Abstract
Flat plate solar water heaters are widely used for water heating in low-temperature residential applications. In this paper the thermal performance of a solar flat plate water heater under Hail weather conditions (latitude 27°52΄N longitude 41°69΄E) was experimentally investigated. Fluid was circulated through the imbedded copper tubes in the flat plate collector and inlet and outlet temperatures of the fluid were noted at five minute intervals. The experimental-time was between 9:00AM-15:00PM. A study was carried out experimentally to present the efficiency curves of a flat plate solar collector at different flow rates. ASHRAE standard 93-2003 was followed for calculation of instantaneous efficiency of solar collector. Result shows that the flow rate of the circulating fluid highly influence the thermal efficiency of the solar collector. Optimum flow rate of 2.5L/min leads to maximum collector efficiency.
Highlights
Solar energy is becoming an alternative for the limited fossil fuel resources
The experimental data are fitted with linear equations to obtain the characteristic parameters of the collector and having better judgment about the effect of flow rate on the thermal efficiency
It is seen that both removed energy and absorbed energy parameters have an optimum value corresponding to Vol flow rate of 2.5L/min
Summary
Solar energy is becoming an alternative for the limited fossil fuel resources. The recent increased interest in renewable energy has created a need for research in the area of solar technology. The efficiency of flat plate solar collectors as a group of water heaters depends on many factors such as climate conditions (especially solar radiation intensity), materials and design of collector as well as the working fluid type and mass flux rate. Authors in [4] reviewed applications of nanofluid in evacuated tube and flat plate solar collectors from efficiency, economic and environmental considerations and concluded that nanofluids offer a better alternative to conventional fluid. In [7], authors presented an experimental analysis and a thermal and hydrodynamic modelling of a newly designed flat-plate solar collector characterized by its corrugated channel and by the high surface area directly in contact with the heat transport fluid. The collector is working in closed loop where the water is stored in a tank and it is controlled to evaluate the stored heat
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