solid which passes through a heat exchanger
c) Sun’s nuclear energy is transferred to a heat transfer fluid which passes through a cold exchanger
d) Sun’s thermal energy is transferred to a heat transfer fluid which passes through a cold exchanger
Answer: a
Clarification: A solar cooling technology is a system that transfers sun’s thermal energy to a heat transfer fluid (also called as working fluid). This fluid then passed through a heat exchanger where the heat is moved from one system to another thereby achieving cooling.
10. Which of the following is an example of solar air heating/collection technology?
a) Drying food using hair dryer
b) Drying food under direct sun
c) Heating the food in oven
d) Grilling food in a barbeque
Answer: b
Clarification: Drying food under direct is one of the simplest and naturally occurring techniques of solar air heating. Drying food using hair dryer is not a solar air heating technology as electricity is used to run the hair dryer.
11. Which of the following groups are types of solar drying technology?
a) Indirect, direct and active, photovoltaic
b) Photovoltaic, direct and indirect, active
c) Indirect, direct and active, passive
d) Indirect, passive and active, direct
Answer: c
Clarification: Solar drying technology can broadly be grouped into indirect/ direct and active/passive technologies. Directly drying under the sun is an example of direct drying. Photovoltaic is not a solar drying technology.
12. Active solar drying systems control _______ by fans.
a) water flow rate
b) food flow rate
c) electricity
d) air flow rate
Answer: d
Clarification: Active solar drying systems control air flow rate by fans. They can reduce drying time by a third and are compact. However, they require more electricity to operate machines like fans.
13. Solar air collectors transfer sun’s thermal energy to air via ______
a) conduction
b) convection
c) Seebeck effect
d) Peltier effect
Answer: a
Clarification: Solar air collectors transfer sun’s thermal energy to air via conduction. Convection is the transfer of heat by movement of fluid between areas of different temperature. For this to happen, some region of air must first have a higher temperature which is achieved by conduction.
14. Solar concentrators are used for temperatures beyond 500 degree Celsius.
a) True
b) False
Answer: a
Clarification: Solar concentrators are used for temperatures beyond 500 degree Celsius. Such industrial applications include generation of electricity or melting metals.
15. Solar heat industrial systems are used for desalination.
a) True
b) False
Answer: a
Clarification: Solar heat industrial systems are used for desalination. They are thermally driven systems with operating temperatures around 110 degree Celsius. Desalination is the process of removing minerals from saline water.
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