Solar Radiation Collectors

1. INTRODUCTION

Solar collectors are heat exchangers that use

solar radiation to heat a working fluid, usually
liquid or air. They can be classified in three
groups:

- Flat-plate collectors,
- Evacuated-tube collectors
- Focusing collectors.
 Fixed Vs Tracking
 
A tracking collectors are controlled to follow the sun throughout
the day.
 
A tacking system is rather complicated and generally only used
for special high-temperature applications.
 
Fixed collectors are much simpler - their position or orientation,
however, may be adjusted on a seasonal basis. They remain fixed
over a day’s time
 
Fixed collector are less efficient than tracking collectors;
nevertheless they are generally preferred as they are less costly to
buy and maintain.
 
 In flat-plate collectors there is no optical concentration of
sunlight and they are generally stationary. In addition to this
their outlet temperature capability is below 100 °C

 However to reach higher temparatures evacuated-tube

collectors and focusing collectors are used.

In evacuated-tube collectors they use vacuun to reduce heat

lost and to protect the absorber coating from deteration.By this
way they can reach temperatures up to 140 °C and they can
collect both direct and diffuse solar radiation

 And focusing collectors, they are not stable and they follow the
sun to get direct radiation; theycan not utilize diffuse radiation.
And they are also capable of producing high temperatures.
 Flat-plate and Concentrating

 Concentrating collectors uses mirrored surfaces or

lenses to focus the collected solar energy on smaller
areas to obtain higher working temperatures. 

 Flat-plate collectors may be used for water heating

and most space-heating applications.
 Flat Plate Solar Collector

A flat plate collector is basically a black surface that is placed

at a convenient path of the sun. And a typical flat plate
collector is a metal box with a glass or plastic cover (called
glazing) on top and a dark-colored absorber plate on the
bottom. The sides and bottom of the collector are usually
insulated to minimize heat loss
Flat Plate Solar Collector
Incident Solar Radiation ( G t )

Outer Glass
Cover

Inner Glass
Cover

Insulation Fluid Flow Absorber

Tubes Plate

Flat Plate Collector

Consists of an absorber plate, cover glass,

insulation and housing.
 
 Flat Plate Solar Collector’s
components
• The absorber plate is usually made of copper & steel
or plastic. To increase the absorption of solar
radiation, the surface is covered with a flat black
material of high absorptance and minimizes the
radiation emitted by plate.

Incident Solar Radiation ( G t )

• The cover glass or glasses are used to reduce
convection and re-radiation losses from the absorber.
• Insulation is used on the back edges of the absorber
Outer Glass plate to reduce conduction heat losses (material such
Cover as fiberglass)

Inner Glass
• The housing holds the absorber with insulation on
the back and edges, and cover plates. 
Cover
• Enclosure: A box that the collector is enclosed in
holds the components together, protect them from
Insulation Fluid Flow Absorber weather, facilitates installation of the collector on a
Tubes Plate roof or appropriate frame
• The working fluid (water, ethylene glycol, air etc.) is
Flat Plate Collector circulated in a serpentine fashion through the
absorber plate & carry the solar energy to its point of
use.
Cross section of a basic flat-plate solar collector
A view of flat plate collector
Flat Plate Collector
Flat Plate Collector
components:
 Plate with tubing

 Insulation

 Glazing
 Characteristics of Flat Plate
Collector

• Used for moderate temperature up to 100 C

• Uses both direct and diffuse radiation

• Normally do not need tracking of sun

• Use: water heating, building heating and air-

conditioning, industrial process heating.
 Absorber plate & Flow passages

 Copper, which has high conductivity and is corrosion-

resistant, is the material for absorber plates, but because
copper is expensive, steel is also widely used. For a
copper plate 0.05 cm thick with 1.25-cm tubes spaced 15
cm apart in good thermal contact with the copper, the fin
efficiency is better than 97 percent.

 The surface of the absorber plate determines how much

of the incident solar radiation is absorbed and how much
is emitted at a given temperature. Flat black paint which
is widely used as a coating has an absorptance of about
95 percent for incident shortwave solar radiation. It is
durable and easy to apply .
 Characteristics of Absorptive coatings

Material Absorptance Emittance Break down Comments

() () temparature (°C)
Black silicon 0.86-0.94 0.83-0.89 350 Slicone binder
paint
Black copper 0.85-0.9 0.08-0.12 450 -
over copper
Black chrome 0.92-0.94 0.07-0.12 450 Stable at high
over nickel temperatures
Cross section of a absorber plate & flow passages of a flat plate collector
 Cover plates

 A cover plate for a collector should have a high transmittance for

solar radiation and should not detoriate with time. The material
most commonly used is glass. A 0.32-cm thick sheet of window
glass (iron content, 0.12 percent ) transmits 85 percent of solar
energy at normal incidence. And all glass is practically opaque to
long-wavelength radiation emitted by the absorber plate.

 Some plastic materials can be used for collector glazing. They are
cheaper and lighter than glass and, because they can be used in
very thin sheets, they often have higher transmittance. However,
they are not as durable as glass and they often degrade with
exposure to ultraviolet radiation or high temperatures.

Test Polyvinly Polyethylene Polycarbonate Fiberglass
floride terephthatalet resin forced
or polyster plastics
Solar 92-94 85 82-89 77-90
Transmission, %
Maximum 110 100 120-135 95
operating
temperature° C
Thermal 43 27 68 32-40
Expansion
Coefficient
Thickness, mm 0.1 0.025 3.2 1.0
Length of life, In 5 years 4 7-20
years 95% retains

Characteristics of cover plate materials

 Enclosure / Insulation
The collector enclosure is usually made from steel, aliminium or fiber
glass. And order to prevent heat from escaping through the back of the
collector, a layer of insulation is placed behind the absorber plate.

Material Density Kg/m3 Thermal Temperature

conductivity at limits °C
95 °C (W/mK)
Fiber glass with 11 0.059 175
organic binder
“ 16 0.050 175
“ 24 0.045 175
“ 48 0.43 175

Characteristics of insulation materials

Cross Section of an Insulation Part of a Flat-Plate Collector
 PROPER ORIENTATION & ANGLE OF SOLAR
COLLECTOR

Flat plate collectorts are divided in three main

groups according to how they are oriented:

 Flat-plate collectors facing south at fixed tilt

 One-axis tracking flat-plate collectors with
axis oriented north-south
 Two-axis tracking flat-plate collectors
Flat-plate collectors facing south at fixed
tilt :
To optimize performance in the winter, the collector can be tilted
15 ° greater than the latitude; to optimize performance in the
summer, the collector can be tilted 15 ° less than the latitude.

Flat-plate collector at fixed tilt

One-axis tracking flat-plate collectors with
axis oriented north-south:
These trackers pivot on their single axis to track the sun, facing
east in the morning and west in the afternoon.

Flat-plate collector one axis tracking

Two-axis tracking flat-plate collectors:
Tracking the sun in both azimuth and elevation, these
collectors keep the sun's rays normal to the collector surface.

Flat-plate collector with two axis tracking

 Collector Performance
• The temperature of the working fluid in a flat-
plate collector may range from 30 to 90oC,
depending on the type of collector and the
application.
y

x
• The amount of solar irradiation reaching the
top of the outside glazing will depend on the
location, orientation, and the tilt of the
collector.

T • Temperature of the absorber plate varies

T(x )
along the plate with peak at the mid section

• Absorbed heat diffuses along the length

x towards the tube with and transferred to the
Temperature Distribution
circulating fluid. 
in the Absorber Plate
 Collector Performance
• The collector efficiency of flat-plate
collectors varies with design orientation,
time of day, and the temperature of the
Incident Solar Radiation ( G t ) working fluid.
Outer Glass
Cover • The amount of useful energy collected will
also depend on
Inner Glass
Cover - The optical properties (transmissivity
and reflectivity) of cover glasses
Insulation Fluid Flow Absorber
Tubes Plate
- The properties of the absorber plate
(absorptivity and emissivity) and
Flat Plate Collector - Losses by conduction, convection and
radiation.
 
Energy diagram of typical flat plate collector is shown below. 92% of the
total sunshine reaches to the copper absorber. 8% of the total sunshine is
reflected from glass. 5% of the sunshine is emitted from the panel, 12 % is
lost through convection and conduction.

Energy diagram for typical flat plate collector

 COLLECTOR PERFORMANCE
The thermal performance of a collector can be calculated from a
first-law energy balance. according to the first law of
thermodynamics, for a simple flat-plate collector an
instantaneous steady-state energy balance is:
Useful energy gain (QU) = Energy absorbed – Heat loss to surroundings
by the collector

Absorbed Energy = AC FR S Lost Energy = AC FR UL (Ti-Ta)

QU = A C FR S  AC FR UL (Ti-Ta) ………..(1)

(It is useful gain energy equation)

where:
AC = Collector area, m2 ; FR = Heat removal factor, unit less
S = Absorbed solar radiation, J/m2 ; UL = Heat transfer loss coefficient, J/m2°C
Ti = Mean absorber plate temp. °C ; Ta = Ambient temperature, °C.
 Absorbed radiation (S):
In equation (1) S is absorbed radiation and it is equal to:

…………
(2)
(1  cos  / 2), (1  cos  / 2)
In equation (2) are the view
factors from the collector to the sky and from the collector
to the ground, respectively.
The subscripts
b,d,and g represent beam, diffuse, and ground
respectively. is transmittance and absorptance product.
Rb is the ratio of beam radiation on the tilted surface to that on
a horizantal surface at any time.
 Collector heat removal factor (FR):
In equation (1) FR is collector heat removal factor ; a quantity that
relates the actual useful energy gain of a collector to the useful gain
if the whole collector surfaces were at the fluid inlet temperature.
And it is given by equation (3).

where:
m’ = Fluid mass flow rate, kg/s
Cp = Fluid specific heat, J/kg °C

The maximum possible useful energy gain (heat transfer) in a

solar collector occurs when the all whole collector is at the inlet
fluid temperature; heat losses to the surroudings are than at a
minimum .
 Overall heat loss coefficient (UL):

In equation (1) UL is the collector overall loss

coefficient and it is equal to the sum of the top,
bottom and edge loss coefficients.

UL=Utop+Ubottom+Uedge, W/m²K ……….(4)

 COLLECTOR EFFICIENCY
The basic method of measuring collector performance is
to expose the operating collector to solar radiation and
measure the fluid inlet and outlet temperatures and the
fluid flow rate. The useful gain is :

QU  m C P (T0  Ti )
where:
m’ = Fluid mass flow rate, kg/s
Cp = Fluid specific heat, J/kg°C
The thermal performance of a collector operating under
steady conditions, can be rewritten as :

Qu  Ac FR I T    U L Ti  Ta 

where   is a transmittance-absorptance product

that is weighted according to the proportions of beam,
diffuse, and ground reflected radiation (total incident
radiation, IT) on the collector.
And finally:
Instantaneous efficiency can be defined as:

Qu FRU L Ti  Ta 
ni   FR   
Ac I T GT

That is;

m' C p T0  Ti 
ni 
Ac I T
Efficiency vs. Temperature Differential
To improve the performance of solar collector it
is necesssary “Either to reduce the overall energy
loss coefficient or reduce area from which
energy is lost.”

The maximum possible useful energy gain (heat

transfer) in a solar collector occurs when “The
whole collector is at the inlet fluid temperature;
heat losses to the surroundings are then at a
minimum.”
SOLAR COLLECTOR
APPLICATIONS
 Applications
 Water Heating (for domestic use and for swimming pools)
 Space Heating (Heating & Cooling of buildings)
 Crop Drying
 Food Cooking
 Solar Distillation
 Electricity generation
solar water heater
Laboratory model
Multi-residential application
Flat plate collectors used for heating buildings
Flat-plate collectors used for heating swimming pools
Solar Pool Heater
Working of low temperature Electricity Generation
 CONCLUSION
 Flat-plate collectors which are used for water heating, are long lasting,
and also in long term they are cheaper than other water heating
systems. However,they requires large areas if high energy output is a
requirement.

 Than solar energy is free if we do not include the initial cost for
installation and the maintenance.

 Finally, besides these we should remember by using solar energy we

can protect nature.
 Advantages of Flate Plate Collectors

 Using both beam and diffuse radiation

 Do not require orientation towards the sun
 Require little maintenance
 Mechanically simpler than focusing collector
 Disadvantages of Flate Plate Collectors

 Losses heat by conduction due to large area of the flate

plate
 Heavy in weight
 Low temperature is achieved (below 100oC)