ASSIGNMENT 9

Effects of various parameters on collector performance

These parameters classified as design parameters, operational

parameters, meteorological parameters and environmental parameters.

Selective surface:

1
 They are the surface which exhibit the characteristics of high value of
absorptivity of incoming solar radiation and low value of emissivity of
outgoing re-radiation they surfaces maximize the absorption of solar
energy and minimize the emission of radiative loss.

 Thin surface layer ( coating on a polished metal (from

copper oxide, nickel black and black chrome  Painting).
 Available also in the form of tapes that could stick to the absorber
plate.

2
Selective surface increase the collector efficiency selective surface
should also:

1) Be able to withstand temperature levels over extended periods and

when no useful heating is being removed some selective surface
(black chrome) can withstand up to .

2) Its properties should not change with use degradation can occur in
the values of because of atmosphere humidity.

3) Should be able to withstand atmosphere corrosion and oxidation.

4) Its cost should be reasonable.

3
Number of glass covers:

 As the number of covers increases: the value of ( (

decrease, then S decreases.

 Also: - The addition of more covers causes the value of and hence
the heat loss to decrease in both cases. For this It is found that is
maximum if a selective surface is used when using one or 2 glass
covers (one when selective surface is sometimes used).

𝐺𝐶1
h
𝐺𝐶2
h
𝐴𝐵𝑆

4
Spacing

 Spacing from is recommended

 Area of collector can be reduced by
 The main problem associated with using larger spacing is the shading
of the absorber plate by the side walls using spacing
reduces by if reduced by .
 Spacing of are generally used by all manufacturers.
 It may be noted that in some collectors the inside of the side walls is
lines with a reflecting surface in order to reduce shading effects.

5
Collector tilt

 The optimum tilt which will result in maximizing the annual

insolation is given by

6
The usual practices is to make:

 ( (
(

 ( (
(

7
 Fluid Inlet temperature :

Effects of fluid inlet temperature on performance of collector

( 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
( 326.5 334.8 343.0 351.2 359.3 367.5 375.5
3.78 3.90 4.02 4.12 4.22 4.31 4.39
(
( 1149.0 1065.0 977.4 888.3 796.6 703.4 608.9
( 317.3 326.3 335.2 344.1 353.0 361.9 370.7
( 56.4 52.3 48.0 43.6 39.1 34.6 29.9

8
It is seen from the table above that the efficiency of the collector decreases
more or less linearly with increasing values of , the value falling from
56.4 to 29.9 % as increases from . This decrease is
because of the higher temperature level at which the collector as a whole
operates when the fluid inlet temperature increases. Because of this, the
top loss coefficient as well as the temperature difference with surroundings
increases, the heat lost increases and the useful heat gain decreases.

9
Incident Solar flux:

EFFECT OF INCIDENT SOLAR FLUX

70%

60%

50%
Efficiency

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
Solar Flux

10
Dust on top Cover

It is recommended that incident flux may be multiplied by a correction

factor which account for the reduction of intensity because of the
accumulation of dust, this factor varies from ( depending on
location, season, etc.

11