Computational evaluation of solar heating systems using concrete solar collectors

Abstract

This paper uses the F-chart technique to evaluate three types of solar heating systems, namely; space solar heating and domestic hot water system (SHDHW), domestic hot water system (DHW) and solar swimming pool heating system (SPHS), using three types of concrete solar collectors, models A, B, and C, and one conventional metallic solar collector. The economical analysis of SHDHW system revealed that the concrete collectors provided about 49 and 63% of the annual load when the collecting area of the solar panel increased from 55 to 88 M 2 (25 to 40% of the building roof area). The corresponding solar contributions when conventional metallic collectors were used are 41 and 53%, respectively. This represents an improvement of the annual solar fraction of about 19% when concrete collectors are used instead of the metallic collectors. It was found that solar heating systems with concrete solar collector models gave higher solar fractions and total life cycle savings than the conventional solar metallic collector.