Abstract
This thesis presents an analysis of the thermal performance of cylindrical solar collectors. A major contributor to performance is optics, the principle focus of this work. A tool used to compute the incidence angle modifiers (IAM`s) for cylindrical solar collectors is presented. The Monte Carlo Method is employed in a Fortran 90 computer code to compute the hemispheric IAM`s of cylindrical solar collectors. Using concentric cylinders, the tubes are modeled with and without back plane reflectors of varying size. The computed IAM`s are verified both analytically and experimentally. Outdoor experiments on an array of cylindrical tubes with various back planes and two different tube spacings are described. Agreement with TRNSYS runs in daily energy gain is excellent. Over the 38 data sets, taken on different days, a maximum error of 11.2% is observed, with an average error of 3%. Heat loss tests, used to calculate an overall heat loss coefficient for the collector, are also described. A parametric variation study is used to illustrate the effect of varying many of the collector parameters. This study provides insight into the significant design parameters for cylindrical solar collectors. This insight is used to analyze the effect of these design parameters on the annual energy delivered by the collector. In addition, a simple cost analysis illustrates the benefits of varying the design parameters. The use of this new program and a detailed Life Cycle Cost analysis are the tools needed for optimizing the design of a cylindrical solar collector. 27 figs., 9 tabs.
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