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Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters

Article · January 2000

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 Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters
N.K. Groenhout, G.L. Morrison and M.Behnia
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA
E-mail: nathang@unsw.edu.au

Abstract

In the past decade there has been a significant increase in the use of domestic solar water heaters.
Whilst the range and quality of products on the market have increased to meet this demand, flat plate
solar collectors of the type used in many modern domestic hot water systems have not changed
significantly in the past twenty years. These types of absorbers typically have high heat losses and low
efficiency, particular throughout winter months. A novel type of solar collector has been proposed
which addresses a number of issues including heat loss characteristics and seasonal performance.
The project is investigating both design and production aspects of the new collector to provide an
optimised design for an advanced domestic solar water heater.

An indoors experimental program has commenced and has shown that considerable reductions in the
overall heat loss may be possible with the proposed design and further experimental work is being
undertaken to confirm this. It is believed that further reductions can also be achieved by the
introduction of convective suppression barriers on the underside of the upper leading edge of the
double sided plate. Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) will be used to visualise the flow inside the
concentrator cavities and to experimentally determine the flow velocity profiles within the cavities. A
computational fluid dynamics model has also been developed to assist in the design process. This
model will be validated with experimental results.

1. PROJECT BACKGROUND

1.1. Introduction

In the past decade there has been a significant increase in the use of domestic solar water heaters around
the world, with solar water heater production now a major industry in China, Australia, Greece, Israel
and the USA [1]. In recent years the global pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the quest
for sustainable energy solutions has revitalised the domestic solar water market. The revitalisation has
been aided by the strong commitment being made worldwide by governments to make solar water
heaters a more attractive product to consumers. In Australia, government rebate schemes for consumers
who install domestic solar water heating have helped boost the industry.

Whilst consumers now have a wide range of products to choose from and the quality of products has
improved, the technology has not changed significantly in the past twenty years. The continued growth
of the domestic solar water market is dependent on an improvement not only in the quality of the
products but also the performance. Domestic solar water heaters in the past have had a reputation for
high initial cost and poor performance in winter when demand for hot water is typically highest. A novel
design of solar collector has been proposed which addresses many of the issues associated with current
Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters Groenhout et al.

technology systems. This project aims to develop the new design using latest computer simulation tools
and to develop computerised design optimisation tools for the design of advanced solar water heaters.

1.2. Thermosyphon Systems

The most common type of system in use in Australia is the flat plate thermosyphon collector (see figure
1). This type of system has been manufactured in many variations by a number of companies for over
forty years. The general collector design consists of two or more absorber plates connected to a
horizontal hot water storage tank and
Storage tank Tank outlet are generally mounted flush on the roof
with the tank located above the
absorber plates. The absorber plate
consists of a series of riser tubes
connected to an upper and lower header
tube, which operates on the
thermosyphon principle. The upper
header connects to the inlet of the
Tank inlet storage tank and the lower to the outlet.
Risers
Incident radiation on the absorber plate
Upper header
causes the fluid inside the plate to heat
Absorber plates and flow up the risers into the storage
Lower header tank. The cooler fluid is forced out of
the tank and back down to the lower
Figure 1: Current technology thermosyphon system. header. The system may work as a
closed loop or open loop system. The
closed loop system uses a mantle type heat exchanger, which is essentially a narrow annulus between
the two shells of a storage tank. A heat transfer fluid such as Glycol (anti-freeze) is used as the working
fluid, transferring heat to the water inside the inner shell. The use of the heat exchanger makes these
collectors particularly suitable for use in cold climates or where water quality is a problem.

1.3. Heat Loss Reduction

Flat plate collectors generally have high heat losses and low efficiency since only the upper side of the
absorber plate is exposed to the sun. The reverse side of the absorber plate must be insulated to prevent
heat loss through the back of the collector. Between half and three quarters of the heat loss is through
convection and radiation losses from the absorber surface and up to twenty percent through the
insulated back surface [2]. Losses through the top of the collector are influenced strongly by the
collector design and orientation. Back losses are primarily related to insulation performance.

To reduce heat losses in flat plate collectors, three aspects need to be addressed. The first is conduction
through the back and sides of the absorber casing, which is minimised by insulating the rear and sides of
the absorber plate. The second aspect is convective losses from the top of the plate. These are the most
difficult to control in flat plate collectors. Convection is affected by the angle of inclination of the plate
and the spacing between the absorber plate and the glass cover. Symons and Peck [3] have shown that
the difference in heat transfer rates for varying inclination is related to the flow structure in the cavity.
Buchberg et al [4] has shown that an optimum air gap of 20mm exists at which point the
conductive/convective heat transfer is minimised.

Honeycomb cellular type convection suppression has been shown to reduce the onset of natural
convection [5]. However, these types of material have proved unsatisfactory in flat plate collector
applications due to problems with the material. Historically the materials used for these types of

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Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters Groenhout et al.

convection suppression have had poor UV stability resulting in optical characteristics that deteriorate
with age and exposure.

Radiation losses can be minimized by the use of selective surfaces to increase the plate’s absorbtance
and reducing its emittance. The selective surface is designed to absorb short wave solar radiation with
minimal emittance of long wave radiation. An absorber plate painted black will absorb up to 95% of the
incident solar radiation, but have high long wave radiation losses. Absorber plates with special selective
surfaces will absorb the same amount of solar radiation but radiate only around 6% of the long wave
radiation that would be lost from a black surface.

1.4. The Reverse Flat Plate Collector

A number of designs have been investigated that Solar radiation

attempt to reduce heat losses in flat plate Absorber
collectors. The reverse flat plate collector as
shown in figure 2 is one such design and was
introduced independently by Rabl (1976) and Glass
Sakuta et al (1977) [2,6,7 & 9]. The reverse flat cover
plate collector has an inverted absorber plate with
a stationary concentrating reflector underneath.
Providing the absorber is mounted horizontally the
collector cavity becomes thermally stratified and
convection is suppressed. Whilst this design Mirror
significantly reduces the convective heat losses,
there are still heat loss paths through the insulation
above the collector and conduction through the air
cavity. Figure 2: Schematic of the reverse flat plate
collector (adapted from reference 9).
This design allows the collector to be given a seasonal bias by modifying the shape of the concentrating
mirror. The disadvantage from a commercial aspect is that the collector is bulky and would be difficult
to mount on a typical roof.

1.5. The Bifacial Absorber Collector

A further development of the reverse flat plat collector is the bifacial collector shown in figure 3. This
design has been shown to achieve higher efficiencies than other flat plate collectors under low

Stationary concentrators
Double sided
absorber plate

Figure 3: Bifacial absorber collector (adapated from reference 8)

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Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters Groenhout et al.

irradiation conditions. The design incorporates two identical stationary concentrators with a flat plate
absorber mounted above them. The plate is illuminated on both sides and hence the heat loss path
through the thermal insulation on the rear of the absorber plate is eliminated. The rear of the stationary
concentrators is insulated to reduce heat losses through the back of the collector system [8].

1.6. Proposed Design

The proposed design that incorporates features from both the reverse flat plate and the bifacial absorber
collector is shown in figure 4. It utilises a standard 2 m x 1 m flat plate absorber placed across the slope
rather than along the slope as in a conventional flat plate solar collector. A high absorptance, low
emittance selective surface is applied to both sides of the absorber plate. The absorber plate is then
mounted on two stationary concentrators aligned in the east-west direction, a larger one at the top and
smaller one at the bottom. Traditional flat plate collectors have excess output during the summer
months when the sun is high, however, during winter months performance drops due to the solar
radiation striking the absorber at a more acute angle. This drop in performance occurs when demand
tends to be highest. The different concentrator sizes in the proposed design increase the angle the
absorber plate makes with the horizontal plane, thereby giving a seasonal bias towards low angle winter
solar radiation. The concentrators reflect the sunlight onto the underside of the absorber plate utilising
approximately 80 % of the effective surface area of the absorber plate compared with less than 50 % for
a standard flat plate absorber. Ray tracing has been utilised in the design of the concentrators to
maximise the amount of solar radiation incident on the underside of the collector throughout the day.
The ends of the cavity are mirrored and whilst some shading will occur throughout the day, it is not
expected to significantly effect the collector’s performance.

The stationary concentrators will be constructed from micro sheet glass. This material has a
significantly lower weight than conventional mirror material with excellent toughness and impact
resistance. Most importantly it is flexible enough to obtain the complex parabolic shapes required for
the concentrators without the need for specialist forming processes.

Low iron glass

cover

Low angle winter radiation

Tank
Double sided
absorber plate

Roof

Stationary concentrators

Thermal insulation and

absorber plate support

30°

Figure 4: Proposed design showing stationary concentrators and double sided absorber plate.

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Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters Groenhout et al.

1.7. Project Aims

The project is investigating both design and production aspects of a new collector to provide an
optimised design for advanced domestic solar water heaters. The design incorporates features from both
the reverse flat plate and the bifacial absorber collector. The features being investigated in this project
include:

?? Stationary concentrators designed to give a winter bias to the annual performance cycle.
?? Double-sided absorber plates with convection suppression to reduce heat loss while achieving
lower production costs through the reduction of absorber plate area.
?? New thermosyphon plumbing concepts that allow greater flexibility in the placement of the
solar collector relative to the tank while minimising reverse circulation at night.
?? New sputtering processes to produce high absorptance and low emittance selective surfaces
with significantly reduced pollution in the production process compared to existing plating
techniques.

In conjunction with the investigation of the proposed features the project aims to develop a validated
simulation model using a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and other simulation
tools including TRYNSYS for design optimisation of solar water heaters. To achieve these aims an
experimental program has been developed and is being run in conjunction with numerical modelling of
the collector in a commercial CFD package, FLUENT v5.2.

This paper discusses preliminary results from experimental heat loss measurements and 2 dimensional
CFD analysis of the natural convection heat transfer within the collector cavity.

2. EXPERIMENTAL WORK

2.1. Experimental Program

The experimental program is being undertaken in two stages. The first stage is being carried out indoors
using a full scale model of the proposed collector. The purpose of the indoor testing is to undertake heat
loss measurements of the collector, to determine operating parameters for the numerical work and to
carry out flow visualisation of the internal convection process. The second stage of the experimental
work involves the outdoor testing of a production prototype system and comparison of its performance
with existing flat plate collectors.

2.2. Experimental Rig

The experimental rig is a full scale model, located in a small temperature controlled room. The absorber
plate has been replaced by three 1 kW element type heaters, which consist of an electric element
sandwiched between two steel plates and the three heaters are then sandwiched between two sheets of 2
mm thick aluminium plate. The aluminium plates provide a more uniform temperature distribution
across the heaters, since the elements inside the heater tend to produce localised heating on the steel
plates. The underside of the heaters, between the two concentrators is insulated with 25 mm thick
thermal insulation. The heaters are connected to variable voltage power supplies through digital power
meters to control and measure the power input to the heaters. Sixteen thermocouples are used to
measure the surface temperature on the heater plate and an average heater temperature for each of the
three heaters is obtained. One thermocouple is used to measure the ambient temperature. Two sheets of
low iron, anti-reflective glass, of the type used in a standard flat plate collector have been used for the

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Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters Groenhout et al.

glass cover and the two concentrating reflectors have been modelled using light colour laminex sheet
with an emissivity similar to that of micro sheet glass. The end walls of the concentrator cavities are
constructed from 12 mm thick plywood.

The heaters are connected via solid state relays to a digital control card inside a personal computer. A
control program turns the heaters on and off based on the variation of the average heater temperature.
The instantaneous power input into the heaters is recorded every cycle of the control program,
approximately every five seconds, and then averaged over a 30 second period. The heater and ambient
temperatures are similarly collected and averaged over a 30 second period. The control program can
maintain the average heater temperature to within ± 0.5°C of the required temperature.

A fan coil unit located inside the experimental room is connected to an external chiller unit. The water
flow through the unit is via a small solenoid valve located on the inlet side of the fan coil unit, which is
controlled by the same computer program that collects the temperature and power data. The room can
be maintained at an ambient temperature of 20°C ± 0.5°C.

2.3. Experimental Results

A series of experiments have been carried out for average plate temperatures in the range 50°C to 80°C.
Typical flat plate absorber systems used in domestic hot water systems operate over this range of
temperatures. Table 1 shows a summary of experimental data.

Table 1: Summary of experimental data

Average Absorber Average Heat Flux Uoverall

Plate Temeperature (W/m2) (W/m K)
(°C)

50 91 3.0

60 130 3.2

70 176 3.5

80 227 3.8

Ambient Temperature: 20°C

The heat flux is obtained by dividing the average power over a period of time by the total exposed area
of the heater plate, i.e.

q” = Q/Atotal (1)

The overall heat transfer co-efficient is then obtained by:

Uoverall = q” / (Tw - T? ) (2)

where Tw is the average plate temperature and T? is the ambient air temperature.

For these experiments the back of the stationary concentrators were uninsulated. The overall heat
transfer co-efficient for the temperatures investigated for this collector model are, lower than for current

Renewable Energy Transforming Business 299

Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters Groenhout et al.

flat plate collectors, which have overall heat transfer co-efficients ranging from 4.5 W/m K for very
efficient collectors with selective surfaces applied to the absorber plate to over 8.0 W/m K for absorbers
with a standard matt black finish. Direct comparison between designs is difficult and further
experiments will be undertaken to determine the heat loss of the design for higher emissivity heater
plates, and an insulated collector.

2.4. Future Experimental Work

A ducted air supply has been fitted to the top surface of the indoor test rig allowing a forced convection
boundary condition to be imposed on the glass surface to simulate outdoor conditions. Insulation has
been fitted to the collector to reduce heat loss, and to be representative of an operating collector. The
heat loss measurements will be repeated with these modifications and the parameters will be included in
the CFD model. Current work involves flow visualisation in the larger cavity, using smoke illuminated
by a light sheet, to verify the flow patterns obtained in the numerical simulation work.

A prototype of the proposed design is currently being designed and constructed utilising a low
emissivity selective surface on the absorber and its performance will be tested and compared over the
next twelve to eighteen months with a flat plate absorber using the same selective surface.

3. SIMULATION WORK

The aim of the simulation work is to develop models for design optimisation purposes. Experimental
work can be expensive and time consuming even for the investigation of minor changes to a design. A
CFD model is being developed with parameters determined from the indoor experiments. The model will
be validated against the experimental results.

3.1. CFD Model

The modelling of the collector is being done using a commercial CFD package, Fluent V5, to determine
the heat loss characteristics and flow patterns of the air within the collector. The complex geometry of
the collector requires the CFD approach, as standard heat transfer correlations cannot adequately
describe the natural convection within the collector.

The collector has been simplified initially to consider only a two dimensional geometry, taking a vertical
plane through the middle of the collector as shown in figure 4. This approach assumes that the ends are
sufficiently distant from the plane of interest to avoid edge effects in the solution.

The backs of the reflector walls are assumed to be insulated with an overall heat loss coefficient
boundary condition of 2 W/m2 K. The glass has a much higher heat loss, the overall heat loss coefficient
on the outside of the glass is assumed to be 15 W/m2 K. The absorber plate has been modelled initially
as an isothermal surface and the plate temperature is varied between 40°C and 80°C, however, it is
proposed to further develop the model using a heat flux boundary condition based on experimental
results. An ambient air temperature of 20°C has been specified.

3.2. Numerical Results

Preliminary results for a variety of temperatures have been obtained. The streamline contours for a
range of absorber plate temperatures is shown in figure 5. The flow pattern is very complex. It consists
of a multicell circulation in the upper cavity with a very weak stratified flow in the lower one. In the

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Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters Groenhout et al.

region between the heated plate and the glass, there exists a multicellular flow region as in standard
single sided flat plate collectors. This flow resembles the flow observed in tall cavities with closed ends
reported by Symons and Peck [3]. In a numerical study of natural convection in tall cavities with closed
ends Le Quere [10] also observed a multicellular behaviour. He notes that there exist a number of
solution branches with different numbers of cells. In the existing geometry the stability of the cellular
flow pattern needs to be investigated. There is also a strong interaction between the flow in the larger
cavity and the flow in the region between the heated plate and the glass cover.

Figure 5: Streamlines for average plate temperatures of (a) 50°C, (b) 60°C, (c) 70°C and (d)
80°C. Boundary conditions for all cases are: ? absorber =0.15, ? glass=0.9 5, ? w alls=1.0, h absorber =15
W /m 2K , h w alls=2 W /m 2K , Tam b ient = 20°C.

4. Concluding Remarks

At present the heat transfer co-efficient of the glass cover has not been quantified. Once the convective
boundary conditions for the glass surface over a range of temperatures have been quantified this will be
included in the numerical modelling.

Upon completion of the two dimensional study, the model will be extended to evaluate possible three
dimensional circulation in the cavities.

The preliminary evaluation of a design for an advanced solar water heater has been presented. This
consists of numerically modelling the proposed design using a commercial CFD package, FLUENT. An
experimental program has begun which will be used to validate the numerical model. The numerical
model will then be used to optimise the design. Preliminary CFD results show that the proposed design
has multicellular flows, however, considerable development of the two dimensional CFD work still
needs to be completed prior to three dimensional analysis being undertaken.

An experimental program has commenced and preliminary results show that considerable reduction in
the overall heat loss may be possible with the proposed design. Further experimental work including
outdoor testing with a prototype collector benchmarked against a standard flat plate collector will be
undertaken to confirm this. It is believed that further reductions can be achieved by the introduction of
convective suppression barriers on the top edge of the heater/absorber plate.

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 Design of Advanced Solar Water Heaters Groenhout et al.

5. References

[1] Morrison, G.L. and Wood, B.D. (1999), Packaged solar water heating technology twenty years of
progress, Solar Energy, in print.
[2] Madhusudan, M. (1981), Optimization of heat losses in normal and reverse flat-plate collector
configurations: Analysis and performance, Energy Con. & Mgmt, 21, 191-198.
[3] Symons, J.G. and Peck, M.K. (1984), Natural convection heat transfer through inclined longitudinal
slots, J Heat Transfer, 106, 824-829.
[4] Buchberg, H., Catton, I. and Edwards, D.K. (1976), Natural convection in enclosed spaces – a
review of application to solar energy collection, J. Heat Transfer, 98, 182-188.
[5] Charters, W.W.S and Peterson, L.F. (1972), Free convection suppression using honeycomb cellular
materials, Solar Energy, 13 (4), 353-361.
[6] Rabl, A. (1976), Comparison of solar concentrators, Solar Energy, 18, 93-111.
[7] Kienzlen, V., Gordon, J.M. and Kreider, J.F. (1988), The reverse flat plate collector: A stationary,
nonevacuated, low-technology, medium-temperature solar collector, J. Solar Energy Engineering, 110,
23-30.
[8] Goetzberger, A., Dengler, J., Rommel, M. and Wittwer, V. (1991), The bifacial absorber collector: a
new highly efficient flat plate collector,in Arden, M.E., Burley, S.M.A. and Coleman, M. (Eds) Proc of
the biennial Congress of the International Solar Energy Society, Denver, Colorado, USA, 19-23 August
1991, pp 1212-1217.
[9]McIntosh, K.R and Mills, D.R., (1994), The thermal losses from a reverse flat plate collector,
[10]Le Quéré, P. (1990), A note on multiple and unsteady solutions in a tall cavity, J. Heat Transfer,
112, 965-974
[11] Behnia, M., Reizes, J.A. & de Vahl Davis, G. (1985), Natural convection in a rectangular slot
with convective – radiatiave boundaries, in Dhir, V.K, Chen, J.C. and Jones, O.C. (Eds), National
Heat Transfer Conf, Denver, Colorado,4-7 August 1985.
[12] Morrision, G.L., Behnia, M., Cook, M., Groenhout, N.K. & Mills, D.R., (1999), Optimal design
of advanced solar water heaters., in Farrow, D.E. (Ed), Pro. Sixth Australiasian Natural Convection
Workshop, Murdoch University, Perth, 1-3 December 1999.
[13] Fluent 5 Users Guide. (1998), Fluent Inc. Lebanon, New Hampshire,
[14] Bejan, A. (1995), Convective Heat Transfer, Wiley

Renewable Energy Transforming Business 302

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