Heat collection performance analysis of corrugated flat plate collector: An experimental study

Abstract

Heat collection through flat plate collector is a common technology in solar thermal utilization. In order to improve the heat collection efficiency of flat plate collector and determine the best inclination angle and glass plate thickness, this paper establishes a collector indoor experimental system, and completes the research of solar radiation intensity, collector inclination angle, mass flow rate and glass thickness on the heat collection performance of corrugated flat plate collector. The result shows that when radiation intensity is 510W/m2, the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet in the radiation decreasing stage is 0.25 °C higher than the radiation increasing stage, and the heat collection in the radiation decreasing stage is 157.5W higher than the radiation increasing stage. The heat collection efficiency under different inclination angles decreases with the increase of radiation intensity, the best inclination angle of the collector is 45° and the maximum heat collection efficiency is 0.89. When the radiation intensity is more than 1000W/m2, heat collection of flat plate collector with glass thickness of 8 mm is 6% higher than that with the thickness of 6 mm, insulating effect of the glass is more obvious. The optimum thickness of the glass plate is 4 mm, the maximum temperature difference is 1.5 °C and the maximum heat collection efficiency is 0.89. The heat collection efficiency at different mass flow rates increases first and then decreases with the increase of radiation intensity. The maximum value of the heat collection efficiency at low mass flow rate is delayed. When the mass flow rate is 0.15 kg/s, 0.13 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s, the maximum heat collection efficiency is 0.89, 0.86 and 0.73, respectively; and the corresponding radiation intensity are 670W/m2, 850W/m2 and 1000W/m2, respectively.