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Thermal Engineering Thesis

2022-02

DESIGN, FABRICATION AND

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF
THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF
FLAT PLATE SOLAR WATER
HEATER WITH MODIFIED COLLECTOR

EDEN, HABTEMARIAM DUBALE

http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/14537
Downloaded from DSpace Repository, DSpace Institution's institutional repository
 BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

BAHIR DAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

THERMAL ENGINEERING

MSC. THESIS ON

DESIGN, FABRICATION AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

OF THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF FLAT PLATE SOLAR
WATER HEATER WITH MODIFIED COLLECTOR

BY

EDEN HABTEMARIAM DUBALE

BAHIR DAR, ETHIOPIA

FEBRUARY/2022
 BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY
BAHIR DAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
FACULTY OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

DESIGN, FABRICATION AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

OF THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF FLAT PLATE SOLAR
WATER HEATER WITH MODIFIED COLLECTOR

By:
Eden Habtemariam Dubale
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Thermal Engineering.

Advisor: Dr. Nigussie M. (Associate prof.)

February/2022
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
© 2022 Eden Habtemariam Dubale
 Dedication
This thesis is dedicated to my Family specially for my mother Cherech Addisu.
I
 Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank almighty Son of St. Mary for everything and his mercy.
Next I am deeply extending my sincere appreciation to my advisor Dr. Nigussie M.
(Associate Prof.) for his comments and creative suggestions. I am grateful to my parents
and siblings for the support and advice they provided; I am indebted to them.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Bahir Dar Institute of Technology and Bahir Dar
University for every support that gave to do this work.

II
 List of abbreviation
AM Optical air mass
ASPE American society of plumbing engineer
DASC Direct absorption solar collector
EOT Equation of time
FPSC Flat plate solar collector
FPSWH Flat plate solar water heater
HTF Heat transfer fluid
ICS Integrated collector storage
MFPHPs Micro-grooved aluminum flat plate heat pipes
SWH Solar water heater
UPC Uniform plumbing code
VFPC V-Corrugated flat plate collector
VFPC V-corrugated FPC

III
 Nomenclature
Notation Name of notation Measurment unit
A Area 𝑚2
C Specific heat 𝐽⁄𝑘𝑔 . 𝐾
d Diameter of the collector tube 𝑚
e Coefficient of correlation
F Fin efficiency factor
𝑭̇ Collector efficiency factor
𝑭𝑹 Collector heat removal factor
𝑮𝒔𝒓𝟏−𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 Solar radiation reflected from the left side 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
reflector reaches the collector surface
𝑮𝒔𝒓𝟐−𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 Solar radiation reflected from the right side 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
reflector reaches the collector surface
𝑮𝒄𝒐𝒍−𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 Total direct solar radiation 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
𝑮𝒄𝒐𝒍−𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆 Global solar incident radiation 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
𝑮𝒔𝒓𝟏−𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 Solar radiation incident on the left side refector 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
𝑮𝒔𝒓𝟐−𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 Solar radiation incident on the right side 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
refector
𝑮𝒔𝒌𝒚−𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆 Sky-diffuse solar radiation 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒇−𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 Ground-reflected radiation 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
𝑮𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 Ground-reflected solar radiation 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
𝑮𝒐 Solar constant 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2
H Altitude above the sea level 𝑚
h Heat transfer coefficent 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2 . 𝐾
k Thermal conductivity 𝑊 ⁄𝑚. 𝐾
U Internal energy 𝐽⁄𝑘𝑔
𝒎̇ Mass flow rate of fluid 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑠
V Volume 𝑚3
R Radius 𝑚
t Time 𝑠

IV
T Temperature ℃
𝑳𝑺𝑻𝑴 Local standard time meridian °
LT Local time Hr
n Number of tube in the solar collector
p Tube pitch
N Day number of the year
Nu Nusselt number
Ra Reynold’s number
r Root mean square deviation

V
 Greek Symbols
𝝈 Stefan- Boltzmann constant 𝑊 ⁄𝑚2 . 𝐾 4
K Turbulent dissipation 𝑚2 ⁄𝑆 3
𝝁 Dynamics viscosity 𝑁. 𝑆⁄𝑚2
𝝆 Density 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚3
𝜹 Thickness m
𝜷 Collector tilt angle °
𝜹 Declanation angle °
∅ Latitude angle °
𝝈𝟏 Angle of incident from the left side refector °
𝝈𝟐 Angle of incident from the right side refector °
𝜸𝟏 Angle between the horizontal plane and left °
side refector
𝜸𝟐 Angle between the horizontal plane and right °
side refector
𝜶 Absorbtion coefficient
𝜺 Emissivity
𝝉𝜶 Effiective transmittance-absorption coefficient
Ƞ Collector efficiency
𝝆𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 Ground reflectance
𝝆 Reflactance
𝜶 Angle of solar altitude
Subscript
amb Ambient out Collector outlet
C Collector t Total
c Convective
f Fluid
g Glass cover
I Insulation
in Collector inlet

VI
 Abstract
Solar collector is one of the solar energy technologies that has been used in the world. This
simple device like flat plate solar collector can convert the solar energy into heat energy.
However, solar collector’s efficiency is directly depended upon the solar radiation intensity
falling on its surface. In order to increase the solar concentration over the collector, side
reflectors are introduced which will concentrate both diffuse and direct radiations from the
sun toward the collector surface. Other method introduced to enhance the collector
performance was curved header tube having four times the diameter of header tube that is
100mm to avoid shadow effect and the corrugated absorber plate having a radius of 27mm
to give better heat transfer between the plate and riser tube with double glazing
arrangements to reduce top loss heat transfer coefficient.

The experiment was carried out for four days from 10:00 to 15:00 hrs by thermosiphon
principle in two season late rainy season and the second set during the dry season in
climatic condition of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. The experimental result shows that the average
output temperature and efficiency for day one, two, three and four was 76.5℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 73.3%,
73.8℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 73.7%, 87.02℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 77.6%, and 88.25℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 78.9%, respectively.
Additionally, the maximum collector output temperature and efficiency was recorded on
day four that is 92℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 82.12℃ at 14:30hr. Regarding to the double glass cover the
average maximum temperature between first glass to second glass cover and between first
glass to absorber plate was 134.13℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 152.4℃, respectively. From these testing days
the overall average collector output temperature and efficiency was 81.5℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 75.9%,
respectively. The effect of reflector on the performance of the collector analytically
modeled and validated to experimental measurement. It was found that the optimum angle
for higher solar radiation was the angle inclined between the left side reflector and the
collector (𝛾1) varies between 36.8° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 68.5° for calculated result, 35.1° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 69.5° for
experimental measurement. On the other hand, the angle inclined between the right side
reflector and the collector (𝛾2) varies between 43.2° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 75.3° for calculated result,
44.1° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 76.3° for experimental measurement. Finally, all result compared to other
literatures and clearly observed that the present work has best performance enhancement.

Key words: solar concentration, curved header tube, reflector, corrugated plate,

VII
 Table of Contents
Declaration .........................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii

List of abbreviation ............................................................................................................ iii

Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vii

List of figure ..................................................................................................................... xii

List of table ...................................................................................................................... xiv

CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................. 1

1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Solar thermal energy ............................................................................................ 3

1.2.1 Types of solar thermal collector ................................................................... 4

1.3 Flat Plate Solar Collector ..................................................................................... 4

1.3.1 Components of flat plate solar collector ....................................................... 5

1.3.2 Flat plat configurations ................................................................................. 6

1.4 Statement of the Problem ..................................................................................... 8

1.5 Objectives ............................................................................................................. 9

1.5.1 General objective .......................................................................................... 9

1.5.2 Specific objectives ........................................................................................ 9

1.6 Scope and limitation of the study ......................................................................... 9

1.7 Significant of the study ...................................................................................... 10

1.8 Organization of the study ................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................................. 11

2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 11

2.1 Solar water heating system ................................................................................. 11

2.1.1 Passive systems ........................................................................................... 11

VIII
 2.1.2 Active systems ............................................................................................ 13

2.2 Sizing Hot Water Demands ................................................................................ 13

2.3 Thermal Performance Analysis of Flat Plate Collector ..................................... 14

2.3.1 Collector overall heat loss coefficient......................................................... 15

2.3.2 Collector heat removal factor...................................................................... 18

2.3.3 Collector efficiency..................................................................................... 18

2.4 Enhancement techniques for the performance of flat plate solar collector ........ 19

2.4.1 Absorber ...................................................................................................... 20

2.4.2 Glass cover .................................................................................................. 24

2.4.3 Shape of the collector.................................................................................. 26

2.5 Concluding remarks ........................................................................................... 29

CHAPTER THREE .......................................................................................................... 31

3 METHODOLOGY (METHODS AND MATERIALS)............................................ 31

3.1 Methods .............................................................................................................. 31

3.2 Design and analysis of flat plate solar collector ................................................. 32

3.2.1 Estimating Hot Water Demand on Fixture Types....................................... 32

3.2.2 Design of collector area .............................................................................. 33

3.2.3 Design of riser and header tube .................................................................. 34

3.2.4 Design of absorber plate ............................................................................. 36

3.2.5 Design of water storage tanks ..................................................................... 37

3.3 Material selection ............................................................................................... 38

3.4 Solar water heaters based on thermosiphon principle ........................................ 41

3.5 Analytical model for the effect of side reflector ................................................ 41

3.5.1 Basic Sun-Earth Angles .............................................................................. 42

3.5.2 Analytical model for the effect of side reflector ......................................... 43

IX
 3.6 Construction of the Solar Water System ............................................................ 46

3.6.1 The Flow Channel ....................................................................................... 46

3.6.2 Collector Casing.......................................................................................... 47

3.6.3 Collector insulation ..................................................................................... 47

3.6.4 Absorber plate ............................................................................................. 48

3.6.5 Transparent Cover ....................................................................................... 48

3.6.6 Reflector ...................................................................................................... 49

3.6.7 Storage Tank and Storage Tank Insulation ................................................. 50

CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................. 51

4 EXPERIMENTAL TESTING ................................................................................... 51

4.1 Experiment Standards ........................................................................................ 51

4.2 Instrumentation................................................................................................... 51

4.3 Experimental setup and procedure ..................................................................... 53

CHAPTER SEVEN .......................................................................................................... 55

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................................ 55

5.1 Experimental results ........................................................................................... 55

5.1.1 Effect of Side Reflectors on Solar Collector Performance ......................... 55

5.1.2 Experimental readings on day one .............................................................. 57

5.1.3 Experimental readings on second day......................................................... 59

5.1.4 Experimental readings on third day ............................................................ 60

5.1.5 Experimental readings on fourth day .......................................................... 61

5.1.6 Variation volume flow rate with time ......................................................... 62

5.2 Comparision of Pesent work with other Litratures ............................................ 63

5.2.1 Presrent work discription ............................................................................ 63

5.2.2 Other Litratures Discription ........................................................................ 64

X
 5.3 Summary ............................................................................................................ 69

CHAPTER EIGHT ........................................................................................................... 71

6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ........................................................ 71

6.1 Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 71

6.2 Recommendation ................................................................................................ 72

Reference .......................................................................................................................... 73

Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 80

XI
 List of figure
Figure 1.1 Earth s energy budget ........................................................................................ 2
Figure 1.2 A typical design configuration of a flat-plate solar collector ............................ 6
Figure 1.3 serpentine tube solar collectors ......................................................................... 7
Figure 1.4 parallel tube solar collectors .............................................................................. 8
Figure 2.1 Schematic diagram of a thermosiphon solar water heater. .............................. 12
Figure 2.2 The complete solar ICS hot water system. ...................................................... 12
Figure 2.3 heat loss from collection in conduction, convection and radiation mode ....... 14
Figure 2.4 Thermal network for a two-cover flat-plate collector ..................................... 15
Figure 2.5 Equivalent thermal network for flat-plate solar collector................................ 16
Figure 2.6 Different methods of improving the performance of FPSC ............................ 19
Figure 2.7 (a) Experimental setup, (b) the schematic diagram of hydraulic cycle .......... 20
Figure 2.8 Sketch of the optical model for VFPC ............................................................ 21
Figure 2.9 Schematic diagram of the FPCs of Type 1 and Type 2 ................................... 22
Figure 2.10 Grooves of MFPHP ....................................................................................... 23
Figure 2.11 Geometries of a) U-shaped, b) wavy, and c) spiral pipe arrangements. ........ 24
Figure 2.12 Solar collectors test bench scheme. ............................................................... 25
Figure 2.13 (a) Cross Sectional view of Solar Flat Plate Collector and (b) Experimental
set-up of Solar Flat Plate Collector (Journal et al., 2016) ................................................. 25
Figure 2.14 Two covers, 1.2 refractive index. .................................................................. 26
Figure 2.15 Schematic view of the flat plate collector with reflector ............................... 27
Figure 2.16 The novel triangle flat plate solar thermal collector assembled .................... 28
Figure 2.17 The shadow of walls on the absorber plate ................................................... 29
Figure 3.1 Flow chart of method that should be followed ................................................ 31
Figure 3.2 the designed header tube ................................................................................. 34
Figure 3.3 sinusoidal corrugated plate .............................................................................. 36
Figure 3.4 schematic diagram of flat plat solar collector with reflector ........................... 39
Figure 3.5 Solid work modeling of modified collector..................................................... 40
Figure 3.6 working principle of thermosiphon ................................................................ 41
Figure 3.7 Construction of flow channel (copper tube) .................................................... 46
Figure 3.8 Construction collector casing .......................................................................... 47

XII
Figure 3.9 collector insulation .......................................................................................... 47
Figure 3.10 Construction of absorber plate....................................................................... 48
Figure 3.11 Transparent cover .......................................................................................... 49
Figure 3.12 Mirror reflector .............................................................................................. 49
Figure 3.13 storage tank and its insulation ....................................................................... 50
Figure 4.1 K-type thermocouples ..................................................................................... 52
Figure 4.2 Schematic diagram of data logger with computer and its photograph. ........... 52
Figure 4.3 Pyrometer ........................................................................................................ 53
Figure4.4 the designed flat plate solar collector water heater .......................................... 54
Figure 5.1 validation of calculated to measured value ..................................................... 56
Figure 5.2 variation of solar radiation with tilt angle of side reflector ............................. 57
Figure 5.3 Temperature against radiation with time for day one ...................................... 58
Figure 5.4 temperature versus efficiency with time for day one ...................................... 58
Figure 5.5 Temperature against radiation with time for second day ................................ 59
Figure 5.6 temperature versus efficiency with time for second day ................................. 59
Figure 5.7 Temperature against radiation with time for third day .................................... 60
Figure 5.8 temperature versus efficiency with time for third day..................................... 61
Figure 5.9 Temperature against irradiance with time for fourth day ................................ 61
Figure 5.10 temperature versus efficiency with time for fourth day ................................ 62
Figure 5.11 Variation average volume flow rate with time .............................................. 63
Figure 5.12 present work with Vettrivel and Mathiazhagan, 2016 with respect to (a)
average temperature between first glass to absorber plate (b) average temperature
between first glass to second glass cover. ......................................................................... 65
Figure 5.13 (a) variation of output temperature time and (b) variation of efficiency with
time ................................................................................................................................... 66
Figure 5.14 (a) variation of output temperature time and (b) variation of efficiency with
time. .................................................................................................................................. 67
Figure 5.15 (a) variation of output temperature time and (b) variation of efficiency with
time. .................................................................................................................................. 68
Figure 5.16 summary of comparison of average output temperature with literatures ...... 70
Figure 5.17 summary of comparison of average efficiency with different literatures ..... 70

XIII
 List of table
Table 3-1 Design condition and assumption ..................................................................... 32
Table 3-2 Summary of materials with their specification of solar collector ..................... 38
Table 5-1 summary of present work and other literatures ............................................... 69
Table A. 1 Experimental results of day one ...................................................................... 80
Table A. 2 Experimental results of day two ..................................................................... 80
Table A. 3 Experimental results of day three ................................................................... 81
Table A. 4 Experimental results of day four ..................................................................... 81
Table A. 5 tilt reflector measured and calculated results .................................................. 82
Table B. 1 American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers
ASHRAE 1991 Applications Handbook .......................................................................... 83
Table C. 1 Daily average solar radiations in Bahir Dar. ................................................... 84
Table C. 2 Monthly Average maximum ambient temperature of Bahir Dar city five years‟
data from National metrology agency west Amara region branch office ......................... 84

XIV
 CHAPTER ONE

1 INTRODUCTION
The enormous amount of energy has been spent for the only water heating purpose in
hospitals, household applications and different process in many industries. The fossil fuels
like coal, natural gas and oil are the conventional energy sources, fulfilling the energy
needs all over the world.(Vengadesan & Senthil, 2020) (Vengadesan & Senthil, 2020).
Ethiopia, one of the biggest countries of East Africa also known as ‘Horn of Africa’, is
spread over 1,112,000 km2. Because of the fast growing economy, it is severely affected
by the energy crisis. Compared with small solar domestic hot water systems for single-
family houses, the heating cost can be cut to at least one-third that is nearly 20% of total
energy consumption for average family. (Adisu et al, 2011).

One of the best methods of overcoming energy crisis today is by increasing the use of
renewable energy resources such as solar energy, which is free and available in abundance
in some parts of the earth. Out of different options, flat plate solar collector is simple and
the most common type of solar collectors used for water heating. Also, it is very effective
means of collecting solar energy for applications that require heat at temperatures below
100 0C.

1.1 Background
Solar energy is generated by the fusion reaction of hydrogen atoms in the sun. This fusion
reaction results in the release of high-energy particles called gamma rays. Gamma rays are
transmitted as electromagnetic radiation to the Earth, which is at about 150 million kilo
meters from the sun. Electromagnetic radiation comes in three forms: infrared rays, visible
light, and ultraviolet rays. Solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface can be harnessed
directly by using photovoltaics (solar cells) and solar concentrators. Photovoltaics are used
for electricity generation, while solar concentrators are used as a source of thermal energy.
The utilization of solar energy collectors (concentrators) to transform radiation into heat
energy is the basis of the solar water heating technology. A simple solar water heater
consists of a collector, a tank, and the flow channel through which the working fluid is
transported.

1
 Reflected by Reflected by Reflected from
64%
atmosphere 6% clouds 20% earth’s surface 4%

Reflected to space
6%
from clouds &atm

Absorbed by
Incoming
atmosphere 16%
solar energy
100%
Absorbed by
clouds 3% Radiation
absorbed by atm
Conduction and 15%
rising air 7%
Carried to clouds
Absorbed by land and oceans
51% & atmosphere by
latent heat in
water vapor 23%

Figure 1.1 Earth s energy budget

The amount of solar radiation falling on a surface normal to the rays of the sun outside the
atmosphere of the earth (extraterrestrial) at mean earth-sun distance (D) is called the solar
constant, 𝐼𝑂 . The intensity of the sun varies along with the 11-year sunspot cycle. When
sunspots are numerous, the solar constant is high (about 1367 W/m2); when sunspots are
scarce, the value is low (about 1,365 W/m2). Eleven years is not the only “beat,” however.
The solar constant can fluctuate by ∼0.1% over days and weeks as sunspots grow and
dissipate (Ogie et al., 2013). The solar constant also drifts by 0.2% to 0.6% over many
centuries, according to scientists who study tree rings. Initial measurement by NASA
indicated the value of solar constant to be 1,353 W/m2 (±1.6%). This value was revised
upward, and the present accepted average value of the solar constant is 1,367 W/m2.

Solar thermal energy has been used for centuries by ancient people’s harnessing solar
energy for heating and drying. Records show the solar water heater (SWH) was first
invented in the Roman empire around 200 B.C.E (Gong & Sumathy, 2016). The Romans
had a simple system, they used the solar heating concept to heat their public baths to enable

2
a reduction in using coal and the labor required. These systems were not self-sufficient, but
every innovative idea starts somewhere, and the solar water heating concept began here.

After the Roman empire collapsed, humans forgot the concept of using the sun to heat
water for over a millennium. It was in the late 18th century (1767) that a Swiss natural
scientist, De Saussure, re-introduced the concept of using solar energy for water heating
(Gong & Sumathy, 2016). He built an insulated box with two glass panes covering the
surface, the bottom of the box was painted black to increase solar radiation absorption.
This is the prototype for all solar water heaters. De Saussure found that whenever the
insulated box was exposed to solar radiation, the insides reached temperatures greater than
water’s boiling point. He had shown the green-house effect for the first time by doing this.
De Saussure hoped researchers would find his innovative device useful, but it took over a
century for this to happen.

Flat plate solar collectors are the most frequent type of non-concentrating collectors. Work
of Woertz and Hottel in 1942 and by Hottel and Whiller in 1958 can be seen as the first
work on flat plate collector. (Shandal & Abed, 2020). Several research work is under way
around the world to boost the thermal efficiency of flat plate collector water heater. The
principal challenge of a flat plate collector is that

 Because of the absence of optical concentration, the area from which heat is lost is
large.
 Also due to the same reason high temperatures cannot be attained and as a result
the collection efficiency is generally low.

1.2 Solar thermal energy

When a dark surface is placed in sunshine, it absorbs solar energy and heats up. A solar
thermal collector working on this principle consists of a sun facing surface which transfers
part of the energy to a working fluid such as water or air. To reduce heat losses to the
atmosphere and to improve its efficiency, one or two sheets of glass are usually placed over
the absorber surface and insulation is placed behind the absorber. This simple solar thermal
collector is called a flat plate collector, which can achieve temperatures up to about 100°C.
Solar thermal energies can be used for such applications as, space heating, air conditioning,

3
hot water, industrial process heat, drying, distillation and desalination, and electrical
power. (Peter, 2008).

1.2.1 Types of solar thermal collector

Solar collectors are the key component of active solar-heating systems. They gather the
sun's energy, transform its radiation into heat, and then transfer that heat to a fluid (usually
water or air). There are a large number of solar collector designs that have shown to be
functional. (F. Struckmann, 2008). Based on the mechanism of energy capturing, there are
basically two types of solar collectors.

Concentrating solar collector: make use of a concave reflecting surface (curved

reflectors) to intercept and focus the sun’s beam radiation to a smaller receiving area, by
increasing solar radiation flux. From the advantage point, they ensure a higher temperature
output due to the focusing of the rays to optical line or point. But they can be complex for
manufacturing, needs tracking system and intercepts only beam radiations. The intensity
of sunlight falling on the receiver can be up to 60 times the intensity of normal sunlight.
(Duffie et al., 1985).

Non-concentrating or stationary collectors: has the same area for intercepting and for
absorbing solar radiation. Unlike concentrating collectors, it needs no sun-tracking.
(Manjunath et al., 2018).

1.3 Flat Plate Solar Collector

The general designs of non-concentrating solar collectors can be classified in two general
types of solar collectors: Flat-plate collectors, evacuated tube collectors. (Raj et al., 2017).
Flat-plate collectors (also called sheet and tube arrangement) are when the absorbing
surface area is approximately as large as the overall collector area that intercepts the sun's
rays. Flat-plate collectors are the most common solar collector for solar water-heating
systems in homes and solar space heating. They collect both direct and diffuse radiation.
Their simplicity in construction reduces initial cost and maintenance of the system.
(Alvarez et al., 2010). Efficiency of flat plate collector depends on the temperature of the
plate, ambient temperature, solar insolation, top loss coefficient, emissivity of plate,
transmittance of cover sheet, number of glass cover.

4
1.3.1 Components of flat plate solar collector
Transparent Cover (Glazing): The material of cover should be Transparent to solar short
wavelength radiation and should be opaque to long wavelength re-radiation from the heated
absorber plate. Water White Glass with Low Iron content is a suitable material besides
other plastic materials under research. A portion of Heat is lost from the heated cover plate
which is open to low temperature atmospheric conditions by Reflection and Convection.
Convection losses can be considerably reduced by using two or three Cover Glass (with
optimized spacing) instead of one cover. Reflection losses can be reduced either by Coating
with anti-reflective thin film of suitable substances or by soft Etching with a suitable
solution on both side of the glass.

Black Absorber Plate: Absorber Plate of Liquid collector is typically a Metal plate of
Steel, Aluminum or Copper, to which Fluid passage normally of Copper tubes are Brazen
on Top or Bottom. The surface finish of absorber plate usually is flat black paint with an
appropriate (self-etching type) primer. The primer coat must be thin. Alternatively,
Selective coatings are used to improve the effectiveness of Absorber plate. Selection
coatings have high absorptivity to Short wavelength radiation (less than 2um) and Low
Emissivity for Long Wavelength Radiations. Black chrome is Low cost and High Effective
option. It is a Selection coatings of Chromium sesqui oxide (Cr2O3) electrodeposited in
thin layers on a Nickel Base. The process is Efficient but beers a cost. Black Painted sheet
are cheaper and to further improve its function thin layer of coatings can be used, where
cost matters.

Heat Transport System and Fluid: Liquid heated is generally water. Water is very
effective heat transport medium but has limitations such as possibilities of freezing in tubes
in cold weather particularly in cold nights. Ethylene glycol is added to check freezing but
at cost of effectiveness. Another problem is of corrosion of metal by water. Lastly any
leakage must be averted. For better heat transfer the tubes are connected to common
headers on top and bottom both and water enters at the bottom header, moves upward
through tubes, where it gets warmed by absorber plate and finally exits at the top header.
Some Nano additives improve the solar Radiation absorption capacity of fluids like water

5
considerably. Use of Such additives also improves the efficiency of Flat Plate Collectors
to a considerable extent but at a cost.

Figure 1.2 A typical design configuration of a flat-plate solar collector (Duffie et al.,
1985)
Insulation: Heat is lost to the environment from the solar collector as the temperature of
the absorber plate rises and collector gets warm. Rear side of the Absorber plate should be
insulated in such a way that minimum heat is lost to surrounding as most of the heat lost is
from the rear side, though heat is also lost from the other two sides also. Traditionally most
commonly used materials are Mineral wool, Rockwool, Styrofoam etc. Evacuated
Chamber insulation is found to be most efficient but it is very costly to create and maintain
a vacuum. Another very efficient Insulating material, though very cheap is thin layers of
Aluminum Foil.

Casing: The casing is a non-functional component, which supports all the other
components of a flat plate collector and also acts as protection shield in adverse weather
conditions. Normally it is made of sheet. (Chaturvedi, 2015).

1.3.2 Flat plat configurations

Again, according to the tube configuration, flat plate collectors can be of two main types:
parallel tube and serpentine tube collectors.

6
 A. Serpentine tube collector: Serpentine flat plate collectors differ slightly from this
"harp" design, and instead use a single pipe that travels up and down the collector.
However, since they cannot be properly drained out of water, serpentine flat plate
collectors cannot be used in drain back systems. The serpentine flow consists of
one long continuous flexible tube so there is no problem with uniform flow rate.

Figure 1.3 serpentine tube solar collectors

The working fluids flow continuously from bottom to the top of the collector and this
results in steady heat transfer from the heat absorber to the working fluid. (Birhanu et al.,
2016). Since the flow rate of the fluid through the serpentine tube is uniform the heat
collection process is uniform. The size of this flexible tubing is an important consideration.
The common size used for tubing is ½ inches of diameter.

B. Parallel tube collector (header and riser collector): Most flat plate collectors
have two horizontal pipes at the top and bottom, called headers, and many relatively
smaller in diameter vertical pipes connecting them, called risers. The risers are
welded (or similarly connected) to thin absorber fins, heat-transfer fluids (water or
water/antifreeze mix) are pumped from the hot water storage tank (direct system)
or heat exchanger (indirect system) into the collectors' bottom header, and it travels
upward in the risers, collecting the heat from the absorber fins, and then exits the
collector out of the top header. The parallel tube is designed to transport working
fluid from the bottom of the flat plate collector to the top of the flat plate collector.
The fluids pressure is higher at the base of the collector and least at the top. If the

7
 top and bottom pipes are large, the pressure difference is moderated and the flow
rate in each of the parallel pipes is more uniform. (Birhanu et al., 2016)

Figure 1.4 parallel tube solar collectors

1.4 Statement of the Problem

To develop a poverty free world, energy security for all sectors must be ensured. As the
convectional source of energy are limited and cannot meet with the increasing need of the
common people, wide dissemination of renewable energy technology is the best way out.
The solar energy which is coming from the sun in the form of radiation can be an alternative
source of energy. When this radiation falls on an absorbing surface, the surface absorbs
heat and this heat is can be used as a source of heating water. Flat plate solar collector water
heater is one of them which have an absorbing surfaces for water heating application.

It is observed from the literature review that various studies were available for the
enhancement of the performance of flat plate solar collectors but studies based on the
improvement of header tube design not get much attention. The design of header tube done
by the researchers is affected by shadow that results by rotation of earth around the sun and
this reduces the performance. In this study the new header tube will be design to avoid this
problem.

In fact, this type of thermal collector suffers from the heat losses due to conduction,
convection and radiation because of there is no optical concentration and these losses
increase with the temperature of the working fluid (Kanimozhi et al., 2019). Again, the
efficiency of the collector is directly proportional to the temperature difference between

8
the inlet and outlet of the collector. However, realizing the potentiality of this issue, a
prototype of flat plate solar water heating system (collector) was designed and constructed
having rectangular side reflector with proper angle orientation to improve the performance
of the system. The reflector introduced here to concentrate both the direct and diffuse
radiation of the sun on the collector, which will increase the temperature difference
between the inlet and outlet water flow through the collector.

In addition of these two modification, double glazing and corrugated absorber plate used
for prevent heat losses from the panel to the environment via convection and radiation and
for better heat transfer between flow channel and absorber plate, respectively.

1.5 Objectives
1.5.1 General objective
The general objective of this paper is to design, fabricate and experimentally investigate
the thermal performance of flat plate solar water heater with modified collector (using
reflector, double glassing, corrugated plate and curved header tube).

1.5.2 Specific objectives

The specific objectives which will be cover in this paper are to

 design header tube and absorber plate of flat plate solar collector.
 analytically evaluate the effect of reflector on the performance of the collector.
 perform thermal performance analysis flat plate solar collector as per the hot water
demand for shower in an average house hold.
 experimentally investigate the prototype of new flat plate solar collector.
 evaluate the experimental results with different literatures.

1.6 Scope and limitation of the study

This paper will work on the natural convection (thermosiphon) driven flat plate solar
collector for water heating applications. The investigation will be accomplished by
experimental approaches and which finally be subjected to comparison to other literatures.
The thermal performance enhancement will be the main subject of interest.

9
1.7 Significant of the study
Presently, the world’s population is count in billion, and projections are for a global
population approaching 10 billion by midcentury. Future energy demands can only be met
by introducing an increasing percentage of alternative fuels. Incremental improvements in
existing energy networks will be inadequate to meet this growing energy demand.
Particularly solar energy is always in a growing demand especially in developing countries
like Ethiopia, every piece of effort towards unlocking this freely available source of energy
will have far reaching consequences both in terms of economy and environmental
protection. The success of this research work is expected to contribute a lot to the increase
in useful heat gain of the flat plate solar collector. It is also expected to bring about critical
insights towards enhancing the bond conductance between the absorber surface and the
working fluid to bring about a significant heat transfer enhancement. Given that the number
of experimental data are limited, the very reproduction of any previous effort with very
minor extra achievement will be warmly welcomed. That is why this research topic is worth
considered.

1.8 Organization of the study

This thesis work is organized in six chapters. The first chapter discusses the overall
introduction which includes the background, statement of the problem, objective, scope,
and significance of the study. Generally, literatures related to this research work are
reviewed and gap identified in chapter two. Chapter three discusses the methods and
materials that have been used to achieve the objective of the study. Detail design analysis
of main components of the system are also presented in this chapter. Chapter four is
concerned about experiment standard of solar plate, instrumentation that was used to
measure different variables and it discusses about the developed experimental setup and
procedures. The results obtained from the test are clearly discussed and analyzed in chapter
five. Finally, conclusion of the research and recommendations for the future are stated.

10
 CHAPTER TWO

2 LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter the detail description of five topics are presented. These are solar water
heating system having its type, sizing hot water demands with its important terms, thermal
performance analysis of flat plate collector, enhancement techniques for the performance
of flat plate solar collector and finally concluding remark.

2.1 Solar water heating system

A solar water heater is a combination of a solar collector array, an energy transfer system,
and a storage tank. The main part of a solar water heater is the solar collector array, which
absorbs solar radiation and converts it to heat. This heat is then absorbed by a heat transfer
fluid (water, non-freezing, liquid, or air) that passes through the collector. This heat can
then be stored or used directly. Because as it is understood, portions of the solar energy
system are exposed to weather conditions, they must be protected from freezing and
overheating caused by high insolation levels during periods of low energy demand.
Systems differ also with respect to the way the heat transfer fluid is transported: Natural
(or passive) systems and Forced circulation (or active) systems.

2.1.1 Passive systems

Two types of systems belong to this category: thermosiphon and the integrated collector
storage systems. These are examined in the following sections.

A. Thermosiphon systems
Thermosiphon systems, shown schematically in Fig, heat potable water or transfer fluid
and use natural convection to transport it from the collector to storage. The thermos
phoning effect occurs because the density of water drops with the increase of the
temperature. Therefore, by the action of solar radiation absorbed, the water in the collector
is heated and thus expands, becoming less dense, and rises through the collector into the
top of the storage tank.

11
 Figure 2.1 Schematic diagram of a thermosiphon solar water heater (Luo et al., 2018).
There it is replaced by the cooler water that has sunk to the bottom of the tank, from which
it flows down the collector. Circulation continues as long as the sun is shining. Since the
driving force is only a small density difference, larger than normal pipe sizes must be used
to minimize pipe friction. Connecting lines must also be well insulated to prevent heat loss
and sloped to prevent formation of air pockets, which would stop circulation.(Luo et al.,
2018).

B. Integrated collector storage systems

Integrated collector storage (ICS) systems use the hot water storage as part of the collector,
i.e., the surface of the storage tank is used as the collector absorber.

Figure 2.2 The complete solar ICS hot water system. (Luo et al., 2018)

12
As in other systems, to improve stratification, the hot water is drawn from the top of the
tank and cold make-up water enters the bottom of the tank on the opposite side. Usually,
the storage tank surface is selectively coated to avoid heat loss.

2.1.2 Active systems

In active systems, water or a heat transfer fluid is pumped through the collectors. These are
usually more expensive and a little less efficient than passive systems, particularly if
antifreeze measures are required. Additionally, active systems are more difficult to retrofit
in houses, especially where there is no basement, because a space is required for the
additional equipment, such as the hot water cylinder. Five types of systems belong in this
category: direct circulation systems, indirect water-heating systems, air systems, heat pump
systems, and pool heating systems. (Luo et al., 2018).

2.2 Sizing Hot Water Demands

The information on sizing the potable water (cold & hot water) is defined in the American
Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers ASHRAE 1991
Applications Handbook, the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC), and the American Society of
Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) handbooks. All of these criteria take into consideration people
use factors; people socio-economic factors, facility types, fixture types, and a host of other
factors. In sizing hot water demand there are some important terms such as:

A. Fixture: A device for the distribution and use of water in a building. Example:
shower, urinal, fountain, shower, sink, water faucet, tap, hose bibs, hydrant etc.
B. Maximum Possible Flow: The flow that occurs when all fixtures are opened
simultaneously. Since most plumbing fixtures are used intermittently and the time
in operation is relatively small, it is not necessary to design for the maximum
possible load.
C. Maximum Probable Flow: The flow that occurs under peak conditions for the
fixtures that are expected to be in use simultaneously and NOT the total combined
flow with all fixtures wide open at the same time. The probability that all fixtures
will be used in a building at the same moment is quite remote.
Generally, as the number of fixtures increases, the probability of their simultaneous use
decreases. The plumbing system is normally designed on probability theory. If pipe sizes

13
are calculated assuming all taps are open simultaneously, the heater size and the pipe
diameters will be prohibitively large, economically unviable and unnecessary. Maximum
probable flow is also referred to as “peak demand” or “maximum expected flow”. (Bhatia,
2006).

2.3 Thermal Performance Analysis of Flat Plate Collector

The topics which includes in this chapter concerned about the heat loss that come from
collector component and analysis of collector efficiency. Both issues are discussed in
detail.

Thermal performance is very much affected by heat losses from various sections. The top
part is exposed to the ambient, and hence, the heat lost from this surface is significant. Heat
loss is mostly through convection and radiation. Due to wind, the influence of convection
is more significant. Convective heat losses occur between the absorber plate and the
glazing shown in Figure 2.3. The air cavity needs to be optimized to act as an insulating
gap, promoting convective heat transfer to the collector while also minimizing losses when
ambient temperatures drop.

Diffuse
Direct
irradiance Rain and
irradiance
wind

Heat Reflection
radiation
Glass cover

Absorber Insulation

Convection

Available heat

Figure 2.3 heat loss from collection in conduction, convection and radiation mode

14
2.3.1 Collector overall heat loss coefficient
It is useful to develop the concept of an overall loss coefficient for a solar collector to
simplify the mathematics. This study considered the thermal network for a two-cover
system shown in Figure 2.4. At some typical location on the plate where the temperature
is 𝑇𝑝 , solar energy of amount S is absorbed by the plate, where S is equal to the incident
solar radiation reduced by optical losses. This absorbed energy S is distributed to thermal
losses through the top and bottom and to useful energy gain.(Duffie et al., 1985)

Figure 2.4 Thermal network for a two-cover flat-plate collector: (a) in terms of
conduction, convection, and radiation resistances; (b) in terms of resistances between
plates. (Duffie et al., 1985)

15
Figure 2.5 Equivalent thermal network for flat-plate solar collector. (Duffie et al., 1985)

2.3.1.1 The top loss coefficient (𝑼𝒕 )

The energy loss through the top is the result of convection and radiation between parallel
plates. The steady-state energy transfer between the plate at 𝑇𝑝 and the first cover at 𝑇𝑐1 is
the same as between any other two adjacent covers and is also equal to the energy lost to
the surroundings from the top cover. The loss through the top per-unit area is then equal to
the heat transfer from the absorber plate to the first cover:

𝜎(𝑇𝑃 4 − 𝑇𝑐1 4 )
𝑞𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠,𝑡𝑜𝑝 = ℎ𝑐,𝑝−𝑐1 (𝑇𝑝 − 𝑇𝑐1 ) + (2.1)
1 1
𝜀𝑝 + 𝜀𝑐1 − 1

Where ℎ𝑐,𝑝−𝑐1 is the convection heat transfer coefficient between two inclined parallel
plates. If the definition of the radiation heat transfer coefficient is used, the heat loss
becomes

𝑞𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠,𝑡𝑜𝑝 = (ℎ𝑐,𝑝−𝑐1 + ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐1 )(𝑇𝑃 − 𝑇𝑐1 ) (2.2)

Where

𝜎(𝑇𝑃 + 𝑇𝑐1 )(𝑇𝑃 2 + 𝑇𝑐1 2 )

ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐1 = (2.3)
1 1
𝜀𝑝 + 𝜀𝑐1 − 1

And

𝑔𝛽′∆𝑇𝐿3
𝑅𝑎 =
𝑣𝛼

 1708  sin1.8 1.6   1708   Ra cos   3 
 1

Nu  1  1.44 1 
Ra cos 
 1       1
   Ra cos    5830  

16
The resistance 𝑅3 can then be expressed as

1
𝑅3 = (2.4)
ℎ𝑐,𝑝−𝑐1 + ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐1

A similar expression can be written for 𝑅3 , the resistance between the covers.

The radiation resistance from the top cover accounts for radiation exchange with the skyat
𝑇𝑠 . For convenience, we reference this resistance to the ambient temperature 𝑇𝑎 , so that the
radiation heat transfer coefficient can be written as

𝜎𝜀(𝑇𝑐2 + 𝑇𝑠 )(𝑇𝑐2 2 + 𝑇𝑠 2 )(𝑇𝑐2 − 𝑇𝑠 )

ℎ𝑟,𝑐2−𝑎 = (2.5)
𝑇𝑐2 − 𝑇𝑎

The resistance to the surroundings 𝑅1 is then given by

1
𝑅1 = (2.6)
ℎ𝑤 + ℎ𝑟,𝑐2−𝑎

For this two cover system, the top loss coefficient (𝑈𝑡 ) from the collector plate to the
ambient is

1
𝑈𝑡 = (2.7)
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 + 𝑅3

2.3.1.2 The back loss coefficient (𝑼𝒃)

The energy loss through the bottom of the collector is represented by two series resistors,
𝑅4 and 𝑅5 , in Figure 2.3, where 𝑅4 represents the resistance to heat flow through the
insulation and 𝑅5 represents the convection and radiation resistance to the environment.
The magnitudes of 𝑅4 and 𝑅5 are such that it is usually possible to assume 𝑅5 is zero and
all resistance to heat flow is due to the insulation. Thus, the back loss coefficient 𝑈𝑡 is
approximately

1 𝑘
𝑈𝑏 = = (2.8)
𝑅4 𝐿

where k and L are the insulation thermal conductivity and thickness, respectively.

17
2.3.1.3 The edge loss coefficient (𝑼𝒆 )
For most collectors the evaluation of edge losses is complicated. However, in a well-
designed system, the edge loss should be small so that it is not necessary to predict it with
great accuracy. Tabor (1958) recommends edge insulation of about the same thickness as
bottom insulation. The edge losses are then estimated by assuming one-dimensional
sideways heat flow around the perimeter of the collector system. The losses through the
edge should be referenced to the collector area. If the edge loss coefficient–area product is
(U/A)edge, then the edge loss coefficient, based on the collector area Ac, is

(𝑈𝐴)𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒
𝑈𝑒 = (2.9)
𝐴𝑐

If it is assumed that all losses occur to a common sink temperature 𝑇𝑎 , the collector overall
loss coefficient 𝑈𝐿 is the sum of the top, bottom, and edge loss coefficients:

𝑼𝑳 = 𝑼𝒕 + 𝑼𝒃 + 𝑼𝒆 (2.10)

2.3.2 Collector heat removal factor

It is convenient to define a quantity that relates the actual useful energy gain of a collector
to the useful gain if the whole collector surface were at the fluid inlet temperature. This
quantity is called the collector heat removal factor 𝐹𝑅 . In equation form it is

𝑚̇𝐶𝑝 𝐴𝑐 𝑈𝐿 𝐹 ′
𝐹𝑅 = [1 − exp (− )] (2.11)
𝐴𝑐 𝑈𝐿 𝐴𝑐 𝑈𝐿

2.3.3 Collector efficiency

The rate of heat gain (𝑄̇𝑢 ) of the working fluid is related to the fluid temperature difference
between the inlet and outlet of the collector and is calculated using:

𝑄̇𝑢 = 𝑚̇𝐶𝑝 (𝑇𝑓,𝑜 − 𝑇𝑓,𝑖 ) (2.12)

Where ṁ is the mass flow rate, Cp is the water heat capacity, and 𝑇𝑓,𝑜 ,and 𝑇𝑓,𝑖 , are the inlet
and outlet fluid temperatures of the solar collector, respectively. As with a conventional
collector, the useful heat collected from the porous channel collector can be rewritten in
terms of the absorbed energy parameter, 𝐹𝑅 (τα)𝑒 , and the removed energy parameter, 𝐹𝑅 𝑈𝐿
(Saedodin et al., 2017)

18
 𝑄̇𝑢 = 𝐹𝑅 𝐴𝐶 [𝐼(τα)𝑒 − 𝑈𝐿 (𝑇𝑓,𝑜 − 𝑇𝑓,𝑖 )] (2.13)

where I represents the solar radiation intensity, 𝐹𝑅 is the heat removal factor, (τα)𝑒 is the
optical efficiency of the collector cover, and 𝑈𝐿 is the heat loss coefficient of the collector.
The efficiency of the collector is given by

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑

𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 =
𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 ∗ 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎

𝑄𝑢 𝐹𝑅 𝑈𝐿
𝜂= = 𝐹𝑅 (τα)𝑒 − (𝑇𝑓,𝑜 − 𝑇𝑓,𝑖 ) (2.14)
𝐼 ∗ 𝐴𝐶 𝐼

2.4 Enhancement techniques for the performance of flat plate solar

collector
The heat transfer performance of the FPSWH is improved by optimizing the design and
shape of the collector and by increasing the rate of heat transfer between riser tube and heat
transfer (HTF) using various flow inserts and vortex generators. Absorber design is aimed
to increase the convective heat transfer coefficient. The different thermal performance
enhancement of flat plate solar water heater is illustrated in Figure 2.6.

Performance enhancement method FPSC

Collector design HTF Thermal storage

Collector shape Absorber Sensible heat

and material design(Turbulence
creators)
Shapes Latent heat
Fin, flow
insert
Coating
Vortex Nanofluid
Material generator

Active Hybrid
Insulation method medium

PV/T Passive method

Figure 2.6 Different methods of improving the performance of FPSC

19
Different design parameters such as number of tubes, diameter of the tube, collector width
and length, thickness of the insulation and the rate of mass flow of the HTF are the major
factors to control the thermal performance of the FPSWH.

2.4.1 Absorber
The most important component of a solar water heater is the solar energy collector whose
main function is to absorb radiant energy from the sun as much as possible and convert it
into heat and transfer it to the fluid flowing in the channel which is welded on the absorber
plate. Several researchers were studied various absorber designs for enhancement from
those the resent one are described.

(Sakhaei & Valipour, 2020), compares thermal efficiency of three flat-plate collectors,
which are different in the type of coatings used in the absorber plate that is the black
painted, the black chrome coating, and the carbon coating. The volume flow rate varied
from 0.5 to 1.5 L min-1. The field emission scanning electron microscope images
demonstrated that the carbon coating had high absorption due to trapping the light and
avoiding the reflection of the light. The collector with the carbon-coated absorber plate at
the flow rate of 1.5 L min-1 has the maximum thermal efficiency of approximately 69.4%.

(a) (b)

Figure 2.7 (a) Experimental setup, (b) the schematic diagram of hydraulic cycle (1-fat-
plate collector, 2-temperature sensor, PT100, 3-pressure transmitter, 4-heat exchanger,
5-reservoir tank, 6-valve, 7-pump, 8-valve, 9-fowmeter, 10-solar power meter, TES-
1333R. (Sakhaei & Valipour, 2020)

20
Furthermore, the thermal efficiency of the carbon-coated absorber plate and black chrome-
coated absorber plate is averagely 13% and 11.3% higher than the black-painted absorber
plate, respectively. Figure 2.7 shows their Experimental setup the schematic diagram of
hydraulic cycle

(Fan et al., 2019), they presented V-corrugated absorber with multi-channels and applied
in the liquid flat-plate solar collector. The absorber is extruded with aluminum and specific
triangular channels are directly formed to improve the solar absorption, reduce the heat
conduction thermal resistance and decrease the pressure drop. For this absorber they
develop and tested optical and heat transfer model with conventional sheet-and-tube
collector. According to their experiment they conclude that the daily average optical/
thermal efficiency of the new and conventional collector is about 84.9%/69.4% and
69.1%/58.6%, respectively. On the other hand, the average exergy efficiency of the new
and conventional collector is about 3.8% and 3.3% respectively under the mass flow rate
of 10–90 g/s. Finally, the pressure drop and pump power consumption of the conventional
collector are about 4.1 times higher than those of the new collector. Figure 2.8 shows sketch
of the optical model for VFPC.

Figure 2.8 Sketch of the optical model for VFPC (Fan et al., 2019)

21
GAP: V-corrugated flat plate solar collector (VFPC) can be further optimized in
configuration and material aspects, for example, the angle of V-grooves, size of V-grooves,
size of external fins, selective coatings, double-glazing, honeycomb and etc. Besides, the
initial cost and year round operation cost and benefit of the optimized VFPC need to be
investigated and compared with other alternative FPCs

(Kim et al., 2019), performed an experiment for completely new innovative flat plate
collector (FPC), which utilizes the capacity of direct sunlight absorption by a colored
working fluid passing through a transparent tube installed on the absorbing plate. The
resulting new FPC suggested in their study is a direct absorption solar collector (DASC).
To investigate its performance as a function of the colors of the working fluid, four colors
of water were supplied to the FPC: transparent (pure water), red, violet and black. From
the experimental results, the new FPC was found to have about 5% higher performance
than those of the conventional types of FPC.

Figure 2.9 Schematic diagram of the FPCs of Type 1 and Type 2. (Kim et al., 2019)

22
(Chen et al., 2020), they developed Micro-grooved aluminum flat plate heat pipes
(MFPHPs), fabricated by hot extrusion and subsequent inner surface treatment via
chemical corrosion, to improve the thermal efficiency and reduce the costs of solar
collectors. By conducting experiment, they investigated, thermal performances of MFPHPs
shown in Figure 2.10, including temperature distribution, maximum heat transfer
capability, and thermal resistance, effects of treatment time and solution concentration on
the thermal performance enhancement of MFPHPs. Their experimental results show that
inner surface treatment can substantially enhance the thermal performance of MFPHPs,
and different treatment morphologies of inner surfaces result in differences in thermal
performance enhancement. The determination of optimal treatment parameters to be a
treatment time of 10 min with a solution concentration of 1.5 moL/l and this results an
increase of approximately 80% in heat transfer capability and a decrease of more than 44%
in thermal resistance, compared to the untreated MFPHP.

Figure 2.10 Grooves of MFPHP (Chen et al., 2020)

(Saffarian et al., 2020), simulated U-shaped, wavy and spiral pipes with identical pipe
lengths on a flat plate collector. Using Al2O3/water and CuO/water Nano fluids in volume
fractions of 1% and 4% their results show that using wavy and spiral pipes can significantly
increase the heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number. Also, the pressure drop has its
highest value for the wavy pipes.

23
 Figure 2.11 Geometries of a) U-shaped, b) wavy, and c) spiral pipe arrangements.
(Saffarian et al., 2020)
In all cases, the heat transfer coefficient increases by using Nano fluid instead of water. In
all cases except for the CuO 4%, the Nusselt number has decreased due to a remarkable
increase in thermal conductivity by adding nanoparticles to water. Furthermore, results
reveal that by using wavy pipes and CuO/water Nano fluid with a volume fraction of 4%,
the heat transfer coefficient can increase up to 78.25%.

2.4.2 Glass cover

The glass covers, the glass cover thickness, distance between the glass cover and absorber
plate and thickness of insulation are the effective parameters to get optimum performance
of the collector. The property of glass cover influences the convective heat loss from the
collector top surface. (Vengadesan & Senthil, 2020).

(Paiva et al., 2019), they evaluated influence of the inclusion of convective barriers inside
the air cavity located between the absorber plate and the glass cover based on the increase
of the thermal efficiency in the solar collector. The use of these barriers limits the space
between the absorber plate and the glass cover, which reduce heat losses in some
conditions. By using four solar collectors with one to four convective barriers, their results
show that there is no significant variation in solar radiation absorption since the maximum
thermal efficiency remains unchanged. However, the barriers inclusion implies in changes
in heat loss are −2.2%, −5.3% and 2.9% for two, three and four barriers, respectively.

24
 Figure 2.12 Solar collectors test bench scheme. (Paiva et al., 2019)
(Journal et al., 2016), uses double glazing arrangements to reduce top loss heat transfer
coefficient and improve heat transfer the conventional solar flat plate collector. Their
modified solar collector has installed at a latitude angle of 12 degree facing towards north-
south directions and the experiments were carried out in thermosiphon principle from 10:00
to 16:00 hrs. Their results show that over all top loss heat transfer coefficient has marginally
reduced and collector efficiency 68% obtained.

Figure 2.13 (a) Cross Sectional view of Solar Flat Plate Collector and (b) Experimental
set-up of Solar Flat Plate Collector (Journal et al., 2016)

25
(Kalidasan & Srinivas, 2014), theoretically investigated the effect of number of transparent
covers and the refractive index of the transparent cover to achieve a high value of
instantaneous efficiency for solar flat plate water heater.

Figure 2.14 Two covers, 1.2 refractive index. (Kalidasan & Srinivas, 2014)
Their theoretical calculations were done for one, two, and three numbers of covers with
refractive index from 1.1 to 1.7. the result found that the solar flat plate collector with two
transparent covers with 1.1 refractive index resulted a maximum efficiency when compared
to other combination of number of transparent covers and refractive indices. Figure 2.14
Two covers, 1.2 refractive index.

2.4.3 Shape of the collector

Different shapes and types of solar collectors have been investigated by several researchers
for several decades. In this section, the recent designs of FPSWH are discussed.

(Bhowmik & Amin, 2017), used solar reflector with the solar collector to increase the
reflectivity of the collector. Thus, the reflector concentrates both direct and diffuse
radiation of the sun toward the collector. To maximize the intensity of incident radiation,

26
the reflector was allowed to change its angle with daytime. They construct a prototype of
a solar water heating system and obtained the improvement of the collector efficiency
around 10% by using the reflector.

Figure 2.15 Schematic view of the flat plate collector with reflector (Bhowmik & Amin,
2017)
(Visa et al., 2019), developed a novel type of flat plate, small sized (0.083 m2) solar thermal
collector with different colors that are black, green and orange absorber plates, with triangle
shape. Due to its rather low dimensions, the collector has no internal pipes and the water
(thermal fluid) forced flow runs through a central body composed of an absorber plate and
a cavity below it. This design rises specific issues to minimize the central body's
deformation and optimize the flow distribution targeting a good thermal efficiency. Based
on their simulation results having solar radiation with an irradiance value of 900 W/m2 the
three collectors (with black, green and orange absorber plates) efficiencies is 55%, 42%
and 35% respectively.

27
Figure 2.16 The novel triangle flat plate solar thermal collector assembled (a), exploded
view (b) and collector's cross-section (c). (Visa et al., 2019)
(El et al., 2019), analyzed the influence of side (left and right) reflectors on efficiency
improvement of the fat plate solar collector (FPSC). Both their simulation and experimental
results indicate that optimal left side reflector angle is lowest in winter with the value of
38° and highest in summer with the value of 68°, while the optimal angle of right side
reflector is lowest in summer with the value of 43° and highest in winter with the value of
74.5°. Also the average thermal efficiency of FPSC without reflector is 46% which is
increased to 58% by adding side reflectors. The addition of side reflectors increases the
concentration of solar radiation falling on the collector surface and thus increases the output
temperature of water by 12 °C as compared to input water temperature.

(Farhadi & Taki, 2020), investigated the effective factors on the shadow formation inside
a solar collector and the energy gain reduction due to shadow. They discussed the effect of
each factor by considering the independent variable length, width (0.5-2.5m) and height
(0.01-0.2 m) of a solar collector, tilt angle (0.01-800) and latitude (0.01-650), having the
sum of shadow ratio and the percentage of energy gain reduction per year as the dependent
variables. Results shows that the effective variables (strong to weak) is height, width, tilt
angle, latitude and length for the sum of shadow ratio per year, and height, tilt angle, width,
latitude and length for the energy gain reduction per year. The minimum and maximum
energy gain reduction per year due to shadow for a solar collector with length=width=1

28
and height=0.04 m is 5.23 and 21.64%, respectively. They suggested that if solar collector
has a rectangular plate, the larger width is more suitable than the larger length for the
shadow reduction.

Figure 2.17 The shadow of walls on the absorber plate (Farhadi & Taki, 2020)

2.5 Concluding remarks

Form literature review it is clearly seen that literatures does not give much attention for
modification of header tube. The previously used header tube has a straight design but this
design is affected by the shadow that comes from rotation of earth.

Other gap found form literatures was authors modify one part of flat plate solar water heater
for the thermal performance enhancement. Therefore, this paper works on different
modification collector component to increase the thermal performance. This are

 Double glassing: The glazing acts to prevent heat losses from the panel to the
environment via convection and radiation. In fact, the incoming solar radiation (in
the near infrared) is allowed to pass freely through the glazing, but that radiative
thermal losses (in the far infrared) are blocked (greenhouse effect). The heat loss
from the top of the glazing layer can also be reduced by using double glass layers.
 Corrugated plate: the absorber plate placed above the flow channel play an
important role for transferring heat to the working fluid (i.e. water). To increase the
heat transfer, the plate would be corrugated with design angle.

29
 Solar reflector: used here to increase the reflectivity of the collector. Thus, the
reflector concentrates both direct and diffuse radiation of the sun toward the
collector. To maximize the intensity of incident radiation, the reflector was allowed
to change its angle with daytime.
 Curved header tube: this design helps to avoid the shadow effect while the sun
rotates around the earth.

30
 CHAPTER THREE

3 METHODOLOGY (METHODS AND MATERIALS)

In this chapter the detail procedures of methods that has been followed and materials that
are used are discussed. The chapter is divided in six sections. These are methods that
followed, detail design and analysis of the proposed solar collector components, material
selection, solar water heaters based on thermosiphon principle, analytical model for the
effect of side reflector and finally construction of the solar collector,

3.1 Methods
To achieve the final desired or accepted result, research works needs to follow a well-
defined stepwise method of problem-solving techniques. In this research work, a well-
defined method is followed to address the problems mentioned problem statement.

Figure 3.1 Flow chart of method that should be followed

31
3.2 Design and analysis of flat plate solar collector
The solar water heater (SWH) is designed and dimensioned to enable the selection of
materials suitable for the design needs. The assumptions made to model the flat-plate solar
collectors are as follows (Duffie et al., 1985)

1. The thermal and physical property of the absorber plate, riser tube and water are
constant.
2. Water is incompressible and continuous.
3. The collector operates in steady state condition.
4. Dust on the collector are negligible.
5. Temperature gradient through the covers is negligible.
6. There is one-dimensional heat flow through the back and side insulation and
through the cover system.
7. The temperature gradient around and through tubes is negligible.
8. The temperature gradient through the absorber plate is negligible.
9. The area of absorber is assumed to be the same as the frontal transparent area.

Table 3-1 Design condition and assumption

No Items Condition or assumption

1 Location Bahir Dar (latitude 11.6 longitude 37.4)
2 Testing period July, August, November and January
3 Collector inlet temperature 200C
4 Collector outlet temperature 700C
5 Bottom and edge insulation 30mm (Rikoto & Garba, 2015)
6 Edge loss Negligible

3.2.1 Estimating Hot Water Demand on Fixture Types

Hot water supply must be adequate to meet building users’ needs while also keeping them
safe. Users also expect hot water in adequate amounts, just as they expect lights at the flick
of a switch. Improper sizing and design of hot water supply will invariably lead to
dissatisfaction and/or wasteful energy expenses. It should also support efficient use of both

32
energy and water. The system is sized to meet the hot water requirements of a family of
five and a constant average daily hot water consumption is assumed throughout the year.

The ASHARE applications handbook, Chapter 45, provides the hot water demand in
gallons per hour based on the fixture types directly. Under this table the hot water demand
for shaower in apartement of a family is 30 Gallons or 113.6 Liter of water per hour (GPH)
per fixture at 140°F or 60°C. (Appendiex B)

The solar load required by hot water storage tank is a combination of three considerations
namely sensible heat requirements of the water, losses from the distribution system and
losses from storage tanks. Based on average family size of five in Bahirdar and amount of
water required for shower per person, the estimated hot water demand for a given family
can be calculated as follows

𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆

= 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒 ∗ 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 (3.1)

22.71𝐿⁄𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛
= 5 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 ∗ = 113.55𝐿⁄𝑑𝑎𝑦 = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟏𝟒𝒎𝟑
𝑑𝑎𝑦

The total volume of water required per day by considering to some extra demand to be
stored in the tank in this case 1.5 times the original volume (Rikoto & Garba, 2015)

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 = 0.114 ∗ 1.5 = 0.171𝒎𝟑

3.2.2 Design of collector area

The total heat required to heat the daily water demand can be estimated as (Ogie et al.,
2013).

𝑄 = 𝜌𝑉𝐶𝑤 (𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑇𝑖𝑛 ) (3.2)

= 1000 ∗ 0.171 ∗ 4185(70 − 20) = 𝟑𝟓, 𝟕𝟖𝟐𝒌𝑱

According to (Duffie et al., 1985), the efficiency of solar collector is between 0.5 and 0.72.
An efficiency of 0.7 was adopted for the design taking into consideration the equatorial
location of the test site, clearness of the sky during the test season, in accurate local

33
manufacturing etc. The collector area required to absorb the necessary amount of heat can
be calculated from (Ogie et al., 2013)

𝑄
𝐴𝐶 = (3.3)
𝜂𝐼𝑡

35,782,000
= = 1.73𝑚2
0.7 ∗ 6 ∗ 3600 ∗ 1367

Where, 𝐴𝐶 is collector area, 𝜂 is efficiency of the collector, 𝑡 is the heating time which is
six (6) hours in this case (from 4:00 to 10:00) and 𝐼 the average solar insolation constant.

This area represents the aperture area which in case of flat plate collector is equal to the
absorber area. The length and width of the absorber plate is to be traded off to each other
based on the volume flowrate of the water (related to the number of riser pipes required
and spacing between them), inclination of riser pipes for easy flow of water by
thermosiphon. Over here a length of 2m and width of 1m is taken as an overall flat plate
dimension.

3.2.3 Design of riser and header tube

The thermal performance of flat-plate solar collectors with riser and header arrangements
is strongly influenced by the flow distribution through the absorber tubes. A more uniform
flow distribution leads to a homogenous temperature distribution which gives higher
collector efficiency (Facão, 2016).

Figure 3.2 the designed header tube

34
The total volume of water required per day by considering to some extra demand to be
stored in the tank in this case 1.5 times the original volume (Rikoto & Garba, 2015) and
the total heating time the volume flowrate of the water will be

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑

𝑄̇ = (3.4)
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

0.114 ∗ 1.5
= = 𝟕. 𝟗𝟐 ∗ 𝟏𝟎−𝟔 𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔
6 ∗ 3600

Riser tubes or fins for conducting or directing the heat transfer fluid from the inlet header
to the outlet. As the number of tubes increases the tube-to-tube spacing decreases so the
higher the conduction resulted. On the other hand, less number of tubes means larger
volume flow rate through each riser tube so the higher heat convection resulted on the
collector. For natural convection flow in small inclined pipes the maximum velocity of
water is empirically 0.006m/s. By considering these two parameters the number of riser
tube taken for this study is six (6) (Yeole et al., 2016). The diameter of riser pipes is

4 ∗ 𝑄̇ ⁄6
𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟 = √ (3.5)
𝜋𝑣

= 𝟏𝟐. 𝟓𝒎𝒎

The diameter of the header tube for this riser diameter is 25mm (Gunjo et al., 2017). Here
the header tube is design to be bend slightly which four times of diameter of header tube
to overcome the shadow effect as shown in the Figure 3.2.

By considering sufficient clearance (100mm) the spacing between the tubes calculate of
the first and last pipes from the edge wall.

𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ − (2 ∗ 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 + 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑡 )

𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑖𝑝𝑒𝑠 = (3.6)
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑢𝑏𝑒𝑠 − 1

1000 − (2 ∗ 100 + 13.5)

= = 160𝑚𝑚
6−1

35
3.2.4 Design of absorber plate
The ability of the heat absorber plate to absorb more heat from the sun and maintain the
heat is the main key in FPC performance. The efficiency of the FPC is defined as the ratio
of the useful gain over some specified time period to the incident solar energy over the
same period of time (Duffie et al., 1985). Heat absorbed by FPC depends on thermal
properties as well as on the design of the heat absorber plate. Material of the heat absorber
plate plays a crucial role in the heat absorbing ability due to the thermal properties.
Moreover, the correct thickness also important in absorber plate selection. In this project,
aluminum used as the absorber plate. The optimization of thickness and material used in
the design of the FPC will yield the desired effect to maximize its efficiency.

Figure 3.3 sinusoidal corrugated plate

Since absorber plate are constructed from 1m width, 2m length and 2mm thickness
aluminum plate the ratio of developed length means the length of corrugated and projected
length means the distance of plate after corrugation called the enlargement factor is better
when it is from 1.1 to 1.25 and 1.17 is latest. There fore

𝐷𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ
𝐸𝑛𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 = (3.7)
𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

𝐷𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝜋𝑅)

Here half perimeter of sphere multiplied by number of corrugation because each

corrugation is half of sphere with a larger radius of R. The number of corrugation also

36
decided from the number of tubes (i.e. six up and six down corrugation all those crest
corrugations bonded with copper conduit or riser tube).

𝑅 = 𝐷𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ ⁄𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ∗ 𝜋 (3.8)

1000𝑚𝑚
𝑅= = 𝟐𝟕𝒎𝒎
12 ∗ 𝜋

3.2.5 Design of water storage tanks

The water storage tank is a single thin-walled cylinder of 171-liter capacity by considering
extra demand with a height (length of 1000 mm). Therefore,

𝜋𝐷𝑇 2
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒(𝑉𝑇 ) = 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎(𝐴𝑇 ) ∗ 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡(𝐻𝑇 ) = 𝐻𝑇
4

4𝑉𝑇
𝐷𝑇 = √ (3.9)
𝐻𝑇 𝜋

4 ∗ 171 ∗ 106 𝑚𝑚
=√ = 466.6𝑚𝑚
1000 ∗ 3.142

Therefore the diameter of the water tank 𝐷𝑇 = 466.6𝑚𝑚. The pressure of water tank at
full capacity is given by (Ogie et al., 2013).

𝑃𝑇 = 𝜌𝑤1 𝑔𝐻𝑇 (3.10)

= 1000 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 1 = 9810 𝑃𝑎 𝑜𝑟 9.8𝐾𝑃𝑎

Where 𝑃𝑇 = pressure at the water exit of the storage tank, 𝑔 = gravitational acceleration
(m/s2) and 𝜌 = density of water (kg/m3)

It means that as 𝐻𝑇 increases, 𝑃𝑇 increases. This increase in the pressure in the tank results
in an increase in the flow rate of water through the flat-plate collector; hence, efficiency is
improved because transfer of the entrapped heat in the collector to the water inside will be
faster, thereby minimizing convection and other losses from collector.

For this experimental testing the storage tank used has a capacity of 35-liter that is for one-
person demand per day.

37
 Table 3-2 Summary of materials with their specification of solar collector

Materials Parameters Property

Glass cover Glass material: window glass Transmittance(𝝉) = 𝟎. 𝟖𝟓
Thickness = 𝟒𝒎𝒎 Absorptivity= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟔
Length by Width = (𝟐 ∗ 𝟏)𝒎 Emissivity = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟗
Number of glass = 𝟐
Absorber plate Plate material: Aluminum sheet Thermal conductivity =
Length by Width = (𝟐 ∗ 𝟏)𝒎 𝟐𝟎𝟓 𝑾⁄𝒎𝒌
Thickness = 𝟐𝒎𝒎 Absorptivity = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟕
Header tube Tube material: copper Thermal conductivity =
Inner diameter = 𝟐𝟓𝒎𝒎 𝟑𝟖𝟓. 𝟎 𝑾⁄𝒎𝒌
Outer diameter = 𝟐𝟖𝒎𝒎
Length of tube = 𝟏𝟐𝟎𝟎𝒎𝒎
Number of tube = 𝟐
Riser tube Tube material: copper Thermal conductivity =
Inner diameter = 𝟏𝟐. 𝟓𝒎𝒎 𝟑𝟖𝟓. 𝟎 𝑾⁄𝒎𝒌
Outer diameter = 𝟏𝟑. 𝟓𝒎𝒎
Length of tube = 𝟏𝟗𝟑𝟓𝒎𝒎
Reflector Reflector material: mirror
Left reflector: = (𝟐 ∗ 𝟎. 𝟓)𝒎
Right reflector== (𝟐 ∗ 𝟎. 𝟓)𝒎
Insulator Insulation material: fiber glass Thermal conductivity =
Thickness = 𝟑𝟎𝒎𝒎 𝟎. 𝟎𝟑𝟐 𝑾⁄𝒎𝒌
Heat capacity 𝟑𝟗 𝑱⁄𝒌𝒈. 𝑲

3.3 Material selection

In the selection of materials needed for construction stage of this system, two essential
factors, namely, the economic consideration (cost) and properties of the materials were
considered. The materials and their properties used to construct the solar water heating
system and in the design process are discussed as follows.

38
Glazing: Water white glass with low iron content and two glass cover is used to reduce the
convective heat loss. For reflection heat loss anti-reflective thin film of suitable substance
is coated on both side of the glass.

Header and riser tube: Copper is a tough, ductile and malleable material. These properties
make copper extremely suitable for tube forming, wire drawing, spinning and deep
drawing. The other key properties exhibited by copper is excellent heat conductivity and
good corrosion resistance. For these reason copper is the best choice to design header and
riser tube.

Absorber plate: The absorbing plate should have good heat transfer properties, high
thermal conductivity, high solar energy absorbance, low thermal emittance, and non-
corrosive and stable at high temperature. Absorber plates are usually made of metal.
Copper, aluminum, and steel are used because they are good heat conductors. For this
design aluminum sheet having 2mm thickness is selected considering its advantage of weld
ability, availability, low cost over other materials. The selected aluminum sheet is then
coated by black color improve the effectiveness having high absorptivity to short
wavelength radiation (less than 2um) and low emissivity for long wavelength Radiations.

Insulation: Although, the heat loss through the bottom and edge of flat plate is negligible
mineral wool thermal insulation layer used to cover the bottom and sidewalls.

Reflector: The rectangular flat plate solar reflector generally consists of two pieces of
mirror or mercury glass that were mounted on both sides of the collector, as shown in
Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4 schematic diagram of flat plat solar collector with reflector

39
Absorber Plate Coating: Coating the absorber plate is important as it increases the amount
of the incident solar radiation absorbed by the plate. Absorber plates are usually coated
with black paint; they can also be pre-treated to ensure good adhesion with the paint.
Selective coatings reduce the heat loss from the absorber plate, they are highly effective in
absorbing solar radiation but do not emit thermal radiation at a high level. Due to the lack
of availability of good selective coatings like black chrome, plain black paint was used
with the aid of a spray paint machine.

Collector Casing: Mild steel was used for the collector casing; this is due to it being cheap
and light. The collector frame holds the absorber plate, piping system and the transparent
cover. Mild steel also lasts long when exposed to environmental conditions.

Collector Casing Insulation: Glass wool of 30 mm thickness was used to insulate the
bottom and sides of the collector. The glass wool was cut into the required sizes and fitted
into the collector casing. It is cheap, readily available and has good insulation properties
(Ogie et al., 2013).

SWH Structural Support: Angle iron made from mild steel were used for the SWH
support because it is affordable, easy to work with, strong, available in multiple sizes and
requires little maintenance.

Transparent Corrugated
Glass cover plate

Fiber glass
insulator
Flow channel

Collector
casing
Reflector

Figure 3.5 Solid work modeling of modified collector

40
3.4 Solar water heaters based on thermosiphon principle
The solar radiation passes through the glass in front of the absorber plate and strikes the
flat black surface of the absorber plate where the solar energy is absorbed as heat (i.e., by
increasing the internal energy). This causes the flat-plate collector to become very hot, and
so the water contained in the risers and headers bounded to the plate also absorb the heat
by conduction. The water inside the tubes (risers/headers) expands and so becomes less
dense than the cold water from the storage cylinder. On the principle of thermosiphon, hot
water is pushed through the collector and rises by natural convection to the hot water
storage tank and cold water from the cold water tank simultaneously descends to the bottom
header of the collector by gravity pull. Therefore, there is circulation as a result of an
increase in temperature and volume of the warmer water to the hot water storage tank. The
circulation continues as hot water goes out, while cold water comes in. (Ogie et al., 2013).

Figure 3.6 working principle of thermosiphon (Eschenbach, 2015)

3.5 Analytical model for the effect of side reflector

This chapter describes two main topics. These are basic Sun-Earth angles and how the side
reflector affects performance of flat plate solar collector is calculated analytically.

41
3.5.1 Basic Sun-Earth Angles
The position of the test site on the earth"s surface is defined by the coordinates of latitude
and meridian or longitude angles. Again, the rotation of the earth around the sun and its
rotation is not in a circular path. To precisely estimate the amount of the solar radiation
falling directly on the solar collector, both the position and orientation of the collector with
respect to the sun has to be defined. This can be done by specifying different sunearth
angles and collector tilt. (Meleta, 2016).

Angle of incidence (𝜽𝒊 ): Angle of incidence is the angle between the beam radiation on a
surface and the line normal to surface as can be expressed by

𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝜃𝑖 ) = [(cos 𝜙 cos 𝛽) + (sin 𝜙 sin 𝛽 cos 𝛿 cos 𝜔) + sin 𝛿 (sin 𝜙 cos 𝛽 −
sin 𝛽 cos 𝜙)] (3.11)

Zenith angle ( ): Zenith angle is the angle between the sun’s ray and the perpendicular
line to a horizontal plane which can be calculated by

𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝜃𝑖 ) = [(cos 𝜙 cos 𝛿 cos 𝜔) + (sin 𝛿 sin 𝜙)] (3.12)

Where,

 Latitude angle (𝜙): Is the angle made by the radial line joining the given location
to the center of the earth with its projection on the equatorial plane. For Bahir Dar
at the test site the latitude is 11.60
 Declination angle (𝛿): is the angle between the earth’s equatorial plane and the
line drawn between the center of the earth and the sun which varies daily and can
be calculated from the relation with N is the representative day of the year counted
starting from January 01.
360
𝛿 = 23.45 sin ( (284 + 𝑁)) (3.13)
365
 Collector tilt angle (𝛽): is the angle between the collector and the local horizontal.
 Hour angle (𝜔): is the angle through which the earth would turn to bring the
meridian of the point directly under the sun. in relation to the solar time hour angle
is
𝜔 = (𝑆𝑇 − 12) ∗ 15° (3.14)

42
3.5.2 Analytical model for the effect of side reflector
The total radiation falling on the fat plate collector surface with β tilt angle with respect to
horizontal plane is calculated by summing radiations such as direct radiation, sky diffuse,
the radiation reflected from the left side reflector which extended to the collector surface
with the 𝛾1 titled plane angle and the radiation from the right side reflector extended to the
collector surface with angle of tilt 𝛾2, which is given (Duffie et al., 1985)

𝐺𝑐𝑜𝑙−𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝐺𝑠𝑟1−𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 + 𝐺𝑠𝑟2−𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 + 𝐺𝑐𝑜𝑙−𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 + 𝐺𝑐𝑜𝑙−𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒 (3.15)

Where,

𝐺𝑐𝑜𝑙−𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = Total solar radiation on the collector surface (W/m2)

𝐺𝑠𝑟1−𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 = Solar radiation reflected from the left side reflector reaches the collector
surface (W/m2)

𝐺𝑠𝑟2−𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 = Solar radiation reflected from the right side reflector reaches the collector
surface (W/m2)

𝐺𝑐𝑜𝑙−𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 = Total direct solar radiation (W/m2)

𝐺𝑐𝑜𝑙−𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒 = Total diffuse solar radiation (W/m2)

The collector surface receiving direct solar radiation is given by

𝐺𝑐𝑜𝑙−𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 = 𝐺𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 ∗ sin(𝛼 + 𝛽) (3.16)

sin 𝛼 = cos 𝜑 ∗ cos 𝜔 + sin 𝜑 sin 𝛿 (3.17)

Refected solar radiation from left and right side refector with tilted plane angles is given
as

𝐺𝑠𝑟1−𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 = 𝜌 ∗ 𝐺𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 ∗ sin 𝜎1 ∗ sin(𝛼 + 𝛽 + 𝛾1 )

= 𝜌 ∗ 𝐺𝑠𝑟1−𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 ∗ sin 𝜎1 (3.18)

𝐺𝑠𝑟2−𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 = 𝜌 ∗ 𝐺𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 ∗ sin 𝜎2 ∗ sin(𝛼 + 𝛽 + 𝛾2 )

= 𝜌 ∗ 𝐺𝑠𝑟2−𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 ∗ sin 𝜎2 (3.19)

43
Where

𝐺𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 = Global solar incident radiation (W/m2)

𝜌 = Reflactance

𝛼 =Angle of solar altitude

𝜎1 = Angle of incident from the left side refector (°)

𝜎2 = Angle of incident from the right side refector (°)

𝛾1 = Angle between the horizontal plane and left side refector (°)

𝛾2 = Angle between the horizontal plane and right side refector (°)

𝐺𝑠𝑟1−𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 = Solar radiation incident on the left side refector (W/m2)

𝐺𝑠𝑟2−𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 = Solar radiation incident on the right side refector (W/m2)

The angle at which solar radiation was reflected from left and right side reflector and falling
on collector can be calculated as by (Duffie et al., 1985):

𝜎1 = 2𝛾1 − (𝛼 + 𝛽) (3.20)

𝜎2 = 2𝛾2 − (𝛼 + 𝛽) − 180 (3.21)

The sum of ground-reflected radiation and sky diffuse radiation is equal to the total diffuse
radiation falling on the collector and is given by

𝐺𝑐𝑜𝑙−𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒 = 𝐺𝑠𝑘𝑦−𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒 + 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑓−𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑

1 + cos 𝛽 1 − cos 𝛽
= 𝐺𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒 ∗ + 𝜌𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ∗ 𝐺ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 ∗ (3.22)
2 2

Where

𝐺𝑠𝑘𝑦−𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒 = Sky-diffuse solar radiation (W/m2)

𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑓−𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 = Ground-reflected radiation (W/m2)

𝜌𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 = Ground reflectance

44
 𝐺ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 = Ground-reflected solar radiation (W/m2)

The incident global solar radiation is defined as

𝐶2
𝐺𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 = 𝐺𝑜 [(1 − 𝛼𝐻)𝐶1 𝐴𝑀 + 𝛼𝐻] (3.23)

The incident solar radiation for 1km below altitudes is defined as

𝐶2
𝐺𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 ≈ 𝐺𝑜 𝐶1 𝐴𝑀 (3.24)

Where

H= Altitude above the sea level (m)

𝐺𝑜 = Solar constant (1366 W/m2)

AM= Optical air mass

The smallest length covered by the solar radiation to the horizontal surface through the
atmosphere is known as optical air mass and is determined by

1
𝐴𝑀 = (3.25)
cos 𝜃𝑍𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑡ℎ + 0.50572(96.07995 − 𝜃𝑍𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑡ℎ )−1.6364

Declination of the sun is an element of multi-day number N of the year:

𝑁 − 81
𝛿 = 23.45 ∗ sin (360° ∗ ) (3.26)
365

Local solar time (LST) is defined by

(𝐿𝑆𝑇𝑀 − 𝐿𝑙𝑜𝑐 ) 𝐸𝑞 𝑂𝑇
𝐿𝑆𝑇 = 𝐿𝑇 − + −𝐷 (3.27)
15 60

𝐸𝑞 𝑂𝑇 = 9.87𝑠𝑖𝑛2𝐶 − 7.53𝑐𝑜𝑠𝐶 − 1.5𝑠𝑖𝑛𝐶(𝑚𝑖𝑛) (3.28)

Where 𝐿𝑆𝑇𝑀 = Local standard time meridian (°),

LT= Local time (h),

N= Day number of the year and EOT= Equation of time

45
 360° ∗ (𝑁 − 81)
𝐶= (3.29)
365

3.6 Construction of the Solar Water System

A thermosiphon solar water heating system is locally fabricated as an experimental set up
to check the performance of the design. The construction process of the Solar water heater
as an outdoor test is described step by step as follows.

3.6.1 The Flow Channel

The internal flow system was constructed using copper pipes. From the design calculation,
the required riser and header tube diameter is 12.5mm and 25mm respectively. The header
tube was drilled with respective diameter of riser tube and curved by using bench vise.
Then the six rise tube having 2m long is welded with two header tube by using oxygen
welding method.

Water outlet

100mm
Water inlet m

Figure 3.7 Construction of flow channel (copper tube)

46
Water was passed through the pipe with one end closed to ensure there were no leakages.
The copper tubing was then painted black and fitted firmly on to the absorber plate. The
bent copper pipe is shown in Figure 3.7.

3.6.2 Collector Casing

The collector box made from wood where the collector plate/pipe assembly was placed on.
It has two 28 mm holes at diagonal ends for the extensions of the header pipes to pass
through and assembled with the inlet and outlet pipes of the buffer tank. The collector
casing is shown in Figure 3.8.

Figure 3.8 Construction collector casing

3.6.3 Collector insulation

Fiber glass insulation was forced to stack in the cavity of the collector box and all over
the edges of the collector box. Figure 3.9 shows collector insulation.

Figure 3.9 collector insulation

47
3.6.4 Absorber plate
Aluminum plate was the material used for the absorber plate. A 2000 x 1000 x 1 mm plate
fabricated through the work of curves (sinusoids) by folding for surrounding riser pipes to
increase the contact surface area between the plate and the riser pipes then painted black to
increase absorptivity. Figure 3.10 shows the absorber plate in the collector.

Figure 3.10 Construction of absorber plate

The riser and header tube assembly were welded with the folded sheet absorber plate all
over the riser length on the underside of the crest of the sinusoid. The absorbing surfaces,
the pipe assembly and all the bottom and side walls of the collector box are painted with
black paints.
3.6.5 Transparent Cover
Two glass with a thickness of 4 mm and dimension of 2000mm by 1000 mm was used as
the transparent cover. The space between the absorber plate and first glass; first glass and
second glass is 50mm (Journal et al., 2016). Both glasses fixed by epoxy to avoid air
infiltration, to minimize heat loss by convection and radiation and to ensure tightness.
Figure 3.11 shows the transparent cover.

48
 Figure 3.11 Transparent cover

3.6.6 Reflector
The rectangular flat plate solar reflector generally consists of two pieces of mirror or
mercury glass that were mounted on both sides of the collector. The reflector was mounted
in such a way that it can change its position with the position of the sun. Figure 3.12 shows
mirror reflector.

Figure 3.12 Mirror reflector

49
3.6.7 Storage Tank and Storage Tank Insulation
The storage tank was fabricated from plastic of 1.5 mm thickness. The tank capacity of 25
liters and the holes for the flow channel pipes on the side plates were also marked and cut
open. They were then welded over the holes for the flow channel pipes on the side plates.
The storage tank was filled with water and checked for leakages. The storage tank was
insulated with fiber glass of 20 mm thickness. The glass wool was covered by aluminum
foil, then the storage tank was placed inside. The storage tank and insulation is shown in
Figure 3.13.

Figure 3.13 storage tank and its insulation

50
 CHAPTER FOUR

4 EXPERIMENTAL TESTING
This chapter concerned about three main topics. The first one is experiment standard that
should be taken testing, second description of instrument that used to measure different
parameters and finally experimental setup and procedures.

4.1 Experiment Standards

The performance characteristics of the collector have been determined based on the
ASHRAE 93:2003 standard (Saedodin et al., 2017). This standard is commonly used to
evaluate the performance of both FPSCs and concentrating solar collectors. According to
ASHRAE,

 It is required to keep a steady-state condition throughout the data collection period

and during a prior time interval, which is known as the pre-data period. In this
study, the pre-data period is 30 min, and the length of data collection period has
been considered 5 min.
 The wind speed should range from 2 to 4 m/s.
 The solar radiation should be above 700 W/m2.
 The test must be performed when the sky is smooth, and the highest change in solar
irradiance is 32 W/m2 in 10-minute intervals or twice the time constant.
 The ambient temperature shall not exceed 35 °C.
 The maximum deviation between ambient temperature and the inlet temperature of
working fluid should be ± 1°C.
 Each test has been performed several times to ensure the repeatability of the
experiments and obtain acceptable accuracy.

4.2 Instrumentation
K-type thermocouples: is a device that is essentially used for temperature measuring. A
thermocouple consists of a means for converting thermal energy to electrical energy.
During the experimental test six number of thermocouples were used to measure the
temperature at water inlet, water outlet, first glass to absorber plate, first glass to second,
second glass, and surrounding temperature.

51
 Figure 4.1 K-type thermocouples
2020 Data-logger: The data acquisition system was performed by using a 2020 series data
logger (2F8 type). Data (temperature readings) obtained from the thermocouple has been
recorded by this data logger by using a connector (data logging multiplexer card).

Figure 4.2 Schematic diagram of data logger with computer and its photograph.
Figure 4.2 shows the schematic diagram about sensor channels and IC programmed
computer and recording method. These sensors are attached with the IC computer program
and data were stored in the computer.
Pyrometer: A pyrometer measures the total global solar irradiance (solar power).

52
 Figure 4.3 Pyrometer

4.3 Experimental setup and procedure

The experimental test was conducted at Bahir Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
(Latitude: 11.36 N, longitude: 37.24E, and Elevation: 1805m above sea level). To carry
out the experimental analysis, the collector is designed in such a way that fluid can flows
from inlet to outlet with a parallel flow pattern having curved header tube. The absorber
plate of the collector was corrugated and painted black. Two transparent glass of thickness
4mm to absorb the maximum amount of incident radiation. To decrease the heat loss by
conduction through the absorber plate, glass wool of thickness 30mm (Rikoto & Garba,
2015) was used to insulate the underneath of the collector. The rectangular flat plate solar
reflector generally consists of two pieces of mirror or mercury glass that were mounted on
both sides of the collector.

The reflector was mounted in such a way that it can change its position with the position
of the sun. In fact, the earth moves one revolution about its axis in every 24 h, gives a
rotation of about 150 in 1h that means the solar ray deviates around 2.50 in 10 min
(Bhowmik & Amin, 2017).

First of all, the constant head tank was filled with water to ensure that the water flow to the
collector is steady. The main valve feeding the collector is opened to fill collector and tank
closed cycle which is thermosiphon principle. Temperatures are measured at different
points according to the distribution of thermocouples (including: glass, absorber plate,
outlet hot water, inlet hot water.). Temperature readings were taken every 30 min using
data logger.

53
 Storage tank

Inlet pipe
output pipe

Side
Double glassing
reflector

Inlet pipe to
Collector the collector
casing and
support

Hot water
Output pipe from
output
the collector

Thermocouples

2020Data logger

Computer

Figure4.4 the designed flat plate solar collector water heater

54
 CHAPTER SEVEN

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter all results from the analytical model for the effect of side reflector and
experimental results are presented. The effect of all the independent variables are discussed
in a way that shows how the dependent variables are affected. Finally a brief comparison
has been done to evaluate the experimental results with other litrature results.

5.1 Experimental results

The experiments were conducted in two sets on four different days. The first set during the
late rainy season and the second set during the dry season. Readings obtained during
testing, the instantaneous system efficiency was calculated using Equation 5.1 for each set
of data.

𝑇𝑖𝑛 − 𝑇𝑎
ƞ = 𝐹𝑅 (𝜏𝛼𝜌𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 ) − 𝐹𝑅 𝑈𝐿 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 (5.1)
𝐻𝑡−𝑡𝑜𝑡

Where 𝐹𝑅 = Heat removal factor (dimensionless)

𝜏𝛼 = transmittance-absorptance product

𝜌𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = reflectance of mirror

𝑈𝐿 = Overall heat loss coefficient, W/m2.K

𝑇𝑖𝑛 = Average inlet temperature of water, oC

𝑇𝑎 = Ambient temperature, oC

𝐻𝑡−𝑡𝑜𝑡 = Total solar radiation on the collector surface, W/m2

5.1.1 Effect of Side Reflectors on Solar Collector Performance

From the analytical model represented by Eqs. (3.15) – (3.29), an optimal angle of
inclination of the reflectors (β) at different solar zenith angles was determined. Due to
seasonally change throughout the year, sun declination angle (δ) also changes with the
variation in reflector inclination angle (β). Since, global solar radiation falling on horizontal
surface G is the key parameter of model which depends upon sun’s height, altitude,
longitude, latitude, climatic condition at location of measurement. When the solar radiation

55
falls perpendicularly via reflector on the collector surface, heat losses were minimized
which result in maximizing collector efficiency.

(a)

(b)

Figure 5.1 validation of calculated to measured value (a) left side reflector and (b) right
side reflector
56
The reflector made up of solar mirror transmit concentrated solar radiation onto the
collector absorber surface which after passing through front smooth glass doesn’t emit back
to the environment. Therefore, the maximum temperature of water was achieved. 𝛾1 is the
angle inclined between the left side reflector and the collector, while 𝛾2 is the angle inclined
between the right side refector and the collector. It was found that the 𝛾1 varies between
36.8° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 68.5° for calculated result, 35.1° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 69.5° for experimental measurement. On
the other hand 𝛾2 varies between 43.2° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 75.3° for calculated result, 44.1° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 76.3°
for experimental measurement.

The root mean square deviation and coefficient of correlation between measured and
calculated value of left refectors are 𝑟 = 0.972 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒 = 1.42°, while those of right
refector are 𝑟 = 0.981 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒 = 1.73°, respectively shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.2 variation of solar radiation with tilt angle of side reflector experimental result

5.1.2 Experimental readings on day one

From Figure 5.3, it is seen that the temperature between first glass to second glass and first
glass to absorber plate increases rapidly from 4:00am till its peak at 14:30am. The
maximum temperature recorded for first glass to second glass and first glass to absorber
plate was 136°𝐶 𝑎𝑛𝑑 149°𝐶 respectively. Again the solar radiation increases upto
12:30am and slowly deacreses till 15:00am. From Figure 5.4, the outlet teperature rises

57
with respective inlet temperature and the highest efficiency is observed at the time when
the output temperature peaks. The higest outlet temperature and efficiency was 79.3°𝐶 and
74.2% respectively. It can be deduced that the outlet temperature and the efficiency have a
close relationship.

Figure 5.3 Temperature against radiation with time for day one

Figure 5.4 temperature versus efficiency with time for day one

58
5.1.3 Experimental readings on second day
Figure 5.5 shows temperature between first glass to second glass and first glass to absorber
plate has big difference till 14:00am and slitly equal to 15:00am. For solar radiation the
highest reading recorded at 13:00 that is 988𝑊 ⁄𝑚2 .

Figure 5.5 Temperature against radiation with time for second day

Figure 5.6 temperature versus efficiency with time for second day

59
Figure 5.6 shows the inlet temperature having a similar gradient to the ambient temperature
till the point where the irradiance peaks. At that point, the inlet temperature rises while the
ambient temperature drops a bit. The efficiency of the system has a similar trendline to that
of the outlet temperature and highest outlet temperature is 73°𝐶. The maximum efficiency
recorded on day two was lower than the maximum on day one that is 72.9%.

5.1.4 Experimental readings on third day

Similar results from the second day, Figure 5.7 shows temperature between first glass to
second glass and first glass to absorber plate has big difference till 14:00am and slitly equal
to 15:00am. The irradiance levels peak at the 12.30am and drop slitly till the test end . From
Figure 5.8, The inlet temperature rises consistently through the day and the ambient
temperature rises gradually until 15:00am. On the other hand it is observed that the
efficiency dips a bit between 12:00 am and 13:30 am, even as the output temperature keeps
rising. The efficiency then reachs maximum value at 14:00am which is 79.86% and drops
till 15:00am. The maximum outlet temperature reading was 88°𝐶.

Figure 5.7 Temperature against radiation with time for third day

60
 Figure 5.8 temperature versus efficiency with time for third day

5.1.5 Experimental readings on fourth day

Figure 5.9 shows a significant increase for the temperature between first glass to absorber
plate compared to the first three days of testing.

Figure 5.9 Temperature against irradiance with time for fourth day

61
It is observed the irradiance peaks at 12:30am like the values from day one and three. From
Figure 5.10, it is noticeable that the efficiency and the outlet temperature have a close
relationship as they peak at the same time and the maximum reading was recorded on this
day test that is 82.12% and 92℃, respectivly at 14:30. They both rise and fall with similar
gradients. This is in correlation to the trend observed for day one and two.

Figure 5.10 temperature versus efficiency with time for fourth day

5.1.6 Variation volume flow rate with time

Since the system is thermosyphon the flow rate depends on the temperature of the fluid
which in turn depends on the incident radiation or the time the day the measurement is
undertaken. The higher the temperature means the more the amount of the fluid that gets
lighter and buoyant at a time which exits the collector replaced by the colder fluid from the
storage keeping the continuous flow of the water throughout the system. This complies
with the fact that density difference is a function of temperature difference, and the flow
rate is then a function of the useful gain of the collector (with increasing gain leading to
increasing flow rates through the collector) which produces the temperature difference.

62
 Figure 5.11 Variation average volume flow rate with time

5.2 Comparision of Pesent work with other Litratures

5.2.1 Presrent work discription
In present work the conventional solar flat plate collector has modified with side reflector,
curved header tube, sinsoidal or corrugated absorber plate and double glazing
arrangements. The side reflector constructed in such away that the reflector moves with
respect to solar radiation angle to increase the reflectivity of the collector and to concentrate
both direct and diffuse radiation of the sun toward the collector, the header tube was curved
four times the diameter of header tube that is 56mm to avoid shadow effect and the
corrugated absorber plate has a radius of 27mm to give better heat transfer between the
plate and riser tube.

The experiment were carried out from 10:00 to 15:00 hrs by thermosyphon principle for
four days. The dependent variables are measured using thermocouples with respect to time
and pyranometer for the radiation. The result shows that the maximum average temperature
between first glass to second glass cover and between first glass to absorber plate was

134.13℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 152.4℃, respectivily. On the other hand, the average output temperature
and efficiency was 81.5℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 75.9%, respectively at 14:00hrs.

63
5.2.2 Other Litratures Discription
(Vettrivel and Mathiazhagan, 2016), Studied flat plate collector with double glazing
arrangements to reduce top loss heat transfer coefficient. The modified solar collector has
installed at a latitude angle of 12 degree facing towards north-south directions. The
experiments were carried out in thermosyphon principle from 10:00 to 16:00 hrs.

Their results show that the maximum average temperature between first glass to second
glass cover and between first glass to absorber plate was 80.52℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 85℃, respectivily.
Over all top loss heat transfer coefficient has marginally reduced,the average maximum
ouput temperature was 75.5℃ and average maximum collector efficiency 68% obtained at
11:00hrs. Figure 5.12 ( a and b) shows comparision of present work with this work with
respect to average temperature between first glass to second glass cover and between first
glass to absorber plate. Figure 5.13 (a and b) shows variation of output temprature time
and varation of efficiency with time.

(a)

64
 (b)

Figure 5.12 present work with Vettrivel and Mathiazhagan, 2016 with respect to (a)
average temperature between first glass to absorber plate (b) average temperature
between first glass to second glass cover.

65
Figure 5.13 (a) variation of output temperature time and (b) variation of efficiency with
time
(Bhowmik & Amin, 2017), works by comparing the flat plate with out reflactor and having
reflector using single glass cover and flat absorber plate below the flow channel .

(a)

66
 (b)

Figure 5.14 (a) variation of output temperature time and (b) variation of efficiency with
time.
They test experimental prtotype for two consicuative days with time interval from 10:30 to
14:00 hrs. The collector efficiency is obtained here, without reflector as 51%, and with
reflector as 61% and average maximum output temperature with reflactor was 50.90C at
12:30 hrs. Thus, the overall efficiency of the flat plate solar collector is increased
approximately 10% by using the reflector with the collector. Figure 5.14 shows comparison
of present work this litrature with respect to variation of output temprature time and
varation of efficiency with time.

(Bello et al., 2018), A profile of a thermosyphon flat plate solar water heater with
serpentine circulating pipe used for their study. The experiments were carried from 8:00 to
17:00 hrs. their experimental result shows that the average maximum output temperature
and collector efficency was 75.83℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 70.5%, respectively. Figure 5.15 shows
validation of present work with this paper.

67
 (a)

(b)

Figure 5.15 (a) variation of output temperature time and (b) variation of efficiency with
time.

68
5.3 Summary
Table 5-1 summary of present work and other literatures

Authors Discribtion Output Efficiency 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝒈𝟐 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝑷

temperature % (℃) (℃)
(℃)
(Vettrivel and Double glassing with 75.5 68 80.52 85
Mathiazhagan, thermosyphon
2016) principle
(Bhowmik & Reflector with 50.9 61
Amin, 2017), thermosyphon
principle
(Bello et al, Thermosyphon 75.83 70.47
2018), principle with
serpentine tube
configuration
Present work Thermosyphon 81.5 75.9 134.13 152.4
principle with double
glassing, reflector,
corrigated plate and
curved header tube

69
Figure 5.16 summary of comparison of average output temperature with different
literatures

Figure 5.17 summary of comparison of average efficiency with different literatures

70
 CHAPTER EIGHT

6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The final chapter of this work inculdes general conclusion of all aspect of present work and
recommendation for future work.

6.1 Conclusion
In this work, the design of header tube, corrugated absorber plate and construction of the
collector for a 25-litre capacity portable solar water heater has been carried out using
relevant equations to size the major components of the system. The materials for the
components were selected with consideration to the design calculations,machinability,
market availability and cost of the materials.

The system was constructed with the thermosyphon principle and tested experimentally
with climatic conditions of Bahirdar, Ethiopia from July to January first with time interval
of 10:00 to 15:00. The effect of reflector on the performance of the collector analytically
modeled and validated to experimental measurement. It was found that the optimum angle
for higher solar radiation was the angle inclined between the left side reflector and the
collector (𝛾1) varies between 36.8° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 68.5° for calculated result, 35.1° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 69.5° for
experimental measurement. On the other hand, the angle inclined between the right side
reflector and the collector (𝛾2) varies between 43.2° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 75.3° for calculated result,
44.1° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 76.3° for experimental measurement. The root mean square deviation and
coefficient of correlation between measured and calculated value of left refectors are 𝑟 =
0.972 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒 = 1.42°, while those of right refector are 𝑟 = 0.981 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒 = 1.73°,
respectively.

The experimental result shows that the average output temperature and efficiency for day
one, two, three and four was 76.5℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 73.3%, 73.8℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 73.7%, 87.02℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 77.6%,
and 88.25℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 78.9%, respectively. Additionally, the maximum collector output
temperature and efficiency was recorded on day four that is 92℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 82.1% at 14:30hr.
Regarding to the double glass cover the average maximum temperature between first glass
to second glass cover and between first glass to absorber plate was 134.13℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 152.4℃,

71
respectivily. From these testing days the overall average collector output temperature and
efficiency was 81.5℃ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 75.9%, respectively.

6.2 Recommendation
For future work the following recommendation has listed

1. More experimental investigations are needed to confirm that the performance and
efficiency of the proposed header tube model is efficient enough.
2. To avoid any random errors and to have more conclusive evidence, measuring plate
temperature at additional points both along the riser tube or across the riser tube at
both bottom and trough positions is recommended.

72
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 Appendix
Appendix A: Tabulated experimental data
Table A. 1 Experimental results of day one (25/9/2021)

Time Ambient Inlet Radiation Outlet 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝒈𝟐 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝑷 Volume Efficiency

(hr) Temp Temp (𝑾/𝒎𝟐 ) Temp (℃) (℃) flowrate (%)
(℃) (℃) (℃) (𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔)

10:00 22 22 702 45 60 77 0.00019 53.76

10:30 22.5 24 828 60 60.8 98 0.00023 59.7

11:00 23 29.6 888 61 69 100.8 0.00033 63.8

11:30 23.7 32 915 63 89 113.6 0.00038 66.1

12:00 24 29.8 961 67 100.2 121.7 0.00039 63.4

12:30 25 30.7 978 67.8 101.6 132.8 0.00044 62.9

13:00 25.5 31.4 969 70 124.3 133 0.00049 66.6

13:30 25.5 34 959 73 126.2 140.8 0.00048 70.3

14:00 25 35 907 78 135 148 0.00046 74.2

14:30 25 38 895 78.4 136 149 0.00036 71.9

15:00 24.6 40 860 79.3 133 143.3 0.00029 63.85

Table A. 2 Experimental results of day two (28/10/2021)

Time Ambient Inlet Radiation Outlet 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝒈𝟐 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝑷 Volume Efficienc

(hr) Temp Temp (𝑾/𝒎𝟐 ) Temp (℃) (℃) flowrate y (%)
(℃) (℃) (℃) (𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔)

10:00 23 23 700.5 44 61 75.5 0.00018 52.75

10:30 23.5 23 812 56.3 71.5 75.3 0.00025 58.59

11:00 24 21.5 881.4 61 69 112.8 0.00032 62.9

11:30 24.8 24 904.8 62 79 121.5 0.00038 63.77

12:00 25 25 932.2 65 99 125.1 0.00038 60.34

12:30 26.8 27 979.3 67 109 131 0.00044 61.78

13:00 26 28 988 70 100.5 139 0.00049 65.3

80
13:30 25.5 34 951 71 122.6 141 0.00048 68.2

14:00 24.8 43 913.5 73 132.7 137.4 0.00045 72.9

14:30 24.5 48 900.4 72.3 133 139.5 0.00035 70.67

15:00 23.6 49 867.4 70.8 134 132 0.00031 62.71

Table A. 3 Experimental results of day three (3/11/2021)

Time Ambient Inlet Radiation Outlet 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝒈𝟐 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝑷 Volume Efficiency

(hr) Temp Temp (𝑾/𝒎𝟐 ) Temp (℃) (℃) flowrate (%)
(℃) (℃) (℃) (𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔)

10:00 27.1 27.1 710 58 69 85 0.00019 54.53

10:30 28.3 29.5 816 68 70.8 98.7 0.00024 60.48

11:00 30.3 33 891 70 72 107 0.00035 67.75

11:30 31.1 43 913.9 72 73 118.9 0.00039 67.8

12:00 31.2 42 940.6 79 95.3 124.9 0.00037 63.13

12:30 32 47 985 87 108.5 125.3 0.00045 64.68

13:00 33.2 54 978.2 85 120 137.5 0.00048 66.39

13:30 33.8 54 959 88 121.2 139.5 0.00049 73.14

14:00 34.1 52 923 85 129.7 150.3 0.00046 79.86

14:30 34 53 908 83 136.4 150 0.00037 73.12

15:00 33.6 53.1 875.4 83.3 136.5 137 0.00029 70.71

Table A. 4 Experimental results of day four (5/1/2022)

Time Ambient Inlet Radiation Outlet 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝒈𝟐 𝑻𝒈𝟏−𝑷 Volume Efficiency

(hr) Temp Temp (𝑾/𝒎𝟐 ) Temp (℃) (℃) flowrate (%)
(℃) (℃) (℃) (𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔)

10:00 28.1 28.1 713 62 72 88 0.00016 56.53

10:30 28.3 29.8 842 70 74 106.9 0.00022 62.48

11:00 30.4 33.4 891 71 76.5 122.8 0.00036 65.75

11:30 32.1 44 915 73 102.1 130 0.00037 66.8

81
12:00 32.2 43 946 75 99.7 142 0.00038 63.13

12:30 32.5 48.1 989 80 104.8 142.4 0.00043 64.68

13:00 33.7 55 977 80.5 122 139.4 0.00049 68.39

13:30 33.9 55.3 964 88 116 129.8 0.00048 72.14

14:00 34.3 54 926 90 122.2 140 0.00047 76.86

14:30 34.2 53.8 909 92 130.8 171 0.00038 82.12

15:00 33.4 53.3 877 90.3 133 172 0.00031 75.71

Table A. 5 tilt reflector measured and calculated results

Left calculated Right reflector calculated

reflector measured
measured
35.07 34.1 44.1 43.2
42.05 40.1 46.7 45.5
47.5 46.3 52.5 51.3
49.26 48.34 55.4 54.2
51.55 50.6 58.2 57.2
65.01 64 64.8 63.5
59.85 58.9 68.34 67.3
63.1 62.2 70.8 69.5
66.4 65.3 74.9 73.6
69.6 68.5 76.3 75.3

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Appendix B: ASHRAE 1991 standard

Table B. 1 American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers

ASHRAE 1991 Applications Handbook

83
Appendix C: Bahir Dar solar data.
Table C. 1 Daily average solar radiations in Bahir Dar.

Daily average radiations

Month Clearness index [%]
[kwh/m2/d]
January 0.654 5.68
February 0.627 5.9
March 0.608 6.17
April 0.615 6.48
May 0.585 6.15
June 0.548 5.7
July 0.504 5.25
August 0.495 5.18
September 0.563 5.76
October 0.606 5.81
November 0.671 5.91
December 0.666 5.6
Annual average solar
5.3533
radiation
Source: [South Amhara Metrology service Agency in Bahir Dar].

Table C. 2 Monthly Average maximum ambient temperature of Bahir Dar city five years‟
data from National metrology agency west Amara region branch office

Year
Average
2016 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
27.4 29.7 30.6 30.2 30.6 27.5 24.6 24.3 25.2 27.0 26.7 27.2
2017 27.9 30.2 31.1 31.8 30.6 35.2 25.7 24.7 26.9 26.9 27.4 26.9
2018 28.6 29.9 30.9 30.9 28.9 28.2 25.8 25.4 26.0 27.4 27.9 27.7
2019 27.0 30.5 31.0 31.4 29.9 28.4 27.1 26.8 27.3 28.1 28.0 27.3
2020 27.7 29.5 31.8 30.9 28.9 27.9 25.8 25.8 26.8 27.9 28.1 28.3

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Appendix D: Exploded view of modified flat plate solar collector

Figure D. 1Multi-view drawing of the modified flat plate solar collector

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Appendix E: Exploded view of modified flat plate solar collector

Transparent glass

Absorber plate

Insulator

Collector frame

Flow channel

Figure E. 1 Exploded view of modified flat plate solar collector

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