The Performance of Solar Water Heaters

with Natural Circulation

. D.J. Close
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Engineering Section, Highett, Victoria, Australia

A m e t h o d of e s t i m a t i n g t h e p e r f o r m a n c e of t,n Mean tank temperature, F

solar water heaters circulating to a storage t a n k t,, Mean absorber temperature, F
by t h e r m o s y p h o n is presented. Ideal c o n d i t i o n s u Thermosyphon velocity, ft/sec
o f n o drawoff d u r i n g t h e day a n d clear s u n s h i n e UA Over-all coefficient of loss from absorber,
are a s s u m e d . Two absorber and t a n k s y s t e m s were Btu/ft 2 hr F
tested and t h e results compared w i t h t h o s e es- Uo Over-all coefficient of loss from connecting
t i m a t e d from t h e theoretical m e t h o d . The results tubes, Btu/ft 2 hr F
s h o w very good a g r e e m e n t . Ur Over-all coefficient of loss from tank, Btu/ft 2
hr F
w Thermosyphon flow, lb/hr
NOMENCLATURE a Normal solar absorptance of absorber plate
3 Absorber area reduction factor, A ~ / A a <
AA Absorber over-all area, ft 2 3<1
Ac Connecting tubing surface area based on 0 Time, hours
mean of internal and external radii, ft ~ v Kinematic viscosity, ft2/sec
Ap Absorber plate area, ft 2 r Normal solar transmittance of absorber cover
An Tank surface area based on mean of internal
and external radii, ft 2 INTRODUCTION
C Water equivalent of tank and water, B t u / F
Much empirical information exists1' 2, 3.4, 5 on the
Cp Specific heat, Btu/lb F
performance of fiat-plate absorbers, and system design.
d ID of connecting tubing, ft
However, because of the unsteady nature of the thermo-
f Darcy Weisbach friction factor
syphon flow it is difficult, from the information supplied,
G Solar radiation incident on absorber cover,
to determine the maximum temperature of water in the
Btu/ft 2 hr
storage tank as well as the time required to reach that
Gin Maximum solar radiation, Btu/ft 2 hr
temperature.
f(h) System position function, ft
If the water is pumped into the tank the problem is
h:, etc. Height of some point of tank and absorber
simpler, but difficulties still exist due to the changing
system above datum (see Fig. 2), ft
absorber, tank, and ambient temperatures.
hi Friction head opposing flow, ft
The analysis presented below attempts to predict the
hT Thermosyphon head causing flow, ft
performance of an absorber, thermosyphon, and tank
k Number of velocity heads lost by flow in
combination for the ideal case; no water is drawn off
passing through bends, tees, and restrictions
during the day, and the sun is not obscured by cloud or
Length of tubing through which flow passes,
haze.
ft
Two tank and absorber systems with different char-
qA Heat absorbed by absorber, Btu/hr
acteristics were tested, and the results conformed well
qL Total heat losses from system, B t u / h r
with those predicted.
qLa Heat losses from absorber, Btu/hr
qLT Heat losses from tank, Btu/hr ANALYSIS OF SYSTEM
R~ Reynolds number
S Specific gravity Description o f Typical I n s t a l l a t i o n
tl, etc. Water temperature at selected points in the Typical installations used in Australia are described
system, F elsewhere.4, 5, 8, 7 Briefly, they comprise two or three
Ambient temperature, F 4-ft square absorbers connected to a 70 gal storage tank

33
by i in. OD ( ~ in. ID) copper tubes. The tank is insu-
lated Ml-round with 4 in. of mineral wool, and the con-
necting pipes are covered with 1 in. of expanded rubber
insulation. The return pipe from the absorber is con-
nected to the tank at approximately one fourth the
tank's height from the top.
The test installation shown in Fig. 1 is similar in
general layout to commercial systems, except that two
or three absorbers are more commonly used.
Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Relationships
1. General Relations. Examining the tank and absorber
separately the following instantaneous heat balance
equations are obtained.
For the absorber
q A -~ qLa -4- WCp(t2 -- tl)
For the tank, assuming that no heat losses occur in
the connecting piping
wcp(t2 -- tl) = qLr + |dO
For the thermosyphon flow
hr = hf
2. Determination of Mean System Temperature. From
FIG. 1--Absorber and tank test installation.
equations [1] and [2]
dt,,
qa = qLa + qLr + C d-O [41
An approximation to the solar irradiation of the ab.
sorber cover can be made by using a sine function,
G = Gm sin ~10 [5l
where ~01is such that G = G m at midday, and f G dO for
3
the day is equal to the total measured insolation. This
may require an adjustment of the times of sunrise and
sunset. Since most of the energy is collected during the
hours between 0930 a.m. and 1430 p.m., little error
results from assuming that the absorptance of the ab-
sorber plate and the transmittance of the cover to solar
radiation have their maximum values all day.
[1]
Now qa = ar/3GAa [6]
The factor 13 is inserted because the area of the plate
(Ap) is rather smaller than the over-all area of the
[21 absorber (A a). Thus, not all of the energy transmitted
through the absorber cover is actually absorbed in the
plate. However, /3 is probably larger than Ap/Aa as
heat absorbed by the absorber, other than in the plate,
[3]
makes some contribution to the losses from the absorber,
thus decreasing the losses from the plate itself. For ab-
34
sorbers tested with an over-all area of approximately 17
sq ft with the absorber plate running to within one or
two in. of the outside edge, a value of ~ of one is satis-
factory.
Substituting Eq. [5] in [6]
I

qA = ar/3A ~Gm sin ~10 [7] : , 5 a

The losses from a given absorber and tank are ex-

pressed by the following equations -" - (/ I POINTS /0
_ ~ IN x
TANK ----
qca = U a A a ( t . - - ta),
0 _3_
$"
qLr = U r A r ( t , , - to).
.0 I ,
80o Jooo QOO t$oo ~ 18oo
Figure 5 shows the losses from two absorbers plotted T J ~ OF OAr-- ~:~RS
against temperature difference. It indicates that at the Fro. 3--Daily temperature variation of water at points in-
operating temperatures of absorbers, assuming constant side tank--vertical distanees between curves show linearity
or otherwise of temperature distributions.
wind velocity, losses are nearly linear with respect to
temperature difference.
Figure 6 shows that for most of the day the mean Differential equation [10] may now be solved for tm as a
absorber temperature (t,) is very close to the mean tank function of 0.
3. Determination of Thermosyphon Flow. To determine
temperature (t~). Putting t, = tm and combining the
above loss equations the thermosyphon head which is generated by the
differences in density of the fluid in the system, it is
q~ = q~r + qza = ( U a A a + U r A r ) ( t m - - t,) [8] necessary to examine the temperature distribution in
Substituting for qA , q~r, and q~a in equation [4] the circuit.
A diagram of water temperature at different positions
arBA~ Gm sin w~ 0 = (UA AA + U r A ~ ) ( t , ~ - - t,) in the circuit is shown in Fig. 2. The assumptions neces-
dtm [9] sary to draw this diagram are listed below.
-k-c-- (a) The temperature distribution inside the tank is
dO
linear
The ambient temperature (t,) is approximated by a (b) The water from the absorber rises to the top of
sine function of the form the tank
t~ = to + t~ s i n ~20. (c) There are no losses in the connecting tubes
The assumption made in the previous section, that
An example is shown in Fig. 11. the mean tank and absorber temperatures are equal, is
Substituting for t, in [9] and rearranging inferred from (a), (b), and (c), above.
dt,, The temperature distributions shown in Fig. 3 indi-
c ~-~ + (Ua A a + U r A r ) t , , -- ar~G,, A a sin o~t 0
[10] cate that for most of the day these assumptions are
quite reasonable.
+ (Ua Aa + Ur Ar)(t~ + tL sin ,.,~O)
Since the temperature differences 1-2 and 4-5 are
about 20 F, the relationship between sp gr and tempera-
-b ,,I 6 ture may be assumed finear. Thus, Fig. 2 also represents

rl
// the specific gravity distribution in the circuit.
.4 /
3 4 /
Then hr = area 12345 = ½($1 - $2)

• - hi) - (h2 - h,) (h3 - h0!

h6 h5 _J
Putting

/
..~ (h3 - h J
r(h) -- 2(h3 - h~) - (h2 -- hi)
h6 - h5 [11]
hr = ½($1 - $ 2 ) . f ( h )
1 In view of the fairly large temperature range over
which the absorber operates (60-80 F), it is desirable to
FIG. 2--Diagram showing hypothetical temperature dis- use a parabolic relationship between sp gr and tempera-
tribution; thermosyphon system. ture, rather than a linear one as assumed above.

35
 T h e n S = A t 2 + Bt-4- D The term ku~/2g is introduced into the flow equation
The approximation used is shown in Fig. 4. because of the losses associated with bends, tees, and
other restrictions in the tubing.
Hence hr = ½[A(62 - t2~) -4- B ( h - t~)]'f(h)
If any doubt exists as to whether the flow is laminar,
t~ -4- t~ turbulent, or in the transition region; then a value of
t,.-
2 [121 f = 0.035 is a fair approximation.
If water is used, and the density is assumed constant
Thus hr - t~ - t~ ( 2 A G + B ) . f ( h ) at 62.4 lb/ft 3 (the variation is less than 3 percent for a
2
temperature range of 130 F),
From an examination of the heat input to a single
absorber thermosyphoning to a tank, the temperature u = 5.68 X 10-6w
d~
differences through the absorber are such that the flow
is in the laminar region. A value of rm corresponding to a water temperature
Then using the Darcy Weisbach equation for the (tin) can be read from tables or from Fig. 4.
friction head loss in the flow circuit Substituting for u and f in [13]
5.65 X 10-6/v,~ w
= fl~ + k~ h,~= d~ + 5.02 X 10-13 ]~ w ~ [14]
[13]
64 64v Equating hr and h I from Eqs. [12] and [14] and
f- substituting
R~ ud
dtm
~o
q~r + c dO
I'O00 T-- t2 -- 6 - from [2]
\ 5. *,.zs,,,o°6¢ 't+g'osxto'at + o.a9967 U'£p

\
0.~95 1 o
tt w 3 + 1.13 X 107 ~. UmW" + 9.95 X 10"

~
I
tic 6,0,," 0
4>590
[15]

{ Ac~al
"-... \,, k d4 q c r ~ - e ~
k ¢v
(2At,~+B).f(h) =0

Thus, w can be found for any time during the day,

i 0"98O
Apps,o~mohbn
N--' dtm
since d0 and tm have already been determined.
\
4. Determination of Temperatures in the System. Once w
0~75 o
M.o t~o is found in terms of 0, t 2 - ti may be found from Eq. [2],
and since to~+ tl = 2tin is known, 6 and t2 can be found.
FI6. 4--Curves of kinematic viscosity and specific gravity Thus, the temperature distributions in the system may
variations with temperature, and the approximate specific
gravity temperature relation. be determined b y using Fig. 2.

TABLE 1

Installation 1 Installation 2

Plate copper with black copper oxide coating copper with black paint coating
solar absorptivity 92% solar absorptivity 95%
infrared emissivity 15% infrared emissivity 90%

Cover one sheet 0.004 in. " t e d l a r " two sheets glass
max solar transmission 96% max solar transmission 80%
infrared transmission 40% infrared transmission 0%

Insulation 2-in. mineral wool at back of plate. 2-in. fibre 2-in. mineral wool at back of plate. No insula-
board between plate headers and side of box. tion between sides of plate or headers, and
1-in. fibre board between plate sides and box.
side of box.
Absorber Area 17.28 sq ft over-all 17.00 sq ft over-all
Connecting Tubing 19.5 ft of 0.0753 ft I D copper tubing with four 19.5 ft of 0.0753 ft I D copper tubing with four
bends and two tees bends, two tees, and one I-in. diam orifice.

36
 TESTING OF ABSORBERS ON
THERMOSYPHON
Description of Experimental Installation
Abaorb~ CLH~
The experimental installation used is shown in Fig. 1. <:'r'" . < f -"
The tank is 30 gal capacity and 16-in. diam X 41 in.
eoe
high. The connecting tubing to the tank is 1 in. outside
diam. Two absorbers having different characteristics !

were connected to the tank by piping with different re-

--" J ,f ..... ~e.,,or~
sistances to flow. Both absorbers were mounted facing
due north at an angle of 32½ deg to the horizontal. The ~__.i)"/- ~l~l.l~l
two installations are compared in Table 1. The absorber
used in installation 2 is manufactured commercially in
Australia.
The absorbers were mounted in the same relative
position to the tank, and the length of connecting piping
"
. / I L ~eo

to the tank was the same in each case. Tiwn~o~ Day - ~ ' a
The eight ½-in. diam tubes in the absorber plate were, Fro. 7--Absorber inlet and outlet temperatures during
hours of sunshine--installation 2.
for simplicity, assumed to offer the same resistance to
flow as a 1-in. OD (0.0753 ft ID) tube of half the length.
The connections between the absorber tubes and the half the length of each header was added to the length
headers were assumed to represent one tee each, and of tubing in the circuit.
The theoretical losses of the two absorbers plotted
i
from data 1' ~ and the measured transmissions of the
covers to solar radiation are shown in Figs. 5 and 10.

Method of Measuring Performance of Systems

For both systems, thermocouples introduced into
. ~ t ~ "~ thermometer pockets at positions 1 and 2 in Fig. 1
40 I~tion a
measured the temperature of the water entering and
leaving the system.
For installation 2, thermocouples were introduced
~ ~o ' L-~ " into the storage tank at positions indicated in Fig. 3.
( Insolation was measured by an Eppley pyrheliometer
mounted at an angle of 32½ deg to the horizontal; that
,~o so ~o #o /ao /~ /4~ ~so is, at the same angle of inclination as the absorber.
Meon ~t~ ~ml~n~ru~-
All temperatures and pyrheliometer readings were
FI~. 5--Calculated losses from two absorbers used in testing recorded on a multi-point recorder.
--wind speed 10 mph, ambient temperature 70°F.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
The agreement obtained between the calculated and
measured results was very good in the case of instal-
lation 2, particularly the values of tank mean tempera-
f \ ture (t~, Fig. 6). Such precision was not expected in the
case of the temperatures entering and leaving the ab-
i

J \ sorber (Fig. 7), because of the assumptions necessary to

compute the thermosyphon flow. However, the agree-

70
/ Me,,.ro./~To.,,e. -(C~..~ted)
ment is close enough to be satisfactory.
The differences between the theoretical and measured
/ temperatures entering and leaving the absorber (Fig. 8)
are rather larger for installation 1 than 2. And there arc
/ several possible reasons for these discrepancies.
$o
(~o Boo tooo ~oo
1. The insolation curve was not uniform and the sine
~ , e ¢4 Dog- A ~
curve was not a good approximation.
FIo. 6--Mean tank and absorber temperatures during hours
of sunshine--installation 2. 2. The tank mean temperature was unknown; at that

37
stage no measurements of temperatures inside the tank
were being made. 250
3. After testing, the " t e d l a r " was found to be dis-
coloured by a brown dye from the fibre board insulation.
AYe,
For this reason, the value of r used was 0.90 rather than ,~(yo
0.96.
The significant feature of these results obtained from
two different installations is their close correspondence ~ /50
with the theoretical values.
CONCLUSIONS .~ Ioo
The results indicate that a reliable prediction of the
performance of a solar thermosyphon hot-water system 2
can be made, assuming conditions of clear sunshine and S O

no drawoff during the hours of operation.

The insolation curve for a clear day can be predicted
fairly accurately from empirical data. The data of Morse 0
600 ~00 I0~0 1200 1400 1600 14gO0
and Czarnecki 7 was used to plot an insolation curve for r l ~ ot D o y - hours
installation 2 (assuming a sine function) and it is very FIG. 0--Comparison between measured and approximate
close to the experimental curve (Fig. 9). Thus, a close insolation curves--installation 2.
prediction to the performance of a particular system
may be made knowing only the latitude of the instal- A more detailed study of the performance of these
lation and the approximate daily ambient temperature hot-water systems is anticipated, which will provide a
variation. more complete understanding of the mechanism of
Although a large proportion of the absorber operating thermosyphon flow, and include the effects of tank size,
time is during cloudy weather, the performance of one pipe layout, drawoff, and intermittent sunshine. A
system relative to another under such conditions will be critical examination of the design criteria used for solar
similar to their relative performances on clear days. hot-water heaters can then be made.
I M P R O V E M E N T S E N V I S A G E D FOR T H I S
APPENDIX
ANALYSIS
Method of Computation of Performance of In-
This analysis is primarily intended as a basis from
stallation 2
which the over-all performance of different installations
under different conditions may be studied. Using it, the With sunrise at 0712 hours
most suitable combination of absorber and tank for a
particular d u t y in a particular region can be chosen. qA = a r ~ A A G,, sin ~-_O0
9.6
a = 0.95
r = 0.80 from Fig. 10

AIJsor~r o u ~ r ~
j. "
• Aa = 17.00 ft '2
"" ~ r,~p. %1 / G~ = 253 B t u / h r fl'om Fig. 9
Assume
IoO / ~ I#"

=; Therefore
v0
qa = 3270 sin ~ and
....jl,., / ,,, .... ~,~,,,,e
Cdculotcd

6o t~ = 41 + 23 sin ~-~ from Fig. 11.

For the tank

4o 1 Ur = 0.072 B t u / f t 2 F hr
A r = 26.2 ft 2
FIG. S--Absorber inlet and outlet temperatures during hours
of sunshine--installation 1. In this case, where only 1 in. of insulation is used on

38
 65
the c o n n e c t i n g tubes, it is more a c c u r a t e to i n c l u d e the
losses from t h e m .
F o r the t u b e s
6O
Uc = 0.48 B t u / f t 2 F h r
I
Ac = 0.540 ft 2
I ~FS __ _ __

and
F o r the a b s o r b e r

U~ = 1.05 B t u / f t 2 F hr

AA = 17.0 ft 2

c = 330 B t u / F allowing 30 B t u / F for the t a n k a n d

45
/ _ A,o~orox~note

insulation.
T h e n u s i n g Eq. [9]
,40
600
4 800 I000 ggO0 ~O0 1500 I~O0

dtm ~rO 7tO ~ m e of O o y - / w u r a

dO + 0.0608 t,, = 9.89 sin ~ + 1.40 sin ~ - + 2.49 FIG. l l - - C o m p a r i s o n b e t w e e n m e a s u r e d and a p p r o x i m a t e
a m b i e n t t e m p e r a t u r e s - - i n s t a l l a t i o n 2.
Solving for t .... a n d t a k i n g t,, = 84 w h e n 0 = 0
1tO ~rO rO where
tm = 5.41 sin ~.~ -- 29.2 cos ~ -k- 1.77 sin --15
l = 19.5 ft
~-0 k = 39.6
-- 6.1l cos 15- + 41.0 -4- 78.3 exp ( --0.0608 0)
c = 330 B t u / F
7r0 It0 7r0
dt,, _ 1.77 cos + 9.55 sin + 0.37 cos -- d = 0.0753 ft
do 15
A = - 2 . 5 0 X l 0 -6
7tO
+ 1.28 sin ] ~ -- 4.76 exp ( --0.0608 0) B = 5.83 × 10 -~

T a k i n g as a n example 0 = 2, t h a t is at 0912 hours h 3 - - hl = 5.43 ft

t,, = 85.6 h2 -- hi = 2.02 ft

dt,, h 3 - - h5 = 2.54 ft
- 3.87
dO h6 -- h5 = 3.42 ft
F o r the t h e r m o s y p h o n flow when
0 = 2~
w + 1.13 X 107 um w2 + 9.95 X 10" k~
a~
vm = 0.866 X 10 -5 ft2/sec

.(qLr+c~)(2Atm+B) •f(h) = 0 qLr = 75.5 B t u / h r

dtm
- 3.87 F / h r
• • •
dO

.= x
tm = 85.6 F
$ox
x
Therefore

w 3 + 49.1 w 2 -- 1,114,000 = 0
x Tb,,o6/a55~
And

|
\ w = 90 l b / h r
Also

12 - - tl = 15.1 and

o t2 = 93.1

ll = 78.0
FIG. 1 0 - - T r a n s m i s s i v i t i e s of " t e d l a r " and two glass s h e e t s
to solar r a d i a t i o n . I t is i n t e r e s t i n g to note t h a t t h e efficiency of the a b -

39
sorber and tank system, in the case of installation 2,
was 37.8 percent. This figure is based on the total
amount of insolation received during the day and the
temperature rise in the tank during the thermosyphon
period. Since the losses from the tank and connecting
pipes are included the collection efficiency of the ab-
sorber, calculated on the same basis, would be approxi-
mately 42.4 percent.
REFERENCES
1. Tabor, H., "Solar Energy Collector Design," Bull. of the
Res. Council of Israel, 5C No. 1, Nov. 1955.
40
2. Tabor, H., "Radiation, Convection and Conduction Coef-
ficients in Solar Collectors," Bull. of the Res. Council of
Israel, 6C No. 3, Aug. 1958.
3. Hottel, H. C. and Woertz, B. B., "The Performance of
Flat Plate Solar Collectors," Trans. A.S.M.E., 64, 91-104,
1942.
4. Czarnecki, J. T., "Performance of Solar Water Heaters in
Australia." Solar Energy, II (3-4), July-Oct. 1958.
5. Morse, R. N., "The Design and Construction of Solar Water
Heaters," C.S.I.R.O. Central Experimental Workshops,
Report E.D. 1, Feb. 1955.
6. Morse, R. N., "Solar Water Heaters for Domestic and Farm
Use," C.S.I.R.O. Engineering Section, Report E.D.5,
Sept. 1957.
7. Morse, R. N. and Czarnecki, J. T., "Flat Plate Solar Ab-
sorbers-the Effect on Incident Radiation of Inclination
and Orientation," C.S.I.R.O. Engineering Section, Report
E.D.6, Aug. 1958.