Liquid Flat-Plate Collectors ier 60 3 ° 2 2 $ ° Efficiency 7 (%) woe 8 8 10 0 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 ((Zp-Ta) / 17] 403 (K-m? / W) Fig. 4.21 Efficiency of a commercial evacuated tube collector (A, = 2.27 m?; number of evacuated tube modules = 12; dimensions of a module: 0.069 m diameter, 1.760 m long; space between modules = 0.035 m) n, = 0.527 - 1.736(T, — T,)/E, (4.13.1) A comparison of Eqs (4.13.1) and (4.12.5) shows that the efficiency of the ETC tested is nearly 1.5 times the efficiency of the conventional collector when the value of a- Tp = 0.12 K-m’/W. It may be noted that an ETC of the same type having modules stacked side-by-side with no spacing would yield a higher efficiency. Its performance characteristic is likely to be a straight line with essen- tially the same slope as in Eq. (4.13.1) but with a higher intercept on the ordinate axis. 4.13.2. The BNL Collector In 1987, the Brookhaven National Laboratory [40,41] in USA developed a very light flat-plate solar collector that is simple in construction and has the potential of low cost because of the use of new engineering plastics like polymer coatings, films and rigid foams. The design uses high performance polymer films for the cover and weather seal portions of the collector. These films are adhesively attached to a bent aluminium sheet frame that mates with a rigid polymer foam core (Fig. 4.22). In the monocoque construction used in the collector, the cover and back weather seal films are thermally shrunk to form tension members against the rigid insulating polymer foam core. This procedure makes the structure rigid and permits an extremely light structure.Liquid inlet Absorber plate Fibre glass insulation . Rigid polymer Liquid outlet foam insulation Fig. 4.22 BNL solar flat-plate collector Most of the components perform multiple functions in order to minimize ma- terial requirements. The transparent cover film functions as a structural tension member as well as an optical window and thermal convection suppressor. The back film performs as a tension member and weather seal, and the polymer foam core performs the function of insulation as well as being a dimensionally stable compression member. These construction techniques with careful selection of engineering polymers have resulted in a light product which has a very high strength-to-weight ratio. The absorber is a conventional copper sheet with attached tubes and has a selective surface to minimize re-radiation losses. The polymer film used in the cover has an optical bandwidth much wider than glass. This wider bandwidth results in a higher transmissivity and permits more solar energy to reach the absorber. Consequently a high thermal performance is achieved. Test data have been correlated by the following equation 1 = 0.75 — 4.54(Ty ~ Tp (4.13.2) 4.13.3 The Polymer Solar Collector In contrast to the BNL collector which has a conventional copper absorber plate with attached tubes and a selective surface coating, Kudish et al. [42, 43] report data on collectors (1 m long, 0.5 m wide) having a double-walled polymer ab- sorber plate with channels (Fig. 4.23). A selective coating was deposited on the upper surface of the plate, while the water to be heated flowed through the channels between the two walls. A 4-mm thick glass glazing was used over the absorber surface. Performance tests in Israel yielded average daily efficiencies in the range of 50—60 per cent and maximum fluid outlet temperatures in excess of 60°C.Liquid Flat-Plate Collectors ‘nm : Glass glazing 20 mm Selective coating (40.75 mm te i } Y H 1 y Rib Wall = |10mm =~ Y ee 10 mm ={|+ 0.75 mm 0.75 mm Fig. 4.23 Collector with double-walled polymer absorber plate A disadvantage of using polymer materials in the absorber plate is their low thermal conductivity as compared to the values for metal absorber plates. As a result, one has to consider the thermal resistance offered by the walls of the plate. Tsilingiris [44] has idealised the absorber plate to be a parallel plate channel and assumed one-dimensional heat flow perpendicular to the plate. He has con- sidered the thermal resistance of the upper and lower walls of the absorber plate and assumed that in comparison the thermal resistance to convective heat trans- fer from the walls to the fluid is negligible. His analysis shows that the Hottel- Whillier-Bliss equation (4.7.5) is still valid with the collector heat-removal factor Fp defined as in equation (4.7.6). However, the overall loss coefficient U, and the collector efficiency factor F’ are now redefined as follows U, =U,+u, eet (4133) 1+(U,/H) yet (4.13.4) 1+(U,/H) where H = k/é, 4.13.4 The Concrete Collector A large amount of metal (copper, aluminium, galvanized iron, etc.) is used in conventional flat-plate collector systems. But studies on the energy inputs required for the production of different materials indicate that metals need a large amount of fossil fuel energy for their production. Furthermore, individual collec- tor modules are connected to form a large array to meet the required demand. Thus, the solar system forms a separate entity, which has its own individual cost and adds dead loads on a building structure. In the long run, it would seem desirable that solar collectors be made an integral part of building elements, like the roof and wall panels. Thus, the separate solar system investment would be partially merged into the building construction investment. With these facts in mind, concrete solar collectors have been developed and tested at IIT BombayTD Solar Energy [45]. Such collectors integrated with building structures are likely to cost less than Rs 2000 per square metre and would obviously be more cost effective than conventional collectors for providing domestic hot water at 50° to 60°C. However, their efficiencies would be lower than the values for conventional collectors. Figure 4,24 shows a cross-section of the concrete collector. The absorber (1.31 m long and 0.68 m wide) is made from a thin concrete slab about 3.5 cm thick with a network of 1.7 cm (inner diameter) PVC tubes embedded inside. A layer of galvanized iron wire mesh on either side of the PVC tubes provides reinforcement to the concrete. The top of the slab is painted black with an ordi- nary blackboard paint and glazed. A commercially available slab of cellular con- erete (12.5 cm thick) is used to support the absorber plate. This slab is light- weight and has a low thermal conductivity. Thus, it provides adequate insulation on the back side of the collector. The PVC network is arranged in such a manner that it provides a parallel flow through the individual tubes. The metal mesh. reinforcement helps to increase the ability of the concrete to withstand handling stresses. A concrete collector is thermally massive; hence, the concept of instan- taneous efficiency does not carry any significant meaning with respect to its thermal performance. On the other hand, the performance is best judged on the basis of the daily efficiency (7), which is defined as the ratio of the useful en- ergy obtained during the day to the total radiation incident on the collector area during the day (H7). 68 cm > we UWAN |«~——— 131 cm —_+| (b) Fig. 4.24 (a) Cross-section of concrete collector (1. glass cover; 2. air gap; 3. rubber gasket; 4. wooden frame; 5. concrete slab; 6. PVC tube; 7. wire mesh; 8. cellular concrete insulation) (b) Schematic of PVC tube network Extensive tests have been carried out to find out the effect of tube spacings, flow rates and fluid inlet temperatures on the thermal performance of the collector. ‘Of the collectors tested, it has been found that the collector with a pitch of 6 cm, ‘operating at a flow rate of 1.2 Ipm gives the best thermal performance. Typical results of a whole day’s testing at a fixed fluid inlet temperature are shown in Fig. 4.25. The figure shows the variation of the useful energy gain and solar flux incident on the collector plane. It is observed that the useful energy ofFlat-Plate Collectors 4.17 418 4.19 T, T, T, 7, ce c& ce) (Win?) 8495 93.98 23.0 885 79.97 89.83 224 879 75.63 85.51 22.1 862 69.54 79.24 21.6 S41 68.19 7236 213 827 50.05 61.19 204 819 43.37 54.06 204 792 38.17 49.79 19.3 770 33.92 45.44 19.0 761 Given: (10), = 0.74; sin = 1.10 kg/minute; C, = 4.18 ki/kg-°C; 4/4, = 1.2, (a) Calculate the values of 7; and plot these against the parameter (Tj T,)Ip Draw a best fit straight line and determine the values of U, and Fp. (b) How does the value of F, change if the value of * is increased to 1.5 kg/minute? Assume that the value of F’ does not change significantly because of the increase in tt. . A liquid flat-plate collector has the following characteristic parameters: Fx (€Q)qy = 0.73, Fp U, = 3.50 Wim?-K In an experiment on such a collector, the following observations are recorded: Collector water flow rate 0.02 kg/s-m? of absorber area Collector outlet temperature 72°C Ambient temperature 29°C An unshaded pyranometer kept on a horizontal surface and a pyrheliometer record 780 W/m? and 650 W/m? respectively. Calculate the collector inlet tem= perature. Given: Location 22°39 N, 88°27 E Date September 13 Time 1100h (ST) Slope of the collector 20° Surface azimuth angle of the collector as° Reflectivity of the surrounding surface 02 The temperature rise across a flat-plate collector is measured to be 7.4°C under the following conditions: Solar flux in the collector plane 970 Wim" Ambient temperature 25°C Collector fluid flow rate 144 ke/h Collector overall loss coefficient 4.5 Wim?-K Collector absorber area 2m? (ta),, 0.80 If the inlet fluid temperature is decreased by 10°C, the temperature rise across the collector is 7.9°C. All other data remains the same. Calculate the collector efficiency factor. \ A liquid flat-plate collector has the following characteristic parameters: Fx(t02)y = 0.68, FU, = 6.1 Wim?-KTm Solar Energy 420 = 2 It is operating under the following conditions: Solar flux incident on the collector plane 900 W/m? Water flow rate 0.015 kg/s-m? of absorber area Ambient temperature 20°C Inlet water temperature 40°C (i) Calculate the mean absorber plate temperature of the collector if the collec- tor efficiency factor is 0.90. i) If the circulating pump fails, what is the maximum temperature attained by the plate? Compare graphically the efficiency characteristics of the single cover conven- tional flat-plate collector, Eq. (4.12.5) with those of the following alternatives described in Sec. 4.13. 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