Investigation of Performance Parameters Affecting the Efficiency of Solar Water Heater: A Review

Abstract

The need for installation of Solar Water heater is increasing in society because of several factors such as rapid urbanization, government interventions, low cost of installations, and environment-friendly application acting as a direct replacement to fossil fuels. During the past few years, the research and development associated with the technological enhancement of the utilization of solar energy have increased exponentially. However, there are various challenges involved in the selection of proper solar technology to provide a high-performance energy harvesting application for domestic water heating requirements. There is a wide literature available on various performance parameters required to develop an efficient Solar Water Heating System. This paper investigates a state-of-the-art review of the performance parameters affecting the efficiency of Solar Water Heaters by component-wise analysis of parameters divided broadly into the design, operational and external parameters. The technological advancements in solar water heaters are classified based on performance parameters and the paper summarizes the possibility of combining different performance parameters to achieve more efficient and cost-effective solar water heaters for the society as future scope of the review for researchers working in the similar domain.