Solar t(n<'£el Vol. 49. No 5. pp. 403-4[ I. 1992 0038-092X/92 $5.

(X) 4 (~)
Pnnted )n the L? SA ('op.~righl .:c 1992 Pergamon Pres~ Lid

A NEW TRANSPARENTLY INSULATED, BIFACIALLY

IRRADIATED SOLAR FLAT-PLATE COLLECTOR

A. GOETZBERGER,* J. DENGLER, M. ROMMEL,* J. GOTrSC'HE, and V. WITIWER*

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Oltmannsstrassc 22. D-7800 Freiburg. Germany

Abstract--A new type of transparently insulated flat-plate collector was developed. It reaches higher efficiencies
at low irradiation values or high operating temperatures than any other collector type known. Both sides of
its absorber are covered with transparent insulation material and both sides are irradiated. Thus, the heat
losses of the collector related to the total absorber area are distinctly reduced. An optical efficiency of n0 =
0.72 and a temperature dependent U-value of U(AT) = (0.95 + 0.0076 AT K ~) W m 2 K -i were measured
with an outdoor test facility. The bifacial-absorber collector is considered to be the best option for the DttW
system of the energetically self-sutScient solar house in Freiburg because of its outstanding winter performance.

I. I N T R O D U C r l O N thermal instability of the currently used honeycomb

Based on the properties of transparent insulation ma-
terials ( T I M ) with good thermal insulation properties,
a new type of highly efficient transparently insulated
flat-plate collector has been developed. Pursuance of
the concept of a transparently insulating cover used in
a conventional flat-plate solar collector [ I ] led to a new
type of collector design: The bifacial-absorber collector.
Both sides of its absorber are covered with transparent
insulation material and both sides are irradiated.
Thus, the application of transparent insulation not
only causes a decrease in the heat loss coefficient Ur,o,,,
as in a conventional flat-plate collector. It specifically
allows the bifacial irradiation of the absorber and avoids
the need for an opaque insulation of the back surface.
This leads to the reduction of the absorber's heat loss
area, related to its radiation capturing area. by a factor
of two.
Nevertheless, it is not a concentrating system, as
the total area of both absorber surfaces is equal to the
aperture area.
When a highly efficient insulating transparent cover
is used, the heat losses from the opaquely insulated
back surface of a conventional flat-plate collector are
no longer negligible, compared to those from the front
surface. For a conventional selective flat-plate collector
with single glazing, the ratio of the heat transfer coef-
ficients is Urron,/U~-k = 3.5/0,5. For a collector with
a transparently insulating cover, this ratio is Ufro,,/U~¢k
= 1/0.5 only.
The performance of a transparently insulated col-
lector is therefore significantly improved when the ab-
sorber is covered on both sides with transparent in-
sulation material, and is irradiated on both sides. The
rear surface of the absorber is no longer just losing
energy but also contributes to the gains.
A prototype o f a bifacial-absorber collector has been
constructed, having higher efficiencies than any other
nonconcentrating collector under conditions of low ir-
radiation or high operating temperatures. Due to the
* ISES member.
material, the operating temperatures are at present re-
stricted to a maximum value of 140°C. However, work
is in progress on transparent insulation materials, which
can withstand higher operating temperatures.
2. T I I E C O N C E P T O F T H E B I F A C I A I , - A B S O R B E R
COI,I,ECTOR
The concept of the bifacial-absorber collector is
shown in Fig. 1 and can be described as follows[2.3]:
The thin absorber plate is irradiated on both sides,
which are covered with transparent insulation material.
Since the basic idea of this design is to minimize the
heat loss area, it is of great importance that the trans-
parent insulation surrounds the absorber completely
and is as close as possible to it.
The rear surface of the absorber is irradiated with
the help of two semi-cylindrical mirrors, where the
edges of the absorber are positioned along the central
axes of the cylinder halves. The radii are equal to half
the width of the absorber. The front side is directly
irradiated as in a conventional fiat-plate collector. This
arrangement accepts all the incoming irradiation with-
out restriction of the incidence angle. This is of im-
portance for the use of such a collector under the cli-
matic conditions prevailing in Central Europe, where
approximately half of the yearly global irradiation is
diffuse. For low irradiation values, when the bifacial-
absorber collector performs particularly well, the mean
fraction of diffuse irradiation is even higher. The optical
analog to this design has also been proposed for solar
cells[4].
3. C O N S T R U C I ' I O N OF PROTOTYPE I
In order to test the validity and practicability of the
concept, a first prototype was designed and built. Prior
to the construction of the collector, the width of the
air gap between the absorber and the transparent in-
sulation material, and the thickness of the latter were
optimized by computing the energy gains of the col-

403
404 A. (,~()E'IZBERGER el al.

Fig. I. Design ofthe bifacial-absorber collector. The absorber (a) is completely surrounded by the transparent
insulation material (b), separated from it by an air-gap of only a few centimetres. The back surface of the
absorber is irradiated with the help of two semi-cylindrical mirrors (c).

lector under winter conditions. The actual dimensions
are given in the cross section of Fig. 2.
The size of the absorber sheet is 0.836 m by 1.84
m so the total area Aa~ of both absorber surfaces is
,4,~ = 3.08 m 2. Due to the design of the prototype,
the aperture area Aap is equal to the absorber area A ~
of the collector.
The transparent insulation material was of the
polycarbonate honeycomb type, as described in[5].
Its thickness was 50 ram, while the dimensions of the
rectangular cells were about 3.5 m m by 4.5 mm. Low-
iron glazing of thickness 4 mm was directly attached
to the honeycomb for weather protection and in order
to avoid inter-cell convection through the open cells
of the honeycomb layer. The air gap between the ab-
sorber and the honeycomb material was 24 m m wide.
The selective coating of the absorber surfaces had an
absorptance a~,, for the solar spectrum of a~o, = 0.95
and an emissivity ( (IO0°C) = 0.10 for the radiation
spectrum of a black body at the temperature T =
100°C. Figure 3 shows both the absorptance-trans-
mittance product ( r a ) and the effective absorptance-
transmittance product ( r a ) , of the arrangement used
in dependence on the incidence angle, as calculated by
a computer model [ 6 ].
Computation of the angular dependence of the front
side is straightforward. For beams incident on the back,
the directions are drastically altered by the semi-cylin-
drical reflectors. Results of a ray tracing computation
for incidence angles 0 °, +40 ° and - 4 0 ° (in the plane
perpendicular to the cylinder axes) are depicted in Fig.
4. The inserts give the intensity distribution along the
radius and the distribution of incidence angles in ar-
bitrary units integrated over the back surface area of
the absorber. The reflectivity of the mirror has been
assumed to be 0.9 in these calculations. Strong inho-
mogeneities are expected at 0 ° and at negative angles,
for which - 4 0 ° is given as an example. In the exper-

i~ 1760 era
= 1672 ram ----

-- 972 mm ~-

= 836 mm ~.

~ ' lil!ili_iliill]llll.lil!lllllilll.lll!ilJlllVl~iil)lll~Jlliil
"5 ~
,.,....a L,~ ~t~li[~tllllliiiiiiliii~'lilliiiiiiilllmi~iiiliilll~i i

o b c d e
Fig. 2. Cross seetion of prototype 1 to scale. The components shown are: (a) absorber sheet, (b) 24 mm
air gap. (e) 50 mm polycarbonate honeycomb structure, (d) 4 m m low-iron glazing, (e) semi-cylindrical
mirrors.
 A new solar flat-plate collector 405

1.0

0.8

0.6-

0
._. 0.4

0.2

0.0 , , ,
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
incidence angle e , degrees

Fig. 3. Absorptance-transmittancc product (ra) (solid line) and effective absorptance-transmittance product
(r(~)¢ (dashed line) of the used TI M--absorber arrangement, calculated by computer modelling.

iment, however, the temperature was found to be con-
stant along the absorber within the accuracy of the
measurement. This is probably due to three causes:
1. Small inhomogeneities of the mirror surface will
dampen the intensity peaks.
2. The transparent insulation material has the ten-
dency to homogenize the light intensity by multiple
reflections.
3. Heat conduction within the aluminum absorber
plate of thickness 2 m m provides for an equalization
of the temperature inhomogeneities.
Plane mirrors are mounted at the ends of the cyl-
inder halves. Thus also in the planes parallel to the
cylinder axes, shadow and booster effects at the rear
of the absorber were expected for off-normal incidence
angles due to the finite length of the mirror. These
inhomogeneities were limited, because the cylinder
axes were aligned in the south-north direction.
While the bifacial-absorber design minimizes the
heat losses, some reduction of the optical et~ciency
had to be accepted in comparison to a conventionally
designed transparently insulated flat-plate collector.
This reduction was due to some disturbance of the
radiation directed to the rear surface of the absorber:
I. To protect the mirrors from pollution, they were
covered with low-iron glass panes, which cause ad-
ditional reflection losses.
2. The transparent insulation of the edges, which was
7 cm wide and 15 cm thick, partially obscured the
mirrors' apertures and led to more attenuation.
3. For a single beam reflection, the reflectance p of
the mirror was p = 0.95, and the effective mean
reflectance am, which also takes into account that
part of the irradiation was multiply reflected, was
p m = 0.93 for diffuse irradiation.
4. Direct irradiation reflected to the absorber back
surface showed an angular distribution (see Fig. 4
for comparison ), which could lead to a decrease of
the transmittance through the transparent insula-
tion.

° ;

~~d
L
eg
e
rs0
ongle of incidence: angle of incidence: ,4

.~
(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 4. Results of ray tracing computations for incidence angles of(a) 0 °, (b) +40 °, and (c) -40 ° (in the
plane perpendicular to the cylinder axes) to investigate possible inhomogeneities caus~xt by the circular
reflector (the reflectance p of the mirror was assumed to be p = 0.9 in this computation). The intensity
distribution along the radius and the distribution of incidence angles integrated over the back surface area
of the absorber are given in arbitrary units.
406 A. GOETZBF~RGER ('1 a/.

1.0

0.8

0.6

®e-
U 0.4.

•g 0.2

0.0 i i i i i i i i
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
incidence angle O, degrees
Fig. 5. Incidence angle modifiers m (0, ~' - 90 ° ) ( solid line ) and m ( O, (¢ = 0 ° ) ( dashed line ) of the bifaeial-
absorber collector. ~" = 0 is defined as the direction along the axcs of the cylinder halves.

With the help of a c o m p u t e r model for the con- 4. E X P E R I M E N T A l , RF:,~UI,TS

structed version of the bifacial-absorber collector, an
optical efficiency of~o = 0.72 was determined for direct
n o r m a l irradiation a n d r/0~,r = 0.59 for diffuse irradia-
tion.
Furthermore, the incidence angle modifiers were
calculated for two planes which are both perpendicular
to the aperture area. Plane A is parallel to the central
axes o f the semi-cylindrical reflectors. Plane B is per-
pendicular to these axes. The incidence angle modifiers
m (0, ~¢ = 0 °) (in Plane A) and rn (0, (p = 90 ° ) (in
Plane B), as plotted in Fig. 5, were c o m p u t e d ignoring
the edge effects; m (~9, ¢ ) is the factor with which O(,
has to be multiplied to obtain the optical efficiency r/(~
(0, (p). The incidence angles are given in polar coor-
dinates (0, ~ ) , where 0 = 0 ° is n o r m a l to the aperture
plane a n d (p = 0 ° is defined by the direction of the
central axes of the semi-cylindrical reflectors.
T h e incidence angle modifier curve for ~' = 90 °
decreases faster than the one for (p = 0 °. This is due
to the angular distributions which are caused by the
semi-cylindrical mirrors.
Stagnation parameters u n d e r diffuse irradiation
were d e t e r m i n e d with an indoor experiment. Since the
solar simulator used consisted of a field of fluorescent
lights which only emit in the visible spectrum, the ob-
tained data are not absolute values, but the reproduc-
ible conditions allow detailed investigations.
The stagnation temperature was measured for three
irradiation intensities a n d three inclination angles of
the collector. The t e m p e r a t u r e d e p e n d e n t /.,"-values of
the collector were d e t e r m i n e d from the t e m p e r a t u r e
difference A T b e t w e e n the absorber and the surround-
ings. The effective absorptance-transmittance product
(r(~) .... for the experimental conditions under the solar
simulator was estimated to be ( r a ) .... = 0.64, taking
the angular distribution o f the irradiation into consid-
eration. The results are listed in Table I. These values
are in good agreement with the simulated results. In
the horizontal position the U-values are about 8% lower
than for the inclined or the vertical orientation. This
is due to the fact that in the horizontal position there

Table 1. Results of indoor measurements: Stagnation parameters of prototype 1 under the solar simulator

Irradiation Absorbed energy AT U-value A77irradiation

Tilt angle (W m 2) (W m -2) (K) (W m 2 K-~) (K m 2 W -~)

Horizontal 134. I 85.8 70.6 1.21 0.53

100.3 64.2 55.4 1.16 0.55
51.9 33.2 31.3 1.06 0.60
45 ° 143.8 92.0 69.8 1.32 0.49
105.2 67.0 53.0 1.26 0.51
54.9 35.2 31.5 1.12 0.57
Vertical 138.4 88.6 67.1 1.32 0.48
100.5 64.3 50.5 1.27 0.50
53.3 34.1 29.3 1.16 0.57
 A new solar flat-plate collector 407

2.0
7

1.8

8 1 4 • ...-~.:.. "~..:..' -:=..-.

o 1 o

0.8 ' ' ' I ' ' ' ' ' I ' ' ' ' ' '

20 40 60 80 100 120
AT, K
Fig. 6. lnstantanous U-values for prototype 1, determined from the cooling rate at night in outdoor mea-
surements and linear fit U(AT) = (0.95 + 0.0076 AT K - t ) W m 2 K -'.

is no convective heat transport in the 24 m m wide air U(AT)

gap below the horizontal absorber.
=(0.95+0.0076ATK -~) Wm 2K-'. (1)
O u t d o o r m e a s u r e m e n t s were carried out in De-
c e m b e r a n d January. T h e test circuit supplied the col-
lector with a c o n s t a n t fluid inlet t e m p e r a t u r e which T h e optical efficiency 7o was measured at operating
could be chosen between 8°C and 110°C. The ambient temperatures near the a m b i e n t temperature. It was de-
t e r m i n e d as
t e m p e r a t u r e s during the o u t d o o r test phase were a b o u t
- 1 0 ° C to 10°C.
First the heat loss coefficient was d e t e r m i n e d by % = 0.72. (2)
observing the cooling rate at night. T h e U-values, nor-
malized to the absorber area, are plotted in Fig. 6. They T h e efficiency characteristics o f the collector were
exhibit a rather high degree ofscattering, which is found calculated from the experimental data on the optical
to be mainly due to different sky temperatures. efficiency a n d the b-value. They are plotted in Fig. 7.
T h e average t e m p e r a t u r e d e p e n d e n t U-value was They are in good agreement with the instantaneous
d e t e r m i n e d as efficiencies which have been measured u n d e r varying

1.0
"6" 0 . 9
O %..
0.8
i 0.7
0 . 6

0.5
0.42
"~ 0 . 3 '

o
..~
0.2'
0.1
0.0 I I ' ' I '

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

AT/G, K m 2 W-I
Fig. 7. Efficiency characteristics of the bifacial-absorber collector (solid line), calculated from experimental
data and compared to those of a selective flat-plate collector (dashed line) and an evacuated tube collector
(dotted line). For each collector, the efficiency curves for 800, 600, 400, and 200 W m -z are given. For the
bifacial-absorber collector, the absorber area is twice the size of the absorber sheet because both sides are
active.
408 A. GOE'IZBERGER el al.
meteorological conditions as average values over 15
min. For comparison, the characteristics of a selective
fiat-plate collector (r/o = 0.8: U(AI") = (3.8 + 0.016
A T K -~ ) W m -2 K ~) and an evacuated tubular col-
lector (r/0 = 0.85: U ( A T ) = (1.78 + 0,0127 A T K ~)
W m -2 K - ~) are included in Fig. 7.
The principle of the biracial-absorber collector al-
lows a variable arrangement of the collector compo-
nents. Therefore, modifications have been investigated
in order to optimize the thermal insulation perfor-
mance and the optical efficiency.
For example, it is possible to benefit from a hori-
zontal orientation of the absorber, where in principle
no convection-suppressing device below the absorber
is needed. Figure 8 shows the plan of an alternative
construction of a bifacial-absorber collector which al-
lows both the horizontal orientation of the absorber
and the inclination of the aperture area.
In order to investigate the effect, we removed the
low-iron glass pane, which had been attached to the
lower area of transparent insulation. It can be estimated
that this glass pane had caused reflection losses from
the rear side of the absorber of about 12'~, taking into
account the angular distribution of the radiation re-
flected by the semicylindrical mirror. In August and
September the temperature dependent U-values
U ( A T ) and the optical efficiency 77o of the modified
prototype 1 were determined, as described above. The
collector was horizontal for these evaluations. The re-
suits were
Fig. 8. Alternative construction ofa bifacial-absorber collector with horizontal orientation ofthe absorber
and inclined aperture area.
U( ,.XT)
---(I.05+0.0094ATK ~) Wm 2 K -~ (3a)
T0 = 0.76. (3b)
The increase in the/,-value, compared to the orig-
inal collector, is probably due to the fact that the lower
air gap leaked at the edges. When the modified collector
was inclined or vertical, of course, convection at the
rear of the absorber increased the heat losses drastically.
5. A BIFACIAL-ABSORBER ('OI,I,ECTOR FOR THE
ENERGETICALLY SEI.F-SUFFICIEN'I" SOLAR IIOUSE.
FRE1BURG
Since the biracial-absorber collector performs par-
ticularly well under winter conditions, such a collector
will be used as part of the domestic hot water ( D H W )
system of the energetically self-sufficient solar house
in Freiburg[7,8]. In this demonstration project, the
complete energy demand will be supplied only by the
solar irradiation that impinges on the building exterior.
On the fiat roof, the photovoltaic and thermal col-
lectors with a total area of 59 m 2 will be mounted on
a frame and inclined at 40 °. An area of 45.5 m 2 is
required for the photovoltaic system. Thus, 13.5 m 2 is
left for the collectors of the D H W system, which should
deliver more than 90% of the hot water demand of
tbur persons. Three types of thermal collectors were
compared by means of computer simulation of the
 A new solar flat-plate collector 409

D H W system, using the T R N S Y S and W A T S U N All data is related to the absorber area Aa~, where
simulation programmes: in the case of the bifacial-absorber collector, both sur-
faces of the absorber sheet are included in Aa~. Since
• evacuated tube collectors with the characteristics the available roof area is limited, the ratio A,bJA~,~
becomes important, where A m is the gross area of the
~o = 0.85 (4a) collector. For the evacuated tube collector, we took
Ag,~ only as the area which is covered by the tubes and
U(~T) the spaces between them, because the headers of the
=(I.78+0.0127ATK ') Wm-2K '' (4b) collector modules can be covered by PV cells.
For the computations, weather conditions from the
Aa~/Agrs = 0.65, and (4c) Test Reference Year of Freiburg, located in southern
G e r m a n y at 48°N, were used. The following data
• improved flat-plate collectors with transparent covers briefly describes these weather conditions in order to
which consist of 100 m m polycarbonate honeycomb give a background for the results that follow. The an-
attached to a 4 m m low-iron glass pane[I]. Their nual horizontal global irradiation is 1109 kWh m -~
data: a - ' , with 0.714 kWh m -2 d ' as the daily mean value
in December, and 6.014 kWh m -2 d - ' in July. The
~o = 0.76 (5a) monthly mean ambient temperature is 0.3°C in Jan-
uary and 19.2°C in July.
The hot water storage tank of the simulated D H W
U(~T) system had a volume of 1000 L. The results of the
=(I.20+0.010ATK -1) W m - 2 K -' (5b) computations are shown in Fig. 9. It gives the required
additional heating energy in kWh per year in depen-
dence on the covered roof area for each collector type,
Aa~/Ag~ = 0.89, (5c) each time assuming optimal behaviour of all the other
components of the D H W system. Using biracial-ab-
• bifacial-absorber collectors with performance as sorber collectors of 13.5 m ~ gross area, the demand of
given for prototype 1: additional heating energy for the D H W system of the
energetically self-sufficient solar house can almost be
halved, compared to evacuated tube collectors covering
r/o = 0.72 (6a) an equal roof area.
Due to the architecture of the building, a new design
U(,aT) for the bifacial-absorber collector was developed. A
prototype 2 was constructed with an absorber area of
=(0.95 +0.0076ATK-') Wm-:K- (6b) approximately 7.1 m ~. The central axis of its semi-
cylindrical mirror is aligned in the east-west direction.
Aal,,s/Asrs = 0.89. (6c) A cross section of prototype 2 with its dimensions is

50O
@

400

@ 300
r-
@
t~
•~ 200
"6
e-

~" 100
° 0~

o 0 I I I I I r 1 I I
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
roof oreo n e e d e d , m2

Fig. 9. Comparison of collectors for the domestic hot water system of the energetically selfosulficient solar
house in Freiburg. The yearly required additional heating energy is shown in dependence on the covered
roof area for evacuated tube collectors (dotted line), improved fiat-plate collectors covered with 100 mm
polycarbonate honeycombs (chain dotted line), and bifacial-absorber collectors (solid line).
410 A. GOETZBERGER et a/.

Fig. 10. Cross section of prototype 2 to scale. The components shown arc: (a) absorber sheet, (b) 33 mm
air gap, (c) 50 mm polycarbonate honeycomb structure, (d) 4 mm low-iron glazing, (e) semi-cylindrical
mirror.

shown in Fig. 10. A front view of prototype 2 is given
in Fig. 11. Outdoor measurements are under way, and
first results show that the second prototype performs
similarly to the first one.
6. CONCLUSION
The design of a solar fiat-plate collector with a
transparently insulated, bifaciaily irradiated absorber
leads to minimal heat losses related to the radiation
capturing absorber area. This concept is only practi-
cable due to the application of transparent insulation
materials with superior thermal insulation and optical
transmission qualities.
The constructed prototypes reach better et~ciencies
than any other known nonconcentrating solar collector,
including evacuated tube collectors, for high values of
A T / G . This in principle means that excellent perfor-
mance can be achieved under two extreme operating
conditions: under conditions of low irradiation or high
operating temperatures. During the winter test phase

5630 rnm

870 mm c d

...... J, L
i
E
\
E
t~ (i]
t~

I
E
E b
o
r~
,4:)

I
i
L . . . i x x x x x x x ,

910 mm -------4'- -'------ 9 1 0 mm --------4-

Fig. 1I. Front view of prototype 2 with (a) aperture of the front surface of the absorber, (b) aperture of the
semi-cylindrical reflector which irradiates the back surface of the absorber, (c).opaque side insulation of the
absorber, (d) supports for the low-iron glass panes.
 A new solar flat-plate collector 411

the former has been demonstrated. Since the available ( r a ) absorptance-transmittance product for solar ra-
t r a n s p a r e n t insulation materials were not t e m p e r a t u r e diation
(ra), effective absorptance-transmittance product
resistant above 130°C, investigations on a high tem- ( ra),.~, effective absorptance-transmittance product under
perature bifacial-absorber collector are p l a n n e d for the experimental conditions of the solar simulator
near future, when a new generation of thermally stable azimuth angle (°)
t r a n s p a r e n t insulation materials will be available.
Two bifacial-absorber collectors which are similar
to prototype 2 are u n d e r construction for the energet- REFERENCES
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