Experimental study of polymer solar collectors performance characteristics in development of clean and more efficient energy-conversion systems

Abstract

In the heating of water demand for electricity comprises a substantial part of more general household electrical consumption, where electrical and gas boilers are among the most widely used. Solar water heating systems have been around for some time in many countries, becoming more common nowadays to mitigate peak loads, and they can in some cases fully replace gas boilers and electrical heaters if a heat-accumulation tank is to be used. The solar collector is apparently the most complex and expensive element of such a system, which cumulative cost largely depends on the choice of materials and system size. The solar polymer flat plate collectors are of particular interest mainly because of their low weight and cost, resilience to corrosion, with an ultimate goal to replace metal-made parts altogether. Recent decades witnessed a steady rise of interest in solar energy conversion collector designs. In this paper we re-evaluated several proposed solutions in this field to compare our experimental results with that of gathered by other researchers, paying particular efforts to standardized methodology compliance. It could be demonstrated that polymeric materials with additives used in the construction of a heat sink (absorber), and in the transparent coating of a particular solar collector, are able to sustain high temperature levels yet retain its thermal stability, and possibly improving also its service life. The efficiency of the solar collector was further assessed with and without the effect of an air gap which manifested itself as being not significant at low wind speeds. Use of polymeric materials in solar polymer collectors makes an important step towards development of a more clean energy-conversion system to cope with global energy demand spikes.