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Theoretical and experimental investigation of

heat pipe solar collector

Article in Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science (EXP THERM FLUID SCI) September 2008
DOI: 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2008.05.011

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 Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 32 (2008) 16661672

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/etfs

Theoretical and experimental investigation of heat pipe solar collector

E. Azad
Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, 71 Forsat Avenue Ferdousi sq., Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Heat pipe solar collector was designed and constructed at IROST and its performance was measured on an
Received 10 December 2007 outdoor test facility. The thermal behavior of a gravity assisted heat pipe solar collector was investigated
Received in revised form 21 May 2008 theoretically and experimentally. A theoretical model based on effectiveness-NTU method was developed
Accepted 30 May 2008
for evaluating the thermal efciency of the collector, the inlet, outlet water temperatures and heat pipe
temperature. Optimum value of evaporator length to condenser length ratio is also determined. The mod-
elling predictions were validated using experimental data and it shows that there is a good concurrence
Keywords:
between measured and predicted results.
Absorber plate
Effectiveness
2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Heat pipe
Heat exchanger
Solar collector

1. Introduction by various researchers [812]. Hull [13] investigated heat transfer

factors and thermal efciency for heat pipe absorber array con-
Heat pipes are structures of very high thermal conductance. nected to a common manifold and predicted that array with less
They permit the transport of heat with a temperature drop, which than ten heat pipes have signicantly less efciency than a conven-
are several orders of magnitude smaller than for any solid conduc- tional ow-through collector.
tor of the same size. Heat pipes consist of a sealed container with a Several potential advantages are available with the employ-
small amount of a working uid. The heat is transferred as latent ment of heat pipe solar collectors Bienert [14]. In heat pipes the po-
heat energy by evaporating the working uid in a heating zone sition of condenser is not restricted to any specic orientation and
and condensing the vapour in a cooling zone, the circulation is it may be utilized in any orientation. Gravity-assisted heat pipes
completed by return ow of the condensate to the heating zone are unidirectional conductors-they behave as thermal diode. If
through the capillary structure which lines the inner wall of the they are properly oriented, heat is transferred only from the evap-
container [1,2]. Schematic diagram of the heat pipe is shown in orator to the condenser but never in the reverse direction. This fea-
Fig. 1. ture can cut off the heat loss when the absorber temperature is
Several studies on heat pipe solar collectors of various geome- lower than that of the liquid in the heat exchanger. Also, since heat
tries are reported in the literature. Ortabasi and Buehl [3] studied pipes are sealed, by selecting suitable working uids, compatible
the optical analysis of a slightly concentrating, symmetric cusp with wick and pipe materials, corrosion can be minimized. Another
reector inside a tubular glass envelope with cylindrical heat pipe advantage is redundancy, that is, a failure in one heat pipe would
as the solar absorber. Georgie [4] investigated the combined work not have a major effect on the operation of the collector. Freezing
of at plate vacuum solar collector with heat pipes and warm can be eliminated through working uid selection, and, therefore
water storage with a four turn heat exchanger. Flat plate heat pipe only the heat exchanger section must be insulated.
solar collectors have been studied by several authors. Abreu and In the present study the condenser of the heat pipe is elevated
Colle [5] focused on the experimental analysis of the thermal so that the condensate returns to the evaporator with the assis-
behaviour of two-phase closed thermosyphons with an unusual tance of gravity. When the heat pipe is operating in gravity-as-
geometry characterized by a semicircular condenser and a straight sisted mode, a high heat transfer capability can be achieved.
evaporator. Riffat et al. [6] studied thermal performance of a thin Further, no wick is required in the condenser since gravity drains
membrane heat pipe solar collector and hybrid heat pipe solar col- the condensate from the wall to the paddle. However, a wick struc-
lector/CHP system to provide electricity and heating for a building ture is required for circumferential distribution of liquid in the
[7]. Thermal behaviour of at heat pipe solar collectors was studied evaporator.
This paper deals with the study of the performance of a at
E-mail address: [email protected] plate solar collector utilizing heat pipes. Thermal behaviour of

0894-1777/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.expthermusci.2008.05.011
 E. Azad / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 32 (2008) 16661672 1667

Nomenclature

A area, m2 e effectiveness
D diameter, m (sa) transmittanceabsorptance product
Cp specic heat capacity, J/kg K k latent heat, J/Kg
E overall effectiveness
F collector efciency factor Subscripts
h convection heat transfer coefcient, W/m2 K a1 absorber for a single heat pipe
I insolation, W/m2 a ambient
k thermal conductivity, W/m K c condenser
L length, m e evaporator
m mass ow rate, kg/s hp heat pipe
n number of heat pipes i inlet, inside
ntu number of transfer unit for one heat pipe l liquid
NTU number of transfer units for n heat pipe L absorber surface to ambient
Nu Nusselt number o outlet, outside
Q heat transfer rate, W p pipe
R thermal resistance (K/W) v vapour
T temperature, C
U heat transfer rate coefcient, W/m2 C

evaporator condenser heat exchanger hot water out

pipe cold water in

vapor
wick
liquid
absorber plate

heat in heat out frame

heat pipe
Fig. 1. Heat pipe schematic.

the heat pipe solar collector is investigated both theoretically and

experimentally, and the optimum ratio of heated length-cooled
length of the heat pipe is also discussed.

2. Solar collector description

The structure of heat pipe solar collector is shown in Fig. 2. It

consists of six copper heat pipes with outside diameter of
12.7 mm (1/2 in.) and a length of 1850 mm (evaporator length
1550 mm and condenser length 300 mm) while the wick consisted
of two layers of 100-mesh stainless steel screen tted to the evap-
Fig. 2. Heat pipe solar collector.
orator section. Each heat pipe tube was thoroughly cleaned with
acetone followed by a rinse in demineralised water. After the tube
had been vacuumed to 104 Torr, achieved with a rotary vacuum wool while the condenser section was insulated with Aeroex
pump and a diffusion pump, a specied amount of working uid sheet insulation.
(25 ml of ethanol) was charged into the tube. The tube was then Ordinary glass window was chosen as the upper glazing for the
prepared for crimping and nal sealing. Fig. 3 shows the heat pipe collector. The air gap between the glass cover and the absorber
lling rig. Ethanol lled heat pipes are more efcient and less sus- plate was 40 mm. The glass was secured to the top of the frame
ceptible to freezing. Each individual heat pipe was mechanically by rubber gasket and aluminum angles, which permitted thermal
bonded to the aluminium absorber plates at 160 mm pitch. The ab- expansion but prevented the entrance of dust and rain.
sorber plate was anodized matt black to enhance its ability to ab-
sorb heat. The heat absorbed by the heat pipes was removed and 3. Thermal analysis
measured using a water-cooled heat exchanger. The heat exchan-
ger consisted of six inter-connected copper collars, with an outside The heat pipe solar collector was made up of a number of heat
diameter of 20 mm (3/4 in.) and 300 mm length which tted pipes where the condenser of heat pipes mounted into a heat ex-
around the condenser section of the heat pipes. changer (manifold). The manifold was a copper pipe that wrapped
The absorber plate and heat exchanger were housed in an alu- around each heat pipe condenser. The water owed through the
minum framework with a 0.5 mm thick aluminium sheet bottom. manifold and picked up heat from the heat pipe condenser. Fig. 4
The panel rested on a backing insulation layer of 50 mm thick glass shows a single heat pipe and heat exchanger.
1668 E. Azad / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 32 (2008) 16661672

The overall condenser heat transfer coefcient can be written as

1
U c;o1 5
tp =kp 1=hc;o1
The heat transfer coefcient hc,o1 is given by
Nu  k
hc;o1 6
Dhy
Hydraulic diameter is written as
Dhy Di  do
where Di is the inside diameter of heat exchanger and do is the out-
side diameter of heat pipe. The uid ow in the manifold is consid-
ered to be fully developed laminar ow. It is assumed that the ow
inside the condenser of the heat pipes is thermally developed and
therefore under a constant heat ux boundary condition at the wall,
the Nusselt number is constant and may be written as [6]

Fig. 3. Heat pipe lling rig. 48

Nu
11
In this study the following assumption were made concerning The outlet water temperature from the rst condenser, Tc,o1, can be
the theoretical steady-state analysis of the system: calculated from thermal resistance analysis. Heat transfer from the
evaporator section to the condenser section may be mathematically
 The temperature gradient in the longitudinal direction of the modelled by a number of thermal resistances [1].
collector can be neglected. X
 The heat exchanger can absorb all the heat delivered by the R Re;p Re;wick Re;i Rv Rci Rc;p 7
evaporator.
In the vapour space, the only end-to-end temperature variations are
 The overall heat loss coefcient between the collector and the
associated with changes in vapour pressure caused by vapour ow
ambient is assumed to be constant.
pressure drops. These pressure drops are very small, and the vapour
 The heat loss from the heat exchanger and the ambient is
space is assumed to operate at constant saturation pressure and
negligible.
temperature along the axial length of the heat pipe. However, since
heat is transferred radially into and radially out of the heat pipe,
For a collector with n heat pipes, the water ows from one con-
temperature drops occur. In steady state operation, the total heat
denser to another. The outlet water temperature of the rst con-
added to the evaporator section must be rejected at the condenser
denser becomes the inlet water temperature of the second one,
section.
and so on. A single panel of at plate heat pipe collector can be
considered as an array of heat pipes connected to a manifold.
3.1. Heat pipe evaporator resistances
The actual heat transfer rate for a single heat pipe Qhp1, which is
the thermal energy transfer from evaporator to the condenser sec-
Within the evaporator section, the thermal resistances which
tion, may be written as [6]
account for temperature drops, are container wall, wick conduction
Q hp1 Ahp T hp1  T c;o1 =RRhp 1 resistances and internal resistance at the evaporator. These can be
U hp 1=RRhp 2 expressed in term of lm coefcient he.
Re,p and Re,wick are the thermal resistances across the thickness
The heat transfer between a single heat pipe and the cooling liquid of the container wall and wick thickness, respectively, and may
may be expressed as presented as follows:
Q c1 Ac1 U c;o1 T c;o1  T i Q hp1 3
lndo =di
Re;p 8
From Eqs. (1) and (3) condenser outer surface temperatures may be 2pkp Le
written as lndo;wick =di;wick
Re;wick 9
T i PT hp1 2pkwick Le
T c;o1 4
1 P
Screen mesh structure is used in the evaporator section. The effec-
where tive thermal conductivity of the saturated wick may be calculated
Ahp1 U hp from Eq. (10):
P
Ac U c;o1 kl kl ks  1  ewick kl  ks 
kwick 10
kl ks 1  ewick kl  ks

vapour water out To1 Re,i is the thermal resistance that occurs at the vapourliquid inter-
heat pipe wick
faces in the evaporator and may be written as
Thp
2
Re;i 11
he pdi Le
heat exchanger Ti
absorber plate Tabs For a wick lined wall as is the case with the evaporator, the lm
water in
coefcient is approximately equal to the thermal conductivity of
Fig. 4. Single heat pipe with heat exchanger. the uid divided by the wick thickness [14].
 E. Azad / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 32 (2008) 16661672 1669

kl ever, since the vapour inside a heat pipe is almost at constant tem-
he 12
t wick perature, its specic heat, Cp, and capacity rate, CL, will by denition
be equal to innity and as a result C c =C L 0. Therefore, the effec-
tiveness-NTU equation for this condition will be as follows [16]:
3.2. Heat pipe condenser resistances
e1 1  entuc1 19
The vapour condenses on the inner wall of the condenser Ac1 U c;o1
where ntuc1
releasing the latent heat of condensation. The heat must then be mC p

conducted through the container wall to outer wall surface. The T o1  T i

e1 20
resistance associated with the conduction process through the pipe T c;o1  T i
wall is
Eq. (20) may be rearranged in the following form:
lndo =di
Rc;p 13 T o1 T i e1 T c;o1  T i 21
2pLc kp
The condenser water temperature at the outlet of a single heat pipe
The thermal resistance associated with the condensing process is
is obtained from substituting Eq. (4) into Eq. (21), yielding:
given by  
P
1 T o1 T i e1 T hp1  T i 22
Rc;i 14 1P
hc;i pdi Lc
Combining Eqs. (18) and (22) leads to
The condensing lm coefcient may be obtained from the Nusselt  
analysis for lmwise condensation as [12] Isae T i e1 P
UL
T a ntu 1P
hp1
" #1=4 T hp1   23
3 e1 P
g ql ql  qm k k 1 ntu 1P
hc;i 0:728 15 hp1
di ll DT i

FAa1 U L
3.3. Thermal analysis of single heat pipe absorber wherentuhp1
mC p
The useful energy gained by a single heat pipe, Fig. 4, is the For a collector with n heat pipes, as shown in Fig. 5, the water ows
difference between solar energy absorbed and the heat loss to from the condenser of one heat pipe to another. The outlet water
the ambient over the length of the absorber. The rate of useful temperature of the rst condenser becomes the inlet water temper-
energy collected may be modeled according to the well known ature of the second condenser. For a collector with n heat pipes the
HottelWiller [15] equation: nal temperature can be calculated from
Q u1 Aa1 F 0 Isae  U L T hp1  T a  16  
P
T on T on1 en T hpn  T on1  24
The useful energy extracted in the form of heat by uid owing in 1P
the heat exchanger can also be expressed as
Q u1 mC p T o1  T i 17 3.4. Thermal analysis of heat pipe array

By equating Eqs. (16) and (17), and solving for Thp1, we formulate The nal water outlet temperature for an array of n heat pipes
the following: may also be obtained by a different approach, without going
Isa T o1  T i through each condenser and continuing the thermal analysis of
T hp1 T a  18 Section 3.2. By this method, with reference to Fig. 6 for overall
UL ntuhp1
effectiveness of n condenser, one uid is in series and the other
In the condenser section of a single heat pipe heat exchanger, cold uid is in cross ow. Referring to uid in series, the overall effec-
uid is in cross ow with vapour ow inside the heat pipe. How- tiveness E can be written as

condenser

Ti To1 To2 To3 To

water in water out

heat pipe

Fig. 5. Fluid ow in condenser.

1670 E. Azad / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 32 (2008) 16661672

heat exchanger

cold water storage tank warm water

200 Lit.

flow meter

T/C T/C

pump

HP collector

Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of solar test facility.

1  E 1  e1 1  e2 . . . 1  en 25
Assuming equal effectiveness for all condensers, Eq. (25) may be Fig. 7. Solar collector under test.
written as
E 1  1  e1 n 26 eled with the aperture of the collector without casting shadow
The overall effectiveness in term of temperature is given by on the collector. The irradiation was continuously recorded along
with the rest of the data streams.
To  Ti
E 27 The ambient temperature sensor was located behind the collec-
T hp  T i tor and shielded from direct irradiance. The temperatures were
The water outlet and heat pipe temperature of the collector array measured with ChromelAlumel thermocouples (Type K), whose
are signals were recorded with a pen recorder. The experiment was
  carried out at a different water inlet preheated to the desired tem-
P perature as it passed through an electric heater controlled by a var-
T o T i ET hp  T i 28
1P iable-output AC voltage-transformer. The circulating uid ow rate
and was regulated by means of a needle valve and was measured with
  a ow meter. The uid was circulated by a centrifugal pump. The
Isae TiE P
UL
T a NTU 1P
water passed through the circulating pump, the collector, and out-
T hp
hp
  29 er jacket of the storage tank in order to exchange the heat with the
E P
1 NTU 1P water inside the 200 liter tank, and back to the water heater. The
hp

water ow rate was almost constant in the range of 0.03

where
0.032 kg/s.
NTUhp nntuhp1 and NTUc nntuc1
5. Results and discussion
4. Experimental set up and procedure
The experimental results are represented graphically in Fig. 8.
The experimental investigation was conducted to measure the This gure shows the meteorological conditions (Ta and I), inlet
accuracy of the above theoretical prediction. water temperature (Ti), theoretical and experimental outlet cooling
A closed loop conguration was employed for testing the collec- water temperature (To,theory and To,exp) and heat pipe temperature
tor as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The solar collector was installed and (Thp). Ta, Ti, To and Thp are shown on the left scale of this gure,
tested under outdoor eld conditions in Tehran (latitude 35.7N; and solar insolation data I is shown on the right scale. The experi-
longitude 52.3E altitude 1190 m). The collector was mounted on mental results of outlet water temperatures of the collector and
the stand, oriented NS, tilted 35.7N towards the south and tested their corresponding simulated results have the same trend with
in outdoor conditions. The collector efciency was determined considerable agreement.
according to the procedure proposed by ASHRAE standard 93- The instantaneous thermal efciency of a solar collector is de-
1986 [17]. ned as the amount of energy removed by the transfer uid per
Physical quantities measured are: cooling water temperatures unit of frontal area during the specied time period divided by
at the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger, ambient temperature, the total solar radiation incident on the collector per unit area dur-
circulating water ow rate, and the incident solar irradiance on the ing the same test period, under the steady-state condition it can be
plane of the solar collector. represented as follows:
The global radiation was measured with Kipp & Zonen CM11
pyranometer which was installed such that its aperture was lev-
gexp mC
_ p T oexp  T i =AI 30
 E. Azad / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 32 (2008) 16661672 1671

(To)theory (To)exp Ti Ta Thp I I=950 W/sq.m To Thp Ta

65
Thp4 Thp5 Thp6
60 1200 60 Thp3
Thp2

Temperature C
Thp1
55 1000 55

Insolation-W/m2
50
Temperature C

50
800
45 45 To4 To5 To6
600 To3
40 40 To1 To2
400
35 35
30 200 30
1 2 3 4 5 6
25 0 Number of heat pipe
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Time-hour
Fig. 10. Temperature distribution vs. number of heat pipe.
Fig. 8. Variation of temperature vs. time.

efficiency Q
Theoretical efciency is given by Eq. (31). 63 148
147
gtheory mC
_ p T on  T i =AI 31 62

Efficiency, %
146

useful heat,W
61 145
To is the calculated water outlet temperature given by Eq. (28). A
144
comparison of the collector efciency for steady-state conditions 60 143
as obtained by outdoor measurements and by theoretical model is
59 142
given in Fig. 9. The left scale represents the efciencies and right I=950 W/sq.m 141
scale represents the solar insolation. The maximum difference be- 58 140
tween theoretical and experimental efciencies occurs at 11:00 1 2 3 4 5 6
AM and it is due to slight uctuation of solar insolation. As it could Number of heat pipe
be observed from this gure, at 11:00 AM, the calculated theoretical
Fig. 11. Efciency and useful heat vs. number of heat pipe.
efciency is 60.3% while the experimental efciency is 55.6% (an
absolute difference of 4.7%).
The temperature distribution in the heat pipe, and the water
temperatures versus number of the heat pipes are illustrated in 950
Fig. 10. As expected, the heat pipe temperature and the water tem- I=1000 W/sq.m
perature increase gradually from one heat pipe to the next. The 900
temperature of the rst heat pipe is 54 C and while that of last
useful heat W

heat pipe is 60 C; the water temperature in the rst condenser 850

is 42 C while outlet water temperature reaches 48 C. It is notice- I=950 W/sq.m
able that the two temperature distributions are parallel to each 800
other. The efciency (left scale) and useful heat absorbed (right I=850 W/sq.m
scale) with respect to the number heat pipe is shown in Fig. 11. 750
This gure shows that the trends of the efciency and useful heat
are descending, which is caused by the increase of the water tem-
700
perature and this will consequently increase the heat loss in each 4.29 5.17 6.40 8.25 11.33
condenser. Le/Lc
The optimum ratio of evaporator length to condenser length can
be obtained from plotting useful heat versus Le/Lc Fig. 12 shows the Fig. 12. Optimum value of Le/Lc.
variation of useful heat for different values of insolation versus
Le/Lc. As it could be observed from this gure, the useful heat in-
creases at rst in the heated length-cooled length ration reaching ratio is 8.25 for congurations of the experimental study presented
a maximum at the ratio of 8.25, and then decreases for other the in this paper (Le = 1.65 m, Lc = 0.2 m).
ratios of Le/Lc. Namely the optimum heated length-cooled length With the increase of the heated length-cooled length, Le/Lc, the
absorber area will increase and thus both the absorbed solar en-
ergy by absorber plate and the heat loss from the absorber will in-
(eff.)theory (eff.)exp. I
crease. On the other hand the heat transfer coefcient in condenser
70 1100 will increase and thus causing to increase the heat transfer rate in
the condenser.
60 900 As the solar energy absorbed by absorber plate increases, heat
Insolation-W/m2

transfer coefcient of evaporator section of heat pipe decreases

Efficiency-%

50 700
and heat transfer coefcient in condenser section increases with
40 500 increase in the heated length-cooled length ratio, Le/Lc. The in-
creased Le/Lc seems to provide a more efcient system as a whole.
30 300 However, there is a limiting value of Le/Lc above which the trend
will become opposite [18]. The factors that dominate the optimum
20 100
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 ratio are heat pipe working uid and heat pipe diameter.
Time-hour
As a further verication of the model developed in this study,
the results of the present model were compared with the experi-
Fig. 9. Comparison between experimental efciency and theory. mental results obtained by other researcher [6]. The evaluation
1672 E. Azad / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 32 (2008) 16661672

To To]ref.[6] Ti Ta eff. eff]ref.[6] director of IROST and Dr. Moazami director of Institute of Ad-
vanced Technology is appreciated. The author would like to thank
80 90 Dr. Fred Geoola of Cuyamaca College, Department of Engineering
70 80 for editing the manuscript

Temperature C
60 70
Efficiency %

50 60
References
40 50
30 40 [1] P.D. Dunn, D.A. Reay, Heat Pipe, third ed., Pergamon Press, New York, 1982.
20 30 [2] A. Faghri, Heat Pipe Science and Technology, Taylor & Francis, London, 1995.
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0 10 heat pipe solar thermal collector, J. Solar Energy 25 (1) (1980).
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[17] Methods of testing to determine the thermal performance of solar collectors,
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The validation of the model developed in this study has been
conrmed by comparison of the results obtained by this work
with the available results in literature.

Acknowledgements

The study was support by the IROST and Institute of Advanced

Technology. The encouragement of Dr.Rahimi deputy Minister and

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