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Thermal Science and Engineering Progress

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Recent progress in solar water heaters and solar collectors: A

comprehensive review
Sumair Faisal Ahmed a, Mohammad Khalid b, *, Mahesh Vaka c, Rashmi Walvekar d,
Arshid Numan b, Abdul Khaliq Rasheed e, Nabisab Mujawar Mubarak f
a
Central Instrumentation Facility, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India
b
Graphene & Advanced 2D Materials Research Group (GAMRG), School of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, 5, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Sunway, 47500
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
c
School of Engineering and Computer Science, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, Subang Jaya 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
d
School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Jalan Sunsuria, Bandar Sunsuria, 43900 Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
e
New Energy Science and Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Jalan Sunsuria, Bandar Sunsuria, 43900 Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
f
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University, 98009 Sarawak, Malaysia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Solar water heating (SWH) is a clean, reliable, and cost-effective method of harnessing solar energy effectively to
Solar energy satisfy 50–80% of hot water needs. SWH technology is currently employed in many countries to reduce utility
Solar water heating systems bills in both commercial sectors and houses. With the advancement of technology, SWH systems can be operated
Solar thermal collectors
efficiently in any geographical area and climatic region in the world. However, the installation and overall
Passive and active systems
performance of the system are still questionable. This review aims to provide an overview of the most commonly
used solar water heating technologies. This paper seeks to critically analyze and summarise recent advancements
in the technology, including storage tank/integrated collector storage solar water heater, solar water heaters
(active and passive), solar thermal collectors, including concentrated and non-concentrated collectors and
different policies. Substantial experimental studies and research works, including optimal designs, geometric
modifications, and simulation works, were carried with respective technologies to enhance the system perfor­
mance. Besides, the effect of solar collectors, radiation, region, water tank temperature, experimental modelling/
simulation and studies conducted in Asia, America and Europe on SWHS improvements are also included. Policy
developments of renewable energy heat consumption in different countries by technology from 2012 to 2024
were also included for better understanding. A detailed status on current and ongoing solar power projects based
on solar technologies for electricity generation has been provided. The final section introduces the technical
advancements of SWH technologies, policies, and future research SWHS.

Introduction
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), worldwide en­
ergy demand grew by 2.3% in 2019 [133]. Nearly 70% of the total en­
ergy demand was fulfilled through fossil fuels [126]. Consequently,
scientists and engineers are keen to develop green, sustainable, highly
efficient, alternative energy resources, which has resulted in a paradigm
shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy resources. Solar energy is one
of the most widely used renewable energy resources, and it is harvested
using solar thermal, photovoltaic (PV), and hybrid collectors. The evo­
lution of the first PV/T came into existence in the 1970 s but was limited
to the discussion stage. Later, PV/T basic model was developed to
interpret the fundamental elements, and soon after, the focus shifted
towards collector design and cost reduction developments for building
integrated modules during the initial 1990 s [58,254]. Several studies
have been performed on the PV/T system performance both experi­
mentally and theoretically, taking different aspects into account, such as
glazing [21], unglazing [82], channel modifications [191], environ­
mental conditions [70], and air channel depth optimization [83]. Four
different configurations, such as a single PV module, a conventional air-
PV/T, a single glazed pass PV/T, and translucent double pass PV/T were
studied by El-Amine Slimani et al. to analyze the thermal and electrical
performance of air-type PV/T systems. The double pass PV/T reported
74% of daily average highest overall efficiency [237]. Water-based PV/T

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: khalids@sunway.edu.my (M. Khalid).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsep.2021.100981
Received 13 September 2020; Received in revised form 22 May 2021; Accepted 23 May 2021
Available online 29 May 2021
2451-9049/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
collectors provide better thermal and electrical efficiency than air-based
PV/T due to water’s thermal properties. A water-based PV/T collector is
made of water tubes fixed to the base plate and PV module facing the
opposite side. The main challenges with these collectors are freezing
problems during winters, and an increase in water temperature lowers
the heat removal efficacy over time. Moreover, the water-based PV/T
system shows 55.6% of thermal efficiency and 9.92% of maximum
electrical efficiency [74].
Recently, solar thermal collectors’ domestic and industrial applica­
tions have increased due to significant improvisation of their efficiency
[26,7]. The solar water heating (SWH) system is one of the best exam­
ples of solar thermal collectors in renewable energy technologies. SWH
systems are grabbing a lot of attention due to their low cost, low impact
on global warming, and longevity. Moreover, the geographical area,
climatic conditions, solar radiation availability, and solar system
arrangement also significantly improve the system’s thermal perfor­
mance. The heat generated by the solar water heating systems mainly
relays on the solar insolation at that particular region or place. For
instance, the solar insolation is high approximately around 7 kWh/m2
per day in tropical regions, whereas the solar insolation is less than
around 3.2 kWh/m2 per day in temperate regions [35]. Though the
latitude is the same, the solar irradiance can differ from one location to
another because of the change in local climatic conditions and the
amount of overcast. Malaysia is one of the low solar energy regions,
where the average insolation is about 4–4.9 kWh/m2 per day than the
other regions of the world that is about an average of 6–6.9 kWh/m2 per
day [231]. The photovoltaic power potential (PVOUT) depends on solar
irradiance from different parts of the world based on daily and yearly
insolation, as shown in Fig. 1.
Furthermore, the combination of solar thermal collectors and heat
pumps is a more robust technology called Solar-Assisted Heat Pump
(SAHP) that can improve the system’s performance and requires less
electrical energy [61]. Buker and Riffat studied and analyzed direct
SAHP systems extensively [41]. However, long-term maintenance costs
are among the main challenges of direct SAHP [59]. An experimental
study was performed on indirect series of SAHP systems for hot water
supply by Bridgeman and Harrison [38]. Similarly, an indirect series
SAHP system for space-heating applications was investigated experi­
mentally by Bakirci and Yuksel [25]. A novel indirect-expansion SAHP
system was recommended for space-heating, cooling, and domestic hot
water applications by Wang et al. [257]. The results indicate that the
Fig. 1. Solar insolation of various countries based on a daily and yearly basis for photovoltaic power potential (PVOUT) [263].
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Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
system can perform effectively at high solar radiation intensity and high
heat capacity during winter. Numerous analysis has been performed by
Freeman et al. [85] on different types of SAHP systems such as parallel-
type, serial-type, and dual source-type systems for domestic hot water
and space heating. The results showed that the dual source-type with
two evaporators allows to source energy from a storage tank or ambient
air with the aid of a heat pump. The first hot water tank integrated with
the solar water heater was evidenced in the USA’s southwest during the
late 18th century. Initially, these systems were used in large farms to
heat the water and showed the result (hot water) on clear and sunny
days [238]. However, the first commercially available system, the “cli­
max,” was patented by Kemp in 1891, where a glass cover was used on
top of a metal tank place inside a wooden box [140]. The results dis­
played that the system generated hot water up to 38.8 ◦ C in clear days.
Later in 1902, Walker came up with concentrating mirrors fixed in the
tank’s focal point and installed a gas-fired heater as a standby [256]. The
size and shape, such as four oval-shaped cylindrical vessels with the
flattened surface, was the first commercial integrated collector storage
(ICS) solar water heater, which showed a remarkable outcome on the
solar energy collection [110]. The tubular tank was replaced with a flat
tank to obtain a high collector surface per unit volume of the tank.
Further, the fins were attached to the tank to remove the heat from the
panel
Besides, there is a need to enhance the solar water heaters’ perfor­
mance, increasing the thermal stratification of hot water storage tanks
by increasing the collector performance. The heat transfer features can
be improved with designs, tilt angles, pipe coatings, thermal storage,
flow rates, thermal insulation and integrated collector storage [134].
Thermal stratification is one of the most effective technique commonly
used in heating systems to improve operating temperatures [5,113],
reduced auxiliary energy consumption [73,89], and high exergy outputs
[30] compared to a mixed storage tank. The mixing effect of flow kinetic
energy at input/output flow due to mass velocity negatively impacts
stratification [112,128]. Perforated plates, tubes, porous medium, and
fabrics were successfully studied as promoters for stratification [17,39].
The stratification method has quantitatively analyzed by several per­
formance numbers, efficiencies, and indexes, where the majority applies
to forced convection [17,48,108]. Many studies have been carried out
about the thermal stratification in water storage tanks. Rodrigues et al.
demonstrated the transient cooling of a fluid inside a domestic storage
tank using non-dimensional analysis [222]. The results showed that the
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
heat losses were evaluated and predicted by the Rayleigh number,
overall heat loss coefficient, and aspect ratio of the tank. Li et al.
investigated that the different types of the inlet of the storage tank can
increase the thermal stratification through discharging [155]. It indi­
cated that the slotted inlet displayed the best thermal stratification for a
longer duration than the direct inlet and shower-type inlet. Abdelhak
et al. studied the thermal analysis of vertical hot water storage tanks
using computational studies [4]. The results exhibit that the horizontal
tank showed decreased stratification efficiency and lower discharge
deficiency than the vertical tank. Moreover, a smaller Richardson
number was observed for horizontal tanks due to increased mixing
forces. Andersen et al. conducted an experimental study on different
fabric stratification pipes for hot water tanks with non-flexible stratifier
[17]. The results indicate that the fabric stratification pipes performance
can be enhanced using two-layered fabric instead of single-layered
fabric. The two-layered fabric stratification pipe showed better perfor­
mance than the rigid stratifier for the cooling test, whereas both show
similar performance during the heating test. Han et al. used immersed
coil, an external heat exchanger, and mantle heat exchanger type inside
the tank to study the thermal stratification [109]. Additionally, few
researchers have done flow-related studies [48,107,146].
Shukla et al. [234] discussed the SWH systems in detail to different
solar collectors. Fig. 2 shows the top 12 countries such as China, Turkey,
U.S, Germany, Brazil, and India, etc., using an SWH system and the rest
of the world. According to the Renewable Energy Policy Report 2019,
the data collected between the years 2008–2019 show China leading in
SWH technology [269]. After China, Turkey and Germany are the largest
SWH technology users in Eurasia. Top leaders of SWH systems remained
unchanged in 2019 as compared to 2018. Water-in-glass evacuated tube
collectors in solar water heaters are predominantly used with pumped or
thermosyphon circulation between the absorber and the storage tank.
These are the most commonly used due to their higher thermal effi­
ciency than evacuated tube collectors with metal-in-glass manifolds
[40]. The use of heat pipes as heat transfer elements in solar heating,
cooling, and solar spacing has grabbed a lot of attention in recent times
[216]. Akyurt studied heat pipes as a heat transfer element in solar hot
water systems [8]. The results showed that the thermosyphon collector
showed 50% higher efficiency due to heat pipes’ presence compared to
the conventional type. Few studies [192,216,220] highlighted the usage
of heat pipes as effective heat absorbers for evacuated tube collectors,
Fig. 2. SWH systems in the top 12 countries from 2008 to 2018 (Zervos, 2019).
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Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
where the absorbed heat transferred from evaporator chamber to
condenser chamber at high rates then released into the heat sink and few
researchers worked on the performance of heat pipe evacuated tubes on
solar water heating [165,171], solar cooking systems [77]. SWH system
has matured over the years since its invention. The use of solar water
heating systems for different practical applications such as domestic,
health, and tourism sector have been highlighted. The devices that can
replace electrical heaters are solar water heaters by harnessing solar
energy.
Furthermore, solar energy integration with different designs to
improve the solar water heating system’s performance is still a hot topic
of interest. Past reviews mainly focus on water heating systems and solar
water heating components [134,195]. Other aspects such as different
designs, flow rates, different working fluids used for SWH have been
published recently [41,120,228,229,230,234]. Few other studies were
conducted on the exergy analysis for absorption/refrigeration cycles of
solar energy/energy systems [175–180].
This paper investigates the solar water heating systems in association
with different solar collector types have been discussed. The most
feasible method to improve the heat transfer efficiency of SWHS and
other components such as the effect of different types of solar collectors,
radiation, region, water tank temperature, experimental, modelling/
simulation and study conducted in Asia, America and Europe are
considered and taken into account for measurements are reviewed. The
experimental, modelling/simulation studies based on different solar
collector types to enhance the thermal efficiency of SWHS and current
and ongoing projects for electricity production are not reported much in
the literature. The recent advancements in improving the thermal effi­
ciency of SWHS using different types of solar collectors and modifica­
tions will help future researchers find the gap and enhance the efficiency
of SWHS.
The main findings of this review are highlighted as follows:
• Analyzing the effect of models and simulation studies to improve the
optical, electrical and thermal efficiencies of the SWHs.
• The geographical conditions, temperature, solar radiation avail­
ability, tilt angle, and plant size shows their impact on the system
performance.
S. Faisal Ahmed et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981

• Analyzing collector designs and modifications by adopting different
non-concentrated and concentrated solar technologies improves its
thermal efficiencies.
• The recent and ongoing solar thermal plants worldwide were re­
ported, and the electricity generation ranges from 8 GWh/yr to 944
GWh/yr, and capacity ranges from 2 MW to 280 MW.
• Different countries’ policies were highlighted and strategies imple­
menting in regulating the environmental and economic effect of the
SWHS. The adoption of various solar technologies by different
countries was also discussed.
Types of solar thermal collectors
Solar thermal collectors are categorized into concentrating and non-
concentrating thermal collectors. The description of non-concentrating
and concentrating thermal collectors is summarized in Table 1. The
most common types of non-concentrating solar thermal collectors are:
(i) Flat plate collectors (FPC), and
(ii) Evacuated tube collectors (ETC).
Concentrated solar collectors are divided into the following:
(i) Compound parabolic collector (CPC),
(ii) Parabolic trough collector (PTC),
(iii) Linear Fresnel collector (LFC), and
(iv) Central receiving system (CRS) / Power tower [132].
Flat plate collectors (FPC) are cost-effective and readily available in
markets. It requires low maintenance relative to other thermal collectors
[275]. FPC is mostly preferred for houses and restaurants, where hot
water is used to clean, bath, and pools. Colangelo et al. [65] reported the
necessity of high transmittance and low reflectance to solar radiation in
manufacturing different types of FPC solar absorbers. Several re­
searchers have expressed their interest in enhancing solar collectors’
thermal performance by conducting both experimental and simulation
studies. Alghoul et al. [10] highlighted the development, materials, and
manufacturing of solar thermal collectors especially, FPC, ETC. FPC &
ETC operates with temperature ranges from 30 to 65 ◦ C with 50–80%
efficiency. However, a specific collector’s performance varies by
considering different factors such as design, selection of collector,
climate and weather of the region, heating demand, load profile, and
cost. ETC is the most predominant in solar collector technology used
worldwide for both glazed and unglazed [169]. Unglazed solar collec­
tors have been predominantly used for solar pool heating systems and
they dominate the US solar market [42]. These unglazed collectors of
several commercial types are not commonly used as solar collectors with
glazing. The absence of the transparent layer directly exposes the
absorber, which leads to the decrease in thermal and optical losses due
to convection and radiation that allows these unglazed solar collectors
applicable for efficient operation in low temperatures [251]. The radiant
cooling of the unglazed solar collector is an added advantage to operate
them during the nights. Furthermore, combining these unglazed solar
collectors into a roofing system helps obtain multifunctional heating,
cooling, and roofing solutions [18]. Medved et al. investigated promi­
nent unglazed solar collectors’ integration into a building for a swim­
ming pool heating system. The results showed that the solar system
achieves payback periods of less than 2 years, 75% less time taken than
glazed solar collectors to pay [170]. The indirect solar-assisted heat
pump enables the utilization of cheap unglazed collectors and combined
with heat pump to directly supply the heat load [258]. Moreover, these
unglazed solar collectors are suitable for different solar energy related
applications within the temperature range because of its low cost such as
water preheating for industrial and domestic purposes and air heating
for industrial and agricultural purposes.
A compound parabolic collector (CPC) is a concentrating thermal
collector, consists of two identical parabolic curved segments was
invented in 1974. Since then, many advancements have been made in
improving the design and enhancing the performance by minimizing the
thermal and optical losses, cost and considering other parameters
[102,136,262]. Parabolic trough collector (PTC) falls under concen­
trating thermal collector type. They use parabolic trough mirrors and
receivers as a focal point of the reflector to collect the sun rays and
reflect on the heat transfer medium (water, nanofluids, molten salts)
[271]. Linear Fresnel collectors employ long thin, and pieces of mirrors
that focus sunlight at a single focal point where the absorber is located, a
thermal fluid then transfers the concentrated energy further. The central
receiver system (CRS), radiations from the sun are concentrated on a
single point on the tower’s top via reflectors. CRS or power tower mainly
contains three components, i.e., (i) Heliostat, (ii) Central receiver, and
(iii) Heat transfer fluid (HTF). Recent studies done by Behar et al. [29]
revealed the design development, enhancement of CRS, and its sub­
systems commercialization. Tracking solar radiation on concentrated
solar collectors can be done using different techniques such as the Monte
Carlo ray-trace method, SOLTRACE, FIAT-LUX, TracPro, etc [54]; NREL
SolTrace 2012 [187]; [197]. Since simulation and designing a concen­
trated solar collector are fast developing with overwhelming

Table 1
Different types of solar collectors and their developments [28,29,138,139,271].
Type of Description Concentrating Cost Land Operating Solar Tracking Focus Capacity
collector (Yes/No) occupancy temperature collector (MW)
(oC) ratio

Flat plate Flat absorber plate in an insulation box No Low – 30–80 1 Stationary – –
covered with transparent material
Evacuated An array of two concentric tubes with an No Low – 50–100 1 Stationary – –
tube inner tube having a vacuum and coated
with the selective absorber. The outer
tube can be of transparent material
Compound Two parabolic sheets to focus solar Yes Low – 60–240 1–5 Stationary Line –
parabolic radiation on an absorber tube
Parabolic Parabolic sheet to focus on an absorber Yes Low Large. 20–400 15–45 One axis Line 10–300
trough tube
Linear An array of mirrors to focus solar Yes Very Medium 50–300 10–40 One axis Line 10–200
Fresnel radiation on one point low
reflector
Central Heliostats are used to redirect solar Yes High Medium 300–565 150–1500 Two-axis Point 10–200
receiver radiation on to a high tower
system
Multi-Dish Small parabolic dishes to focus solar Yes Very Small 120–1500 100–1000 Two-axis Point 0.01–0.025
radiation at one point high

4
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
commercial potential, a review of recent developments is needed.
Therefore, this review article provides a detailed insight into
different types of SWH systems and concentrated solar thermal collec­
tors developed to date. Challenges that lead to the recent advancement
in the design of SWH systems and solar thermal collectors are system­
atically outlined. Suggestions for future research and development have
been provided.
Types of solar water heating (SWH) system
Solar water heating (SWH) is commonly used for water heating ap­
plications [88]. Solar water heater converts solar energy into thermal
energy. The main components in SWH systems are solar thermal col­
lectors and hot water storage tanks. The solar water heating (SWH)
system is divided into two types: 1) Active SWH system and 2) Passive
SWH system [259]. Sadhishkumar and Balusamy [223] discussed the
different approaches from design to thermal energy storage materials,
including tilt angle, coating, and flow rate are required to improve the
thermal performance of the SWH system.
Active SWH system
In the active SWH systems, pumps and other components such as
valves and electronic controllers must convert solar energy into thermal
energy [185]. An active solar water heating system’s efficiency is
35–80% [141], more advantageous than a passive system with 30–50%
[184]. Freezing of heat transfer fluids at cold temperatures is one of the
significant concerns related to active systems. 30% of ethylene glycol
was added to water to overcome the freezing issue of HTFs [95]. Few
studies analyzed the active SWH system via design and performance
based on the different climatic conditions in different countries
[118,267]. Comakli et al. [67] reported that the optimization of FPC
area and storage tank is required to achieve an efficient and economic
SWH system, where the storage tank to FPC area ratio was 50–70 L/m2
for the operational working fluid temperature of 45–60 ◦ C based on the
turkey’s climatic condition. Badescu [24] conducted simulation studies
of the active system using two different types of heat exchangers, such as
water to water and water to the air. It was reported that solar energy
required for water to an air heat exchanger (HX) 10 times lower than
water to water HX for the preparation of hot water. Martinopoulos and
Tsalikis [166] designed the most economical evaluated solar water and
space heating systems as per the regulations and guidelines of Greek.
They reported that the profit from the financial investment/payback
period of 4.5 years for solar water and space heating with 45% of least
total heating load after examined in four different climatic zones of
Greece. The active SWH system was broadly classified into two based on
the type of fluids and flow of the fluid from the tank to the collector and
vice-versa. i) Direct circulation system and ii) Indirect circulation sys­
tem. These systems are described briefly in the next sections.
Direct circulation system
In the direct SWH system, water is used as a heat transfer fluid and
flows directly into the collector, typically a conventional type. The main
drawback of the direct circulation system is that the heat transfer fluid is
susceptible to freezing point. As the water is heated directly and used for
domestic purposes, there is no need for antifreeze solution or heat
exchanger usage. The reequipment for forced circulation in the direct
circulation system has been studied by many researchers [165], and the
results are discussed briefly in the following section
Enhancement through design and simulation. Different approaches have
been implemented, such as the forced circulation method and its various
designs to increase the thermal and electrical performance of the direct
circulation system than the traditional system [87]. Chong et al. [56]
suggested a cost-effective prototype using a V-trough collector
5
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
combined with a forced circulation SWH system, which shows 74.04%
of optical efficiency and excellent thermal efficiency. A heat transfer
model was developed by Li et al. [158] to justify the forced circulation
SWH system using the buoyancy equation of natural and forced circu­
lation. The experimental results exhibit less than 5% of deviation by the
developed model. Walker et al. [255] fabricated ETC for the SWH system
and conducted simulation studies. It was estimated that the annual ef­
ficiency of the designed system was 34% of the heat transfer efficiency of
the SWH system in Philadelphia. Recently, Balaji et al. [27] designed
FPC combined with two types of internal heat transfer enhancers, such
as rod heat transfer enhancer and tube heat enhancer, which shows
maximum exergy efficiency of 11.3% and 10.9%, respectively. Many
studies have been reported on forced circulation SWH system. There is a
need to focus and research on natural circulation SWH system in the
near future.
Indirect circulation system
In the indirect circulation system, pumps are used for circulating
heat transfer fluid from the tank to the collector. For freeze protection,
antifreeze solutions can be employed as circulation fluid. Fig. 3 shows
the indirect circulation system using antifreeze heat transfer fluid [60].
The domestic hot water (DHW) systems in North America typically
follow the same indirect circulation system, which circulates antifreeze
solution from the collector to the heat exchanger source using one pump.
On the other side, it circulates water from the storage tank to the load
side of the heat exchanger using the second pump [241] as shown in
Fig. 3. Antifreeze heat transfer fluid passing through the collector to HX
is placed in a closed-loop, but the main concern with this type of system
is thermal energy dissipation because of convection in the HX tank [41].
The enhancement of the indirect circulation system’s thermal energy
storage through various designs and simulations has been briefly dis­
cussed in Section “Enhancement through design and simulation”.
Enhancement through design and simulation. Several experimental and
theoretical studies outlined solar-assisted heat pumps for the indirect
circulation system [116,188]. Li et al. [157] suggested and examined an
experimental set-up of a direct expansion solar-assisted heat pump water
heater (DX-SAHPWH). It shows a 6.61 coefficient of performance (COP)
when the water (150 L) was heated with an average temperature ranges
from 13.4 ◦ C to 50.5 ◦ C at a moderate solar radiation intensity of 955 W/
m2. Moreover, Chaturvedi et al. [51] introduced a direct-expansion
solar-assisted heat pump (DXSAHP) and analyzed the thermal perfor­
mance, which shows 2.5–4 COP. It was observed that the DXSAHP
experimental results were consistent with theoretical results. Chyng
et al. [63] conducted both modelling and simulation studies of the
integral-type solar-assisted heat pump (ISAHP). It also examined the
system’s daily performance for 1 year with an everyday total COP of
1.7–2.5 using simulation method depending on weather and seasons. It
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of indirect circulation system [60].
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
was observed that the simulation results for instantaneous performance
were in correlation with the experiment results. Scarpa et al. used ISAHP
in a flat plate solar collector without any glass cover with an adjustable
slope to increase thermal energy in different latitude areas [225]. ISAHP
is very small and closely packed, which has large demand in the market
than the split-type DX-SAHP. Moreover, ISAHP has an excellent thermal
performance on producing hot water at different temperatures ranging
from 30 to 61 ◦ C, which has been reported both experimentally and
theoretically [122–123,124,225]. Researchers also studied indirect cir­
culation systems’ performance in various geographical locations apart
from increasing the system performance using various designs [14].
Hawlader et al. [111] introduced a solar-assisted heat pump dryer and
water heater in Singapore and found COP and thermal efficiency as 6.0
and 0.77, respectively. It was observed that the simulation results of the
system were in line with the experimental results. Kuang et al. [149]
conducted simulation and experimental studies on DXSAHP Shanghai,
China and obtained 40–60% of collector efficiency. Surprisingly, the
experimental studies show 4–6 COP while the predicted results show
only 2.5 COP, this deviation between the theoretical and experimental
results was due to latent heat attained from the surroundings.
Researchers conducted studies on refrigerants as HTF in an indirect
circulation system instead of water. Sun et al. demonstrated the thermal
performance of DX-SAHP and evaporator and compared both of them
with three different channel patterns such as honeycomb, fractal T-
shaped and parallel shaped under the same cross-sectional area [247].
The results indicated that the honeycomb structured channel shows
increased evaporating temperature due to its optimal geometric struc­
ture. Moreover, the honeycomb structure displayed 5.9 and 21.4%
enhanced COP of DX-SAHP water heating systems due to its low thermal
resistance between the refrigerant and the collector plate. Molinaroli
et al. [181] used R-407C as heat transfer fluid to examine the typical
DXSAHP for space heating purposes using numerical studies, as shown
in Fig. 4. Moreover, it is worth stating that solar radiation and temper­
ature change vigorously affect the DXSAHP performance. There is a need
to provide a heating capacity to the building based on temperature, solar
radiation, and evaporator load. Thus, the pumps help in reducing the
heat capacity by lowering the compressor rotational frequency. Sup­
pose, if the indoor air temperature is 20 ◦ C and the outdoor air tem­
perature is around − 5 ◦ C, the designed heat pump supplies the heating
demand of a building is approximately 7.5 kW. Several simulation
studies were conducted to investigate the effect of COP on the heat
pump, ambient temperature, solar radiation, and independent of the
solar field surface. Results indicated that the COP of the heat pump was
strongly affected by solar radiation and ambient temperature than other
factors. The thermal performance of DXSAHP using various refrigerants
was analyzed by Gorozabel Chata et al. [100]. Their studies include
comparative study using different types of refrigerants such as R-12,
chloro-fluorocarbon, R-22, and R-134A and examined the thermal per­
formance of the DZSAHP. It was observed that the R-12 refrigerant
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of a solar-assisted direct expansion heat
pump [181].
6
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
shows the highest COP compared to other refrigerants. This was due to
the highest critical temperature of R-12.
Moreno et al. [182] described the use of R-134A refrigerant to
analyze the thermal performance of DXSAHP using the theoretical
method. The experimental results show COP of 1.7–2.9 and theoretical
COP was 1.85–3.1 for the DXSAHP system, indicating less than 20%
accuracy between theoretical and experimental results. The present
authors suggest a need to develop new theoretical models and designs to
enhance the thermal performance and COP of indirect circulation sys­
tems as few studies show less COP compared with other systems.
Passive SWH system
The passive SWH system’s distinctive feature is that it does not
require any external sources or pumps. Heat in these systems was driven
by the natural convection method, which made this system distinct from
other system types. Moreover, these systems work based on solar radi­
ation and water pressure. Lee and Sharma [153] conducted annual op­
erations to investigate the thermal efficiency of both active and passive
SWH systems in South Korea. The experimental result shows a good
response in cold climate regions for an active SWH system for ethylene
glycol-based heat transfer fluids. It was due to the antifreeze properties
of ethylene glycol.
Again, these passive SWH systems are categorized into two types: i)
integration of collector and storage tank, known as an integral collector-
storage system (ICS), and ii) density difference, also known as thermo­
syphon system. These are discussed in detail in the below sections.
Integral collector storage (ICS) system
The integral collector storage system is a simple and low diffusing
SWH system, which integrates both storage tank and solar collector as a
single entity; the basic design is shown in Fig. 5. Generally, in traditional
indirect systems, the service water is subjected to heat up during a day
for long heat transfer periods. The mechanism behind the heat transfer
from the stored tank to service water is explained in Fig. 5. The addition
of a serpentine tube heat exchanger to the storage tank walls helps to
pass the service water through it during the heat transfer process
improvement takes place by forced convection. On the other end, forced
recirculation of the stored water is achieved. Fig. 5 clearly shows the
alignment of an ICS solar water heater attached to the tank’s walls. The
pump works in association with the flow sensors at the heat exchanger’s
entrance and exists whenever a request for hot water triggers [96].
However, the main limitation of the ICS system is unsustainability
during light and sunny days. To prevent heat loss, occur at night times
Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of ICS (1) storage tank, (2) heat exchanger, (3)
pump, (4) flow sensors, (5) water inlet and (6) water outlet [96].
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
and withstand freezing in winter, proper safety measures such as the use
of insulating materials, surface coating materials, and closing the col­
lector glazing at night time need to be taken. The best part of using this
type of system is that they have a remarkable effect on annual energy
cost, even if the ICS system is used only for 6–7 months during summer
despite the ICS system being drained entirely in winter [134].
Enhancement through design and simulation
Several numerical studies have been reported to enhance integrated
collector storage solar water heaters’ thermal performance by two
different thermal storage methods. The first method uses sensible stor­
age materials, and the latter uses phase change materials [50]. Few re­
searchers used different kinds of approaches such as insulated cover,
implementing different collector designs, concentrators to increase the
efficiency of integrated collector storage solar water heating (ICS SWH)
system [32,265]. The tank’s geometry, such as rectangular, cylindrical
[44,240], was examined to enhance the ICS system performance. Gar­
nier et al. [94] developed an ICS-SWH system to study the internal flow
and heat transfer mechanism using the computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) model. The inclusion of the heating element in the design results
in an overall enhancement in the performance of the ICS-SWH system.
Souliotis et al. [243] introduced a novel ICS-SWH system made up of two
concentric cylinders framed horizontally inside a steady truncated
asymmetric CPC reflector trough. The two cylinders are filled with water
in smaller quantities, forming a thermal diode transfer mechanism by
changing the phase at low temperatures. The results indicated that the
effective operation of ICS SWH was improved under various climatic
conditions. The thermal loss coefficient was low during night times and
showed identical values to that of Flat Plate Thermosiphonic unit
(FPTU). The most important aspect to enhance the performance or ef­
ficiency of the ICS system is designing. Many researchers investigated
various designs of the ICS system to date [106]. Goetzberger and
Rommel [99] developed ICS system and compared the efficiency of the
ICS system with other systems such as the thermosyphon system, FPC
and vacuum tube collector. It was concluded that the estimated effi­
ciency of the ICS system was higher compared to FPC, thermosyphon
system but showed low with vacuum tube collector. However, the
design of the ICS system compared with other systems was estimated by
considering mainly three factors: (i) water demand (was 160 L/day), (ii)
water temperature (to be in the range of 8–50 ◦ C) and (iii) area of the
collector (to be 1 m2).
Besides efficiency, the designed ICS system was low-priced compared
with the conventional domestic hot water system. Recently, Garnier
et al. [94] introduced a novel ICS-SWH prototype, which shows an
effective increase in bulk temperature by 6 ◦ C compared to past ICS
system configurations. The system’s integrated heating element presents
a separate domestic hot water system and study roof integration re­
striction allowing the component to be incorporated within a structural
insulated roofing panel system. Souliotis et al. [242] developed and
assembled three different ICS SWH systems by altering the collector
depth and compared them with FPTU. The results show an increase in
thermal performance for all three designed ICS SWH than FPTU. Besides
improved thermal performance, the building cost of the ICS SWH system
was cheaper than FPTU. Smyth et al. [239] developed a new ICS vessel
for water storage, where the internal arrangement of the vessel was
designed in such a way as to reduce the heat loss up to 20% and show
30% of thermal energy was retained compared to other vessels. Helal
et al. [114] proposed an ICS system made up of three compound para­
bolic reflectors with a storage tank at the centre. The purpose of the
proposed system was to supply hot water for a family of four members.
The ICS system’s thermal efficiency was studied, and the results showed
a 64% higher thermal efficiency.
The ICS system’s increased efficiency depends on numerous design
types, and apart from this, the use of phase change materials (PCM)
materials have been reported by various scientists/researchers. Canba­
zoglu et al. [45] developed a conventional SWH system integrated with
7
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
PCM material and examined the increased performance of the system
experimentally. It was noticed that the water temperature of the storage
tank increases with the intensity of solar radiation, where the heat was
transferred to PCM and remains constant at 45 ◦ C for 10 h after sunset. It
was observed that the conventional SWH system combined with PCM
shows 2.59–3.45 times higher total heat accumulation and hot water
mass production in the tank compared to the traditional SWH system
without PCM. Reddy [217] developed thermal modelling to examine the
transparent insulation layer shielded ICS system combined with PCM.
The system’s performance was analyzed with different sizes (4,9,12) of
fins inside the paraffin wax, as shown in Fig. 6. It was found that the
latent heat storage with 9 fins offers a maximum increase in the heat
transfer and minimum thermal energy losses to the surroundings.
Chaabane et al. [50] designed an ICS system integrated with two types of
PCM, RT42-graphite and myristic acid, for water heating application.
Their results indicated that the RT42-graphite showed increased thermal
performance for the long term compared to myristic acid. This might be
due to the higher thermal conductivity of RT42-graphite (5 W/m.K) than
myristic acid (0.19 W/m.K).
Besides high thermal efficiency and reduced cost of ICS collectors,
the main drawback of ICS collectors was thermal losses during night­
time. The literature claims that integrating PCMs with solar water
heaters can reduce the thermal losses during night times and increase
thermal energy conservation. The addition of small fractions of nano­
particles to PCMs will improve the thermal properties drastically.
However, only limited studies are available on the influence of nano-
PCMs on solar water heaters’ thermal performance [151]. The author
suggested integrating ICS with CPC and phase change materials with
different nanomaterials to reduce thermal losses.
Thermosyphon system
Thermosyphon is a natural convection process where density dif­
ference is noticed by water or heat transfer fluid circulation. In these
systems, sunlight passes or hits the circulating fluid passing through the
collector, where the heat transfer fluid absorbs the heat and flows into
the storage tank. This is due to the increase in temperature, leading to a
decrease in the working fluid density. The overall performance of the
thermosyphon system is dependent primarily upon the heat transfer
design of the collector. Several researchers used different techniques to
study, analyze and improve efficiency [46,147]. Few of them proposed
optimal heat transfer analysis of collectors using mathematical models
[40,218]. Some of them introduced heat pipe combined with the col­
lector to increase the efficiency [55,78] and to justify the results, prac­
tical experiments were conducted by other researchers [52,266]. This
kind of system’s main advantage is easy installation, good efficiency,
unaffected by utility blackout, and they do not require any external
sources to pump the heat through the pipes [172]. The main drawback
of this system is the strict guidelines of plumbing and failure to avoid
bubble blockage.
Enhancement through design and simulation. The primary and vital factor
to be considered for a thermosyphon system is an environmental con­
dition that regulates hot water production. Zhang et al. introduced loop
thermosyphon (LT) to overcome the existing problems such as freezing
and corrosion related to conventional SWH systems [272]. They also
conducted a comparative study based on SWH and TL-SWH systems’
annual performance under different parameters such as continuous and
discontinuous heating modes, effective supply days, and effective heat
gain. Moreover, a mathematical model was developed and validated to
evaluate the heat loss at nighttime. The basic diagram of the thermo­
syphon system is shown in Fig. 7, where the collector is made up of a
riser tube, absorber plate, glass cover, casing, insulation and header
tubes. Due to the density difference, the hot water flows from the riser
tube to the storage tank. The thermosyphon head controls the flow due
to the buoyancy force caused by the collector’s temperature rise.
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
Fig. 6. ICS system integrated with 9 fins inside paraffin wax [217].
Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of thermosyphon systems [62].
Moreover, to understand the performance of an SWHS, it is necessary to
be aware of the temperature distribution in the collector, water flow in
the tubes and connecting pipe of SWHS [62]. Chuawittayawuth and
Kumar [62] conducted an experimental study on the temperature and
flow distribution in the natural circulating SWH system under different
climatic conditions and differentiated using theoretical methods. The
results indicated that the water temperature in the system was uniform
during cloudy and partly cloudy conditions. It was observed that the
water temperature mainly depends on its flow rate.
Huang et al. [125] analyzed the thermosyphon’s thermal perfor­
mance by incorporating mantle HX and exhibiting its applicability in
China using a theoretical energy equation called “heat exchanger pen­
alty factor”. The experimental results indicated that the system with
mantle HX could hit up to 50% of efficiency, which was lower than the
typical thermosyphon flat plate system without mantle HX and higher
than that of glass evacuate tube SWH system. This was due to heat en­
ergy loss due to convection with mantle HX addition to the thermosy­
phon SWH system.
Few researchers investigated refrigerants as working fluids instead of
water to increase the thermosyphon SWH system’s performance. Esen
and Esen [78] designed a simple two-phase thermosyphon system to
analyze the thermal performance using three different refrigerants, such
as R410A, R-134a, and R407C. The results showed that the R410A
refrigerant has a higher efficiency of 50.84% than the other two
8
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
refrigerants. Yamaguchi et al. (Yamaguchi et al., 2010) proposed a
thermosyphon system that used supercritical CO2 as a heat transfer fluid
and analyzed it experimentally. The results showed that the system
could function well during winter, where the natural convective flow of
1900 Reynold number can be obtained even at low-level solar radiation.
Moreover, it showed an improved heat efficiency of 66.0%.
Several researchers reported the simulation studies and an increase
in the thermosyphon SWH system’s performance, and few studies are
described here. Recently, Azzolin et al. [22] proposed a new thermo­
syphon type with an integrated storage tank and represented a natural
circulation phenomenon’s transient behaviour. A theoretical model was
developed using MATLAB Simulink. The validation of the mathematical
model was done by using ad-hoc experimental tests and numerical
simulations. The minimum inclination angle and solar radiation neces­
sary to boost the flow circulation were predicted using this model. Chien
et al. [55] studied a two-phase thermosyphon SWH system, both theo­
retically and experimentally. The results indicated the system achieved
the best charge efficiency of 82%, which was higher than a typical
thermosyphon SWH system. The average error deviation between the
simulation and experimental results was ± 6%. Budihardjo and Morri­
son [40] conducted experimental studies to investigate water-in-glass
evacuated tube solar water heater performance by measuring optical
and heat loss behaviour. The performance of the evacuated collector was
compared with a flat plat SWH system in different areas. Results
S. Faisal Ahmed et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981

concluded that the 30-tube evacuated tube SWH system shows lower
than two flat plate SWH systems of 3.7 m2 due to the larger heat transfer
area of flat plate SWH system.
Several studies exist and described the design of a thermosyphon
system, and some of them are highlighted here. Chen et al. [52] pro­
posed a novel two-phase thermosyphon system made up of the collector,
internal paraffin fins, double pipe HX, and storage tank. The results
showed an 18% higher thermal efficiency for the suggested design than
the other SWH systems. Arab et al. [19] designed a thermosyphon SWH
system combined with an extra-long pulsating heat pipe to examine the
system’s heat transfer efficiency. Three different filling ratios (30%,
50%, and 70%) of water were used to test the system, and the result
showed the highest thermal efficiency of 53.79% at 70% of the water
filling ratio. Redpath et al. [218] conducted comparative studies of ef­
ficiencies between thermosyphon and forced circulation mechanism in a
heat pipe evacuated tube SWH system. The result showed an average
difference between the efficiency of 5.1% between the thermosyphon
heat-piped evacuated tube solar water heating and acrylic model
manifold when exposed to similar energy input. The study concludes
that the use of thermosyphon was cost-effective compared to the forced
circulation system. Redpath et al. [219] reported the installation of
thermosyphon heat pipe evacuated SWH system in three different areas.
Their result shows that the terraced dwelling thermosyphon heat pipe
evacuated SWH system shows the highest annual solar fraction
compared to semi-detached and detached-wellings. The results also re­
ported an annual solar fraction of 0.63 for the terrace, 0.43 for detached
and 0.38 for semi-detached. The present authors suggest new designs
need to be made for improved thermal efficiency of thermosyphon
system. The advantage of a thermosyphon system is that it is a reliable
SWH system for long term water heating application. Table 2 summa­
rizes about different kinds of SWH systems.
Moreover, these active and passive circulation comes into play for
different industrial applications such as solar water heating and solar
refrigeration systems. Several types of solar collectors, especially flat-
plate and evacuated tubes, are suitable for solar water heating appli­
cations, where the heat transfer fluid is used to absorb the heat from the
collector. This heat transfer is done either by active/forced circulation or
passive circulation type. The solar systems integrated with thermosy­
phon, integrated collector storage, direct and indirect circulation [138].
Solar refrigeration is generally used to store food and medicines by
providing comfort cooling. In this process, the temperature inside the
samples was maintained low through absorption and adsorption cycles.
The absorber generators are connected with the collectors, and the heat
transfer is controlled by active/forced circulation mode only [150].
Solar collectors
A solar collector is a type of heat exchanger, which converts sun
rays/radiation into a useful form of energy/internal energy of the
circulating medium/fluid [72]. Solar collector technologies are classi­
fied into three categories based on their usage. i) photovoltaic (PV)
collector, ii) solar thermal collector, and iii) combination of both
photovoltaic and thermal (PVT) collector [142]. PV collector uses
semiconducting materials such as CdTe, CdSe, ZnO, ZnS, GaAs, BP, CuS,
Si, SiO2, etc., to convert solar energy into electricity. The electrical en­
ergy produced by PV collectors can be used for a variety of applications.
PVT collector integrates photovoltaic and thermal, which converts solar
energy into electrical and thermal energy. In the case of solar thermal
collectors, solar energy is converted and transferred as heat to the
circulating fluids such as water, ethylene glycol, water/ethylene glycol,
nanofluids, oil, etc., [33,200]. Fernandez and Dieste [84] designed the
most sophisticated and cost-effective solar thermal collector for low and
medium temperature applications. Thermal collectors are mainly sub­
divided into two: i) non-concentrating collectors and ii) concentrating

Table 2
Recent studies on SWH systems [214,234].
System Reference Study Collector Working fluid Thermal efficiency (η) /
Simulation Experimental COP

Direct circulation Li et al. [158] √ √ ETC Water –

system Walker et al. [255] √ Evacuated tube heat Water η = 34%
pipe
Chong et al. [56] √ √ V-trough reflector Water Optical η = 74.05%
Indirect circulation Chaturvedi et al. [51] √ √ Flat plate with tubes R-12 COP = 2.5–4.0
system Hawlader et al. [111] √ √ Evaporator collector Air COP = 6.0, η = 0.77
Chyng et al. [63] √ √ Tube-in-sheet type R-134a COP = 1.7–2.5
Kuang et al. [149] √ √ FPC R-22 COP = 4–6, η = 0.4–0.6
Li et al. [157] √ Aluminium plate R-22 COP = 5.25, η = 1.08
Hepbasli [115] √ FPC Water-antifreeze COP = 0.201
mixture
ICS system Mohamad [174] √ √ FPC storage Water η = 50%
Goetzberger and Rommel [99] √ Built-in-storage Water η = 26–35%
Kalogirou [137] √ √ CPC Water η = 65%
Helal et al. [114] √ √ CPC Water η = 64%
Smyth et al. [239] √ √ Built-in-storage Water IOP
Reddy [217] √ Built-in-storage Water IOP
Canbazoglu et al. [45] √ Built-in-storage Water IOP
Tripanagnostospoulos and Souliotis √ CPC Water IOP
[250]
Tripanagnostospoulos et al. [252] √ √ CPC Water IOP
Thermosyphon system Esen and Esen [78] √ FPC R-134a η = 48.72%
√ R-407C η = 49.43%
√ R-410A η = 50.84%
Chien et al. [55] √ √ FPC Alcohol η = 82%
Chen et al. [52] √ √ FPC Alcohol η = 63%
Arab et al. [19] √ FPC Water η = 54%
Ng et al. [186] √ Evacuated tube heat Water η = 59–66%
pipe
Redpath et al. [218] √ √ Evacuated tube heat Water IOP
pipe
Budihardjo and Morrison [40] √ √ ETC Water IOP

*IOP = Investigated other parameters.

9
S. Faisal Ahmed et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981

collectors [246]. A detailed description of thermal collectors is discussed configuration. To enhance a parallel tube collector’s thermal perfor­
in the following subsections. mance, two parallel tube collectors were connected in parallel and
compared with serpentine collectors having the same absorber area
[168]. The results showed that two parallel tube collectors’ efficiency
Non-concentrating collectors
was 6% more than the serpentine type and 10% higher than the single
parallel tube collector under the same conditions. Alvarez et al. studied a
Solar collectors are differentiated based on their motion, i.e., sta­
fin-and-tube collector where the fluid flows through the corrugated
tionary, single-axis tracking, two-axis tracking, and operating temper­
channel directly attached to the absorbing surface [12]. The flat plate is
ature. Non-concentrating types of collectors are permanently fixed in a
sandwiched with serpentine ducts like collector and experimentally
specific position, and they do not track the sun. The types of solar col­
measured and compared with the existing parallel ducts. The results
lectors that come under this section are reviewed below.
displayed that the serpentine collector shows excellent performance
than the parallel geometry.
Flat plate collectors
The use of polymer in the solar collector showed a significant impact
Flat plate collectors (FPC) are usually fixed permanently at one
on the performance of the collector. Missirlis et al. [173] studied the
specific position. They do not require any sun tracking, and the circu­
heat transfer behaviour of polymer solar collector and their effect on
lating fluid acts as a heat transfer medium [206]. FPC consists of
various manifold configurations using CFD. Thermal efficiency of FPC
transparent glazing glass to pass the sunrays, back absorber sheet, which
with and without ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) foil with high
absorbs the maximum amount of heat and transfers to the circulating
light transmittance (~95%) was reported by Chen et al. [53]. The col­
fluid. The insulation layer beneath the plate reduces the amount of heat/
lector showed an increased efficiency when the working fluid temper­
conduction loss, and the copper tubes can be attached to the absorbing
ature was less than 30 ◦ C and ~10% higher thermal performance when
plate, as shown in Fig. 8. The most common techniques, such as CFD or
the temperature was more than 60 ◦ C with ETFE foil placed between the
finite element method (FEM), can help avoid structural analysis issues
glass cover and working fluid when compared to without ETFE foil. Wei
and other design flaws. Moreover, these techniques (CFD, FEM, etc.)
et al. [260] developed a new design with a large wickless heat pipe for
support the study of temperature distribution in collector and water/
the FPC instead of several separate heat pipes. The heat pipe is widely
circulating fluid [68,93].
used to improve the collector’s performance by eliminating the prob­
lems such as heat loss, freezing of water due to climatic changes, and
Enhancement through design and simulation. Plenty of research has been
deterioration in the pipes due to the corrosion. The other way to increase
done to enhance the thermal and overall efficiency of FPC. New methods
the collector’s performance is by adding nano-sized particles with good
and techniques were implemented to trap heat from the sun. These
thermal conductivity into the heat transfer fluid to improve the overall
techniques include using different kinds of materials for the collector
conductivity of the fluid. Among all nanoparticles, carbon nano­
construction, modifying absorber plate design, and using a wide variety
materials such as graphene oxide (GO) and multi-walled carbon nano­
of heat transfer fluids to absorb heat [194]. Several researchers
tube (MWCNT) used as suitable candidates for the application of direct
demonstrated that the design and development of FPC plays a crucial
absorption solar collectors (DASC) due to their superior properties.
role in determining the thermal performance, and FPC configuration
Shende and Sundara [233] studied nitrogen-doped hybrid structure (N-
was first reported by Matrawy and Farkas [168]. The parallel tube col­
(r-GO-MWCNTs)) as a nanofluid for DASC application, where deionized
lector is the most frequently used configuration, and its thermal per­
water (DI) and ethylene glycol (EG) was used as base fluids. The results
formance was analyzed by Hottel and Whiller [121]. However, the
clearly showed an increase in thermal conductivity of 0.02% for 17.7%
drawbacks of parallel tube configuration such as non-uniform temper­
of DI and 15.1% of EG. Due to the high surface area and black colour,
ature distribution over the absorber plate, non-distribution of fluid
these nanofluids show increased thermal conductivity and easily absorb
through the pipes, increase heat loss of the collector due to absorber
radiation from different spectral ranges. Moreover, the thermal
temperature at low flow conditions led to the introduction of serpentine

Fig. 8. Flat plate collector (FPC).

10
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
conductivity of the nanofluids increased with an increase in temperature
and concentration. The flow rate of heat transfer fluid also plays a sig­
nificant role in increasing the efficiency of FPC. Experimental and
theoretical analysis on flow rate and temperature distribution in a 12.53
m2 FPC was reported by Fan and Furbo [81] using CFD. Three driving
forces in the collector mainly dominated the flow distribution namely:
(i) pressure drop in strips, (ii) inertial and frictional pressure changes in
manifolds, and (iii) buoyancy effect.
The lower pressure drop in the strips impacts the buoyancy pressure,
which causes damage to the collector. The recommended or suggested
volume flow rate in the collector should be more than 6 lit/min to avoid
boiling issues in the panel.
The higher performance of FPC can be obtained through the coating
on the absorber plate. Del Col et al. [71] experimentally characterized
the performance of three different FPC types, as shown in Fig. 9. They
are (i) copper sheet with a selective coating (black) and copper tubes, (ii)
aluminium sheet with selective (black) coating and aluminium tubes
and (iii) aluminium roll-bond with semi-selective (black) coating. It was
concluded that the aluminium roll bond collector with semi-black
coating was having higher thermal efficiency than the copper collector
with the same black paint. It was also more efficient than the aluminium
collector with the selective coating. The enhancement in the thermal
performance of aluminium roll-bond with semi-selective coating was
due to a high number of channels in the absorber. Tripanagnostopoulos
et al. analyzed the efficiency of different FPC with and without glazing,
which used blue, black and red-brown as absorbers [251]. The results
indicated that the unglazed collectors with coloured absorbers showed
low efficiencies than the glazed ones. Furthermore, the collectors with
coloured absorbers, when painted with dark tone colour, displayed ef­
ficiencies close to the collector with black absorber, confirmed by both
experimental and theoretical studies. Recently, Gunjo et al. [103]
investigated the performance of FPC theoretically with the help of the
CFD model consisting of FPC, single riser tube and absorber. The CFD
study revealed that the enhancement in the efficiency of FPC could be
increased by an increase in water flow rate, solar insolation, ambient
temperature, the conductivity of the absorber plate material and a
decrease in inlet water temperature. It was also found that aluminium
was a much better option for absorber plate than copper in terms of
weight and cost. Additionally, the water temperature change was high
for the open-loop heating system compared to a closed-loop heating
system. The other issue to be considered to increase the collector’s
performance and efficiency is heat loss reduction. Zhang et al. [273]
investigated the effect of the heat shield on the collector’s thermal
Fig. 9. Solar collectors of three different kinds. (a) Copper sheet with selective coating and copper tubes. (b) Aluminium sheet with selective coating and aluminium
tubes. (c) Aluminium roll-bond with a semi-selective coating [71].
11
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
efficiency presented underneath the coaxial pipe to prevent heat loss.
Interestingly, the heat shield’s impact shows a 54.07% increase in
thermal efficiency at the maximum temperature of 123.9 ◦ C, whereas
the collector without a heat shield shows only 31.49%. So, the heat
shield is considered the best economical way to increase the collector’s
performance.
The best and simple method to increase the collector’s thermal
performance is to make it compact without changing the size of the
collector. Garcia et al. [91] reported that the insertion of the coiled wire
increases the thermal efficiency of the collector. It shows an average
increase of 14–31% thermal efficiency and power increases collected up
to 8–12% without any pressure loss. Garcia et al. [90] conducted
comparative studies of various insert devices. Three different types of
coils and tapes were selected to evaluate the increase in the heat flow of
FPC. The absorber temperature shows a significant effect on the heat
transfer coefficient, and it was revealed that the best wire and twisted
tape insert device exhibits excellent performance compared to other
types for any flow conditions.
Giovannetti et al. [98] conducted comparative studies of two double-
glazed glass cover with tin-doped indium oxide and aluminum-doped
zinc oxide and confirms that the tin-doped indium oxide is better than
the other one due to its high transmittance and low emissivity. Due to its
highly conductive nature, copper can be a suitable/possible material for
preparing heat pipes and plates in FPC manufacturing. However, other
materials can be used depending on the application or base fluid. For the
collector’s usage at minimal cost, design and material selection are
essential to enhance the collector’s performance. The total solar heat
capacity installed for swimming pool heating around 2013 using glazed
and unglazed water systems was around 96.8% [95]. Swaroop Kumar
Mandal et al. [163] investigated the effect of nano(CuO)-PCM in solar
water heating applications during night times using FPC with glazing.
The results showed that the addition of CuO in the paraffin wax im­
proves the heat transfer rate by increasing the PCM material’s thermal
conductivity. Moreover, the heat transfer rate decreases with the in­
crease in time, and nano-PCM temperature is lower than PCM alone. It is
observed that the nano-PCM is not feasible for solar water heating ap­
plications during night times. Al-Kayiem and Lin [9] experimentally
investigated the performance of solar water heater integrated with nano-
PCM material. The system efficiency ans hot water timing was evaluated
based on different inclination angles 10-30◦ and found FPC with nano-
PCM showed the best performance of 52% at 10◦ inclination angle.
They also observed that the tank’s water temperature after 24 h with
nano-PCM was about 40.7 ◦ C and water circulation of 0.5 kg/min, which
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
is better than without PCM and with PCM inside the FPC.
Evacuated tube collectors
Evacuated tube collector (ETC) is made of parallel-evacuated glass
tubes or metal strips that contain absorber pipes inside the individual
tube. Heat transportation through the absorber pipes includes the flow
of water or fluid [206]. ETC shows good thermal performance and
higher efficiency compared to FPC for high-temperature applications
because of transportability, more economical, and cost-effective
[57,224].
Enhancement through design and simulation. Several techniques such as
modification of the design, the addition of fins, tilt angles and coating
have been implemented to enhance the efficiency of ETC [232].
Currently, glass ETC has become one of the important elements in solar
thermal usage, as they can absorb high heat with minimal heat loss
problems compared to FPC. The absorber tube’s shape is the key design
factor for glass ETC [143]. Perez et al. demonstrated that the glass ETC
with a semi-cylindrical-shaped absorber tube showed 16% more effi­
ciency than ETC with a flat plate-shaped absorber tube [199]. Thermal
and optical efficiencies help to improve the overall efficiency of ETC.
Zambolin and Del [268] reported an improved process to achieve the
optical efficiency for ETC. CPC reflectors were used to adjust/modify the
ETC’s geometry to increase the optical efficiency of the collector.
Moreover, the optical efficiency was enhanced by 66% at a normal
incident angle using reflectors. The extended multiple regression for­
mula was the best suitable for determining the experimental results.
Liang et al. [159] conducted a comparative study between the thermal
efficiencies of water-filled evacuated U-tube and copper fin evacuated
U-tube, which showed similar performance for both when the heat
component reaches 10 W/m.K. The thermal performance showed 12%
higher for water-filled U-tube than copper fin evacuated U-tube when
the heat transmission component reaches 100 W/m.K. This was due to
increased heat conduction between the evacuated tube and working
fluid with increased heat transmission. Tang et al. highlighted the usage
of two sets of SWH consists of 18 tubes and one horizontal cylindrical
water tank to compare the thermal performance of SWHS with different
collector tilt-angles [248]. Both the system were made identical except
the different tilt angles, one at 22◦ and the other at 46◦ from the horizon,
Fig. 10. ETCs at 46◦ and 22◦ inclination [248].
12
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
as shown in Fig. 10 and comparsion has been done by dividing the work
into experiments. First one based on the collector tilt-angle on the
thermal conversion efficiencies of the system (daily-basis). The latter
was aimed to analyse the impact of tilt-angle on water flow features
inside the tubes. Surprisingly, the tilt-angle of the ETC did not show any
impact on the solar heat gain of the system, but it offers a maximum
effect when it was kept at a certain angle to get maximum solar radiation
on it.
Yilmaz [267] developed a system advisor model to determine opti­
mum collector area, hot water consumption and storage tank size of
water in-glass ETC. In the model, optimization was done by (i) calcu­
lating collector area to single tube area ratio, (ii) mass of water in each
tube and (iii) increasing of collector area higher than the integral storage
tank. Equations (1), 2 and 3 give optimum area, volume, and payback
period were calculated using the first law of thermodynamics and
making several assumptions [267].
( )
P2 CA f2 f2
Aopt = − f2 ln − VWST (1)
P1 CV L f1 f1
(
P2 CV f3
)
f3
Vopt = − f3 ln − AC
P1 CF L f1 f1
P2 (CA Aopt + CV Vopt + CE )(1 + i)
Np = (3)
CF Lfopt
Where Aopt,Vopt and Np are optimum collector area, storage area and
payback period, respectively. f1, f 2, and f 3 are fitting constants.Cv, CE,
CA, and CF are total volume cost, equipment cost excluding collector area
and control volume, area dependent cost and energy cost from fuel. P1 is
the ratio of life cycle cost to first-year fuel cost, P2 is the ratio of life cycle
expenditure to initial expenditure. i, L, VWST are fuel price rate, length of
a single tube, control volume. By applying/implementing the system
advisor model, energy saving of optimum water in-glass ETC was 12%
higher than normal. ETC is the most recommended and best preferred
among the non-concentrated solar thermal collector due to its cost-
effectiveness, economical, high thermal efficiency, and high perfor­
mance [183]. The authors of this review suggest that simulation work
needs to be done to optimize various parameters like collector area,
storage volume, number of tubes and its area, the mass of water in each
S. Faisal Ahmed et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981

tube to obtain higher efficiency than normal. For domestic applications

where the energy demands are low, ETCs are highly suitable for Europe
owing to climatic conditions. Besides, ETCs allow the collector and
service water storage tank to be close to each other, and they usually do
not require more than one solar collector.
Few studies reviewed the use of different solar collectors for indus­
trial applications. FPCs and ETCs total thermal energy demand for
different textile industry processes is estimated to be around 8.3 × 107
GJ/year. Moreover, the operating temperature required for these pro­
cesses is less than 150 ◦ C, and the thermal energy generated from FPCs
and ETCs can satisfy these needs. These FPCs and ETCs are potentially
used in pulp and paper industries as well for preheating. The average
temperature considered for preheating is around 70 ◦ C. The required
solar collector area was also estimated based on the total process heating
potential [95]. Kranzl et al. provided an overview of the Austrian in­
dustrial heat energy sector, especially in space heating and solar water Fig. 11. Optical path of lens walled CPC with an air gap [102].
heating, until 2030. They also reported that most solar thermal instal­
lation with 12 m2 collector area was from single-family homes.
Furthermore, the subsequent solar thermal installations are equipped in
apartment buildings, public and commercial buildings. In Upper
Austria, few plants use solar energy for cooling applications, and
another solar system with 212 kW capacity in combination with biomass
was used for district heating [148]. Lee [154] reported the use of solar
energy for the agricultural industry and investigated the performance of
solar drying system in both outdoor and indoor drying. The solar drying
system was constructed with an evacuated tube solar collector, auxiliary
heater, drying chamber, storage tank and water to air heat exchanger.
The results shows that the solar drying system when moisture ratio less
than 0.5, the drying for most of the samples were significant than with
indoor and outdoor dryings.
Fig. 12. Two CPC collectors: (a) 3.06 and (b) 6.03 concentrator ratios [156].

Concentrating collectors Gudhekar et al. [101] develop a new cost-effective CPC design with less
mirror space and aperture, which shows a thermal efficiency of 71%.
Compound Parabolic collectors (CPC) Rabl [213] proposed a theoretical formula for calculating CPC’s optical
Non-concentrating solar collectors such as FPC or ETC are operated and thermal performance. Among all the designs, the current authors
within the temperature range of 30–200 ◦ C [138]. Concentrating col­ recommend lens-walled CPC with an air gap due to its higher thermal
lectors operate at the high-temperature range with high concentration and optical efficiencies compared to other designs.
ratios (1–5) by giving suitable heat to produce electricity in power
plants. CPC falls under non-imaging concentrators with a low concen­ Parabolic trough collectors (PTC)
trating ratio, which utilizes the solar radiation incident on the absorber A parabolic trough collector consists of a working fluid chamber
tube/plate [31,196]. A wide range of designs, which are coupled with (absorber tube), reflecting mirror/coat and a concentric transparent
the geometry of the system. The operation of the tracking system mainly cover. The absorber tube is constantly fixed at the concentrator’s focus
depends on its design and the presence of tracking on the CPC, which is line to absorb the solar radiation, as shown in Fig. 13. The concentric
strictly based on the requirement. Interestingly, the system’s cost is transparent cover is used as a protector, and a solar tracking mechanism
affordable when the concentrator is in the stationary phase [32]. is placed to track the solar radiation on the collector to avoid heat loss
from the absorber tube. PTC is a linear type of collector and the most
Enhancement through design and simulation. A novel CPC design with
multiple curved surfaces was reported by Kaiyan et al. [136]. The
incident solar beam focuses on a single point reviewed by the light-ray
tracking simulation method. Recently, Guiqiang et al. [102] proposed
a new CPC design that linked a lens wall with an air gap. Initially, CPC
was angled inside by 3◦ inclination followed by coating with a dielectric
material at the back of the lens and combined, leaving the air gap as
shown in Fig. 11. The dielectric material played a crucial role in
reflecting the total internal reflection on CPC when the incident angle
was lower than the critical angle, which shows an increase in optical
efficiency and total internal reflection of CPC. Li et al. [156] conducted
comparative studies of two truncated CPC by attaching a U-shaped
evacuated tube with CPC. Two CPC with a concentration ratio of 3.06
and 6.03 was designed to decrease the geometrical volume without
changing the optical efficiency was shown in Fig. 12. The system ach­
ieved an optical efficiency of 0.74% and 0.70% and the thermal effi­
ciency of 51% and 54% for the concentration ratio of 3.06 and 6.03,
respectively. Finally, it was concluded that the theoretical model was
justified, and the heat loss of two CPC was uniform for both systems. Fig. 13. Parabolic trough collector.

13
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
advanced and developed concentrating technology, driving up to
400–500 ◦ C temperature range. Importantly, PTC can work with a
single-axis tracking system and very rarely with the polar axis [135].
First parabolic ultimate trough collectors used in solar energy gener­
ating systems–I had an aperture area of 120 m2 and an aperture width of
2.5 m [145].
Enhancement through design and simulation. Many studies have been
conducted on the designs and PTC parameters to achieve the system’s
best performance, which is discussed here. Amelio et al. [13] reported
an integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) plant with PTC to analyze the
thermal performance of the system. ISCC plant was divided into two
parts: (i) air from the surroundings was allowed to compress and heated
to 580 ◦ C in the linear parabolic collector and passes to the combustion
chamber where the temperature reaches to 1200 ◦ C, by using natural
gas. (ii) generated heat from the steam generator was used to run the
turbine. Fossil fuels and the ISCC system were combined to produce
electricity, and the efficiency was improved from 51.4% to 60.9% using
this technique. Xiao et al. [264] designed rectangular fins attached to
the V-cavity absorber in PTC, as shown in Fig. 14. The V-cavity absorber
used in this work comprises an aluminium tube with an aperture width
of 40 mm, an outer diameter of 60 mm and a length of 1.4 m. Further­
more, the aperture area is around 0.136 m2, and the angle between the
two heating surfaces was adjusted as 60o. The heating surface was
selectively coated to avoid radiative heat loss, which has an absorptivity
of 0.9. Also, to reduce the heat loss from the aperture, a glass cover was
used to increase the heat transfer between the heating surface and HTF;
rectangular fins were inserted in the crescent-shaped fluid channel.
Finally, to reduce heat loss and provide thermal insulation, the back
surface of the absorber pipe was covered with glass wool insulations
[264].
Monte-Carlo ray tracking method (MCRTM) was used to examine the
optical performance of the absorber. V-cavity absorber with rectangular
fins in PTC indicated that HTF average outlet temperature increased
from 109.8 ◦ C to 110.9 ◦ C, which results in improved heat transfer and
the surface heating temperature decreased from 136.2 ◦ C to 121.5 ◦ C
Fig. 14. Schematic diagram of the cavity absorber and concentrator model [264].
14
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
resulted in heat loss reduction. Cau and Cocco [49] reported compara­
tive studies between PTC and linear Fresnel collector (FC) based on their
optical efficiency and land availability. If we consider land a limiting
factor, the best possibility was linear FC (about 55–60 kWh/y per m2
based on FC vs. 45–55 kWh/y per m2 based on PTC). In the case of ef­
ficiency, PTC shows superior energy efficacy (about 10.5–11% PTC vs.
7.6–8.1% FC). Giostri et al. [97] conducted similar studies between PTC
and FC, which shows identical results as that of Cau and Cocco [49].
Hachicha et al. [105] investigated wind to flow through PTC under
actual operating conditions using CFD. Lüpfert et al. [162] reported the
techniques for prototype evaluation of PTC to examine the optical per­
formance, and some of the tools used in PTC are outlined here. To trace
the geometric properties of mirrors, modules and collector assemblies
were studied using the photogrammetric technique. Ray-tracking
studies on optical efficiency were analyzed using high-density photo­
grammetry data. The fastest way to monitor the flux distribution on PTC
in actual working conditions was by the flux mapping technique.
Several researchers adopted different solar technologies for various
industrial applications, and few studies are listed here. Frey et al.
installed a solar industrial heating process in a textile industry using a
parabolic trough collector. They investigated the system performance by
in-situ monitoring for 1 year and found that the yield is about 21.8 MWh
and the primary energy saving is around 81% [86]. Silva et al. studied
the heat steam generation system using parabolic trough collector for
the food processing industry. The results highlight was utilizing a heat
exchanger to improve thermal efficiency and energy storage density by
reducing the specific losses [236]. Ramos et al. investigated the solar
heat process using a parabolic trough collector in Mexican food and
textile industries. They reported that around 68% of thermal energy
consumption was observed in micro, small food and textile industries in
terms of thermal energy as a replacement for natural gas and diesel.
Moreover, within 60 to 180 ◦ C temperature range, the processes use
water, low and medium-pressure steam for thermal energy generation
[215]. Eswara and Ramakrishnarao [79] studied solar technology for
solar food processing creating quality food with no or less fuel cost. They
used different elements such as solar dryers, collectors and
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
concentrations for food processing at different stages.
The techniques mentioned above were used to boost the collector’s
quality during their manufacturing and operations for the solar fields.
From the current author’s perspective, ray-tracing studies are highly
recommended before executing any PTC design practically.
Central receiver system
Central receiver system (CRS) is also known as a solar power tower,
which uses a two-axis tracking mirrored collector called heliostats to
focus the solar radiation on the central tower. As the temperature in­
creases, heat energy is transferred to heat transfer fluids by a convective
mechanism (depicted in Fig. 15). CRS with a minimum of 100 heliostats
can withstand from 150 to 2000 ◦ C of the operational temperature range
[138]. European projects at Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Spain and
the USA tested several heat transfer fluids such as molten salts, liquid
sodium, water/steam and air whose working capacity is 100–200 MW
[193]. Blackmon [36] highlighted that the parametric analysis method
helps to reduce the cost of heliostat per unit area, which includes (i) in-
field wiring (ii) electronic cost (iii) field area of the heliostat. Coelho
et al. [64] studied the atmospheric air volumetric CRS, which showed
excellent and cost-effective measurements and improved thermal per­
formance. Several designs have recently advanced in the market to
attain CRS’s high temperature [37,66,201,202,261].
Enhancement through design and simulation. Abu-Hamdeh and Alnefaie
[6] developed CRS in Saudi Arabia using nitrate salts (60% NaNO3 and
40% KNO3) as a working fluid for the production of electricity from solar
energy. The thermal power transferred to the water, molten salts is
about 11.26 kW and 12.31 kW. It shows 13 kW for thermal power design
with a percentage error of 5.3%. Liao and Faghri [160] introduced a
novel theory of heat pipes in CRS, improving operating time by reducing
the molten salt freezing temperature, as demonstrated in Fig. 16.
Fig. 16 (a) represents four-receiver tubes attached to the receiver
panel’s lower and upper headers. Fig. 16 (b) shows the flow pattern
inside the two parallel receiver tubes in the receiver tube for molten
salts. Fig. 16 (c) shows that the receiver tube’s basic elements consist of a
Fig. 15. Central Receiver System (CRS).
15
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
reflector, heat pipe, a condenser and adiabatic tubes. The sunlight is
focused on the evaporator section of the heat pipe using a reflector, and
the fluid is vaporized at the evaporator section and passes to the
condenser section. The heat transfer from the condenser section to the
HTF inside the receiver tube. Receiver panels can form a concave
absorbing surface for the cavity receiver, as shown in Fig. 16 (d). Later
the heliostats reflect the sunlight from the aperture and irradiate on the
hexagonal reflectors. The header and lower tubes are vertically arranged
so that the condenser section sits on top of the evaporator section for
each heat pipe, allowing gravity-assisted thermosyphons [80,160].
Their results show a thermal efficiency of 88.5% was achievable, and
CRS’s efficiency increases or decreases with solar energy and flow
stream. Almsater et al. [11] proposed a CRS design with heat pipes
attached with fins to increase the system’s performance and an increase
in 106% of thermal energy was achieved. The addition of fins increases
the heat transfer area and improves the thermal conductivity of heat
transfer fluid. Garcia et al. [92] proposed various techniques and tools
for coding, optimizing, and transient analysis required for CRS design,
including the receiver modelling and heliostat field layout. Optimization
and performance analysis of CRS design was performed using different
software tools or techniques such as UHC-RCELL, (WIN) DELSOL and
HFLCAL, MIR-VAL, UHC-NS or IH, FIAT-LUX, and SOLTRACE tech­
niques. Several parameters such as HTF, receiver design, and heat
exchanger are considered to increase the CRS performance. Ho and
Iverson [117] studied different receiver designs to improve CRS per­
formance. Berenguel et al. [34] developed and applied an offset
correction technique for the heliostat field of CRS, which helps find the
exact distance between heliostat and solar power tower.
Compared to other concentrated solar power plants, CRS has its
limitations, such as more space for installing heliostats, mirror posi­
tioning should be accurate, and high maintenance cost for dust-free
mirrors. To consider the economic and profitable perspective, they
may require a large surface area of a 50–100 MW solar plant [198]. To
be more cost-effective, these solar plants are combined with natural gas,
coal, and oil-fired power plants [43,164]. Besides, places with high
direct normal irradiances such as the Southwestern region of the United
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
Fig. 16. Heat pipes in CRS: (a) receiver panel, (b) 2-D receiver panel; (c) basic structure; (d) receiver of CRS [160].
States, Australia, Northwestern India, the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA), Southwestern part of China, and China/Mongolia have great
potential to harvest from concentrated solar power systems.
Moreover, the solar technologies for industrial heat applications
should satisfy few conditions, such as the temperature range required for
each application and temperature distribution for each sector based on
the demand are vital. The availability of heat storage and recovery units,
the area of solar collector and solar radiation should be considered for all
industrial processes heat applications. The cost of non-concentrated and
concentrated solar systems varies for different countries and the energy
payback for these solar thermal systems should be calculated [150].
Recently installed and under-construction solar thermal power
plants across the globe
Table 3 gives an outline of recently installed solar power projects
(SPP) across the globe. Spain has the highest number of solar power
plants in the world. United States has the most increased electricity
generation SSP of 944 GWh/yr followed by the United Arab Emirates
with 210 GWh/yr and rest of all high electricity generation SPP are in
Spain. From Table 3, we can also infer that most SPP use parabolic
trough technology followed by power tower and then linear FC to har­
vest solar energy. Electricity generation from Table 3 ranges from 8
GWh/yr to 944 GWh/yr, and capacity ranges from 2 MW to 280 MW,
respectively. Table 3 highlights the solar technology, thermal storage,
and HTF used in some solar thermal plants. Most SPP is using the 2-tank
indirect system to produce electricity. In all 2-tank indirect systems,
molten salts (such as solar salt) were used. SPP with a 2-tank storage
16
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
mechanism utilizes Dowtherm A or thermal oil as HTF for water heating.
Most SPPs which are not using thermal storage mechanism, use water as
HTF which in turn gives steam to drive a turbine and in the absence of
solar energy, natural gas is used as an alternative to producing elec­
tricity. From Table 3, only three SPP have used ISCC technology. ISCC
Ain Beni Mathar is in Morocco, ISCC Hassi R’mel in Algeria, and ISCC
Kuraymat in Egypt. A list of solar thermal power stations under con­
struction is given in Table 4. The utilization of solar tower may surpass
parabolic trough technology because it can achieve a much higher
temperature than parabolic trough technology. Another reason why the
power towers might be widely successful is that of molten salts’ non-
degrading nature for a longer period.
Solar thermal technologies adoption policies
Indisputably, solar thermal technologies now from the leading edge
combine with a sweeping global energy transition’s energy efficiency. It
is propelled by novel scientific works described in the above sections,
competition in the private sector, and government support. Solar col­
lectors used in various applications have never been cheaper and effi­
cient than now. Although China has installed a significant number of
solar heaters, it is not uncommon to see large installations in many other
countries worldwide. It is because solar-based technologies are
perceived as a vehicle for sustainable and everlasting socio-economic
development. Nevertheless, the adoption of solar heater technologies
is inconsistent and faces crucial challenges due to various countries’
existing policies. On the other hand, the concentrating solar power (CSP)
technology, which can offer dispatchable electricity at a large scale,
S. Faisal Ahmed et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981

Table 3
Some operational solar thermal power stations.
Name and Technology Thermal storage HTF Capacity Electricity
Reference (MW) generation
(GWh/yr) Location Country
(Expected)
NOOR I [235] Parabolic 2-tank indirect: Molten Salt Dowtherm A 160 NA* Ouarzazate Morocco
trough
KaXu Solar One Parabolic Molten salts NA* 100 330 Poffader South Africa
[189] trough
Khi Solar One Power tower None Water/Steam 50 180 Upington South Africa
[190]
Megha Solar Plant Parabolic None Synthetic Oil 50 130 Anantapur India
[204] trough
Mojave Solar Parabolic None Therminol VP-1 250 600 Harper Dry United
Project [205] trough Lake States
Supcon Solar Parabolic 2-tank direct Molten salt Molten salt 50 146 Delingha
Project [210] trough
China
ACME Solar Tower Power tower No storage Water 2.5 NA* Bikaner India
[249]
Thai Solar Energy 1 Parabolic No storage Water 5 8 Huai Kachao Thailand
[3] trough
Andasol-1 [15] Parabolic 2-tank indirect. Solar salt Dowtherm A 50 158 Aldiere Spain
trough
Andasol-2 [16] Parabolic 2-tank indirect. Solar salt Dowtherm A 50 158 Aldeire y La Spain
trough Calahorra
Arenales [20] Parabolic 2-tank indirect. Solar salt Diphyl 50 166 Morón de la Spain
trough Frontera
Astexol II [129] Parabolic 2-tank indirect. Solar salt Thermal Oil 50 170 Olivenza Spain
trough
Casablanca [47] Parabolic 2-tank indirect. Solar salt Diphenyl/ Biphenyl 50 160 Talarrubias Spain
trough oxide
Enerstar [76] Parabolic None Thermal Oil 50 100 Villena Spain
trough
Gemasolar Power tower One cold-salts tank (290 ◦ C) from where salts Molten salts 19.9 110 Fuentes de Spain
Thermosolar are pumped to the tower receiver and heated (sodium and Andalucía
Plant [203] up to 565 ◦ C, to be stored in one hot-salts tank potassium nitrates)
(565 ◦ C).
Godawari Solar Parabolic None Dowtherm A 50 118 Nokh India
Project [208] trough
Guzmán [104] Parabolic None Dowtherm A 50 104 Palma del Río Spain
trough
Holaniku [119] Parabolic None Xceltherm-600 2 NA* Keahole Point United
trough States
ISCC Ain Beni Parabolic None Therminol VP-1 20 55 Ain Beni Morocco
Mathar [167] trough Mathar
ISCC Hassi R’mel Parabolic None Thermal oil 25 NA* Hassi R’mel Algeria
[212] trough
ISCC Kuraymat Parabolic None Therminol VP-1 20 34 Kuraymat Egypt
[152] trough
Liddell Power Linear Fresnel None Water/Steam 9 13.55 Liddell Australia
Station [244] reflector
Shams 1 [2] Parabolic None Therminol VP-1 100 210 Madinat United Arab
trough Zayed Emirates
Solana Generating Parabolic 2-tank indirect: Molten salts Therminol VP-1 280 944 Phoenix United
Station [245] trough States

NA* - Not Available.

might stagnate or collapse if the cost is not decreased. The adoption is
not facilitated through effective policies. Policymaking should be so­
phisticated and holistic to unveil positive transformation on the society
and economy derived by the solar collector-based energy technologies.
Herein we review some of the recent works on policy and make rec­
ommendations to complement existing policies to overcome the immi­
nent challenges that cause heterogeneous adoption of technologies in
different countries (Fig. 17).
• Although there is a worldwide consensus on climate change and the
need to cut carbon emissions, a global effort such as the Paris
Agreement could be jeopardized due to political transitions and
resulting changes in policies [274]. Hundreds of articles have been
written on US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement; however, very
few academic works, both qualitative and quantitative, have been
published [69,270,274]. There is no policy report focusing on SWH
and CSP.
• Developing nations would not be easily able to achieve emissions
targets without developing policies encouraging the simultaneous
adoption of solar collector technologies such as Self-Consumption
(SELCO) and Net Energy Metering (NEM) scheme by both in­
dustries and domestic users in the case of Malaysia [253]. The main
target of promoting these technologies is to minimize electricity bills
and lower CO2 emissions. According to SEDA, Malaysia, NEM was
introduced to replace the FiT scheme under the 2018 budget to
generate their own electricity, and any excess can be exported to the
grid. SELCO was introduced to produce electricity from individual
PV panels for individual use unless NEM, the excess cannot be
exported to the grid [226,227].
• Policies should be developed based on the feasibility and considering
local and regional factors. For example, the policies recommended

17
S. Faisal Ahmed et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981

Table 4
Some under construction solar thermal power stations.
Name & Reference Technology Thermal storage HTF Capacity Estimated electricity Location Country
(MW) generation(GWh/yr)

Abhijeet Solar Project [207] Parabolic NA Therminol 50 NA Rajasthan India

trough VP-1
KVK Solar Energy Project [209] Parabolic 2 tanks Molten salts Synthetic Oil 100 NA* Askandra India
trough
NOOR III [131] Power tower 2-tank direct: Molten Salt 150 NA Ouarzazate Morocco
Molten Salt
Agua Prieta II [130] Parabolic None Thermal Oil 14 34 Agua Prieta Mexico
trough
Ashalim Plot B [23] Power tower None Water/Steam 121 NA Ashalim Israel
Yumen 50 MW Molten Salt Tower Power tower 2-tank direct: Molten Salt 50 NA Yumen China
CSP project [211] Molten Salt
ISCC Duba 1 [1] Parabolic None Thermal Oil 43 NA Duba Saudi
trough Arabia

NA* - Not Available.

Fig. 17. a) Solar thermal energy gross additions, cumulative global operating capacity reported by different countries from 2006 to 2018. b) Policy developments of
renewable energy heat consumption in different countries by technology from 2012 to 2024 [127].

by Lilliestam et al. [161] suggested a set of three instruments to keep
and expand the option of concentrating solar power for dispatchable
renewable electricity [161]. It recommends a value-based feed-in
tariff instead of cost, support to organizations that bring out inno­
vative designs and demonstration projects in potential regions and
using the CSP waste heat for other purposes such as cooling or water
desalination. While this could be good for technologically advanced
nations, the same could further delay adopting CSP technologies in
developing nations, including the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA). However, the state governments should be aware and bear
the risk of novel designs implemented. For instance, a new design did
not work and one such scheme for geothermal power in Switzerland.
The national council and council of states resolve the risk and lower
the production cost to determine the existing hydropower plants in
market premium [75].
• The transition from conventional technologies to solar collectors
would require huge investments and necessitates novel sustainable
financing models and cooperation. For example, training and
workshops for policymakers of regional countries to equip them with
the tools to attract investments, develop sustainable financing
models, and so on could be organized in collaboration with IEA.
• Different nations have diverse institutional settings with priorities
such as economic development, energy security, and environmental
protection. SWH or CSP technology adoption could be strategized
effectively using policies in line with national interests like China
focusing on business opportunities and Australia dealing with envi­
ronmental responsibility [71,122].
• Individual countries should devise policies and international bodies
to carry out economic and environmental life cycle assessments of
solar collectors and heaters applied to various industries. This shall
mitigate its slower adoption. For example, a study [144] on solar
water heater application in the US’s aquaculture industry outlines
several benefits expected to encourage industry-wide adoption. They
observed that the solar water heater usage reported a lower envi­
ronmental effect and economically beneficial than the conventional
electric heater under desired conditions. Furthermore, different
factors such as climatic conditions, indoor/outdoor places, and
heating strategies crucial in regulating the environmental and eco­
nomic effect of the SWHS [144].
• Most international energy agency (IEA) member countries are
developed nations that can afford solar thermal applications for
domestic purposes. Developing nations with an average gross do­
mestic product (GDP) have domestic users and property developers
that prefer affordable housing. The domestic solar thermal applica­
tion’s adoption cannot be achieved on a large scale unless govern­
ments place regulations.
• Richler reported that the solar energy technology adoption in
Australia was motivated by the incentives and the resulting behav­
iour was contrary to the policy’s objectives [221]. They also noticed
that the higher feed-in tariff shows more significant financial in­
centives to get solar PV, leading to increasing renewable energy use

18
S. Faisal Ahmed et al.
for household purposes. This shows that solar thermal technologies’
incentives should be provided after thorough research on the ex­
pected outcome.
• The selection of geographical location, solar radiation availability,
tilt angle, and size of the plant are essential parameters for the per­
formance of solar thermal collectors.
Conclusions
A detailed description mainly focusing on different SWH systems and
solar thermal collectors has been compiled in this review. Further
development opportunities because of the recent advancement and
outstanding problems of SWH systems and solar thermal collectors have
been systematically outlined. This review also focuses on different de­
signs, technical advances of SWH systems combined with different solar
collectors, and other parameters that effectively increase the
performance.
• Having efficiency between 35% and 80%, active systems offer better
performance than passive systems. Although the design of the active
system is complex and expensive, it is well suited for industrial ap­
plications that require higher energy output.
• For domestic applications where the energy demands are low, ETCs
are highly suitable for Europe owing to climatic conditions. Besides,
ETCs allow the collector and service water storage tank to be close to
each other, and they usually do not require more than one solar
collector.
• Places having high direct normal irradiances such as the South­
western region of the United States, Australia, Northwestern India,
the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Southwestern part of
China, and China/Mongolia have great potential to harvest from
concentrated solar power systems.
• Many CSP designs were proposed, but CSP selection should depend
on cost, performance, ease of fabrication, and payback period.
Detailed studies of PTC and FC also reveal the land availability and
efficiency factor. If solar collectors’ efficiency is the priority over
land, then PTC should be chosen; otherwise, it is better to have FC.
• Among all concentrating solar thermal collectors, CRS is most pref­
erable as it provides a large amount of electricity compared to other
concentrating solar collectors. The present authors recommend
simulation studies to evaluate the performance of solar collectors
before practically implementing them.
• Though CSP has tremendous potential, it requires a new grid
network installation costing a huge amount of resources and capital.
Despite TES being in the implementation stage, existing challenges
with CSPs include environmental impacts, commercial viability,
design, water consumption, TES, efficient HTF, and receiver
subsystems.
• SWH systems have a very high ability that remarkably contributes to
continuous hot water needs. However, more policies, economic
support, and other activities such as R&D are highly recommended
for its acceptance, accessibility, and harness to its full potential.
• Different policies were highlighted to improve the economy, energy
security, and environment by implementing different technologies
reported by other countries. Policy developments of renewable en­
ergy heat consumption in various countries by technology from 2012
to 2024 were also included for better understanding.
There is always a space for new designs and stratification strategies,
installations and monitoring of the SWH systems based on the solar
insolation availability and geographical conditions. It was found that
nanoparticle-based PCMs for solar water heating systems are very
limited, and more studies have to be conducted in the future.
19
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 25 (2021) 100981
Future research
• The development of innovative systems, testing procedures, design
optimization, analytical tools, and modelling approaches is recom­
mended to improve solar thermal technologies’ accuracy and
performance.
• More studies on techno-economical analysis, life-cycle assessment on
solar thermal technologies are highly recommended.
• To overcome the discrepancies in the existing data, the authors
suggest repeating some experimental analyses with the most
disputed results. To standardize research, IEA should develop stan­
dards and frameworks.
• Since forced circulation SWH systems have matured over the years,
the authors recommend the researchers to improve natural circula­
tion SWH systems.
• Since eradicating coal-fired power plants is not viable soon, hybrid
systems such as solar-powered coal-fired power generation, co-firing
natural gas in coal-fired plants, etc., should be considered.
• According to the International Energy Agency, CSP had a global
installed capacity of 5.1 GW in 2017. With the expected capacity by
2022 reaching 10 GW, the key would be incorporating efficient en­
ergy storage.
• By large, solar collectors for water heating have been successful for
domestic applications in several parts of the world. The research
could be focused on extending CSP applications, particularly for
electricity generation, to reduce grids’ dependency.
• Policies facilitating solar systems adoption such as NEM and SELCO
in housing and industries should be implemented to reduce the
carbon emissions resulting from coal power plants.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Sunway University for funding the
research work through Research Center Grant Scheme (STR-RCTR-
GAMRG-001-2019).
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