Solar Energy Collectors

Prof. Suhil Kiwan

Mechanical Engineering Department
Jordan University of Science and Technology
Irbid, Jordan
Options for direct use of solar energy

2
 Energy conversion chain

Solar radiation
Conversion of Conversion of
Collection and solar energy thermal ener- Conversion of
concentration, if inside the gy inside the mechanical
applicable, of receiver and heat transfer energy into
radiation energy in transmission to medium into electrical
the collector a heat transfer mechanical energy
medium energy
Grid

Thermal Mechanical Electrical

Radiation energy energy energy energy
of the sun in the heat in the thermal inside the gene-
transfer medium engine rator or the grid

3
ENERGY CONVERSION PROCESSES IN SOLAR THERMAL
SYSTEMS

• Water heating
No •
Concentration Space cooling
• Desalination
T150 C • Space Heating

Concentration • Process steam

T600 C • Power Production
 In CSP: collectors
1- Parabolic Trough
2- Fresnel
• Iin 3- Heliostat
4- Dish

In Low Temp. Appl.

1- Flat Plate collectors
2- Evacuated Tube
3- CPC collectors

The solar collector is the major component of any solar system

VARIOUS TYPES OF LOW TEMP. SOLAR COLLECTOR
Solar energy collectors:
special kinds of heat
exchangers that transform
solar radiation energy to
internal energy (heat) of a
transport medium

It absorbs the incoming

solar radiation, converts it
into heat, and transfers the
heat to a fluid.
 Stationary collectors

1. Flat-plate collector (FPC). 3. Evacuated tube collector (ETC) 2. Stationary compound

parabolic collector (CPC).
Flat-plate collector (FPC).
Flat-plate collector (FPC).
 Concentrating collectors

1. Parabolic trough collector (PTC).

2. Linear Fresnel reflector (LFR).
3. Parabolic dish reflector (PDR).
4. Heliostat field collector (HFC).
Thermal analysis of flat-plate collectors
Goal is to calculate the thermal efficiency.

Thermal Efficiency is defined as the ratio of the useful energy delivered to the energy
incident on the collector aperture

Flat-plate collectors can collect both direct and diffuse radiation (Sky+ Ground
Reflected)
 Analysis of Solar Heaters

The thermal analysis starts by making a simple energy balance for the collector

Heat transfer Fluid Heat transfer Fluid (water, air, …)

Low T high T

QL
 Absorbed solar radiation
• The incident radiation has three special components: beam, diffuse, and
ground-reflected radiation. This calculation depends on the radiation
model employed.
• Using the isotropic model on an hourly basis, for example, can be
modified to give the absorbed radiation, S, by multiplying each term with
the appropriate transmittance absorptance product as follows:

• Average Monthly
 Multiple reflection of diffuse radiation continues between the plate and the glass.
The fraction of the incident solar energy ultimately absorbed is

Typical values of () or ()e are 0.7–0.75 for window glass and 0.85–0.9 for low-iron
glass. A reasonable approximation of the above equation for most practical solar collectors
is:

()e=()1.01* *
 Overall heat loss coefficient, UL
• The overall heat loss coefficient is a complicated function of the
collector construction and its operating conditions, given by the
following expression:
Steady state, one
dimensional

Glass spacing

Absorber Plate

Thermal Insulation
For tilt angles up to 60, the convective heat transfer coefficient, hc,p–g, is given by Hollands et al. (1976) for collector
inclination () in degrees:

plus sign represents positive values only

Fluid properties are evaluated at the mean gap temperature (Tp + Tg)/2.
Similarly, the heat loss from glass cover to ambient is by convection to the ambient air (Ta) and
radiation exchange with the sky (Tsky).

For convenience, the combined convection–radiation heat transfer is usually given in terms of Ta only
by:

if we assume Tsky=Ta, then if we assume Tsky does not equal Ta, then

K
 Thus, from glass to air, the thermal resistance is

Since resistances Rp–g and Rg–a are in series, their resultant is given by

Therefore, the top losses are given by

If two glass covers are used then,

Solutions by iterations are required for the calculation of the top heat loss coefficient, Ut, since the air
properties are functions of operating temperature. Approximate solution is given by:

The minimum value of hw for still air conditions is 5 W/m2 C.

 Bottom Losses
The energy loss from the bottom of the collector is first conducted through the insulation and then by a
combined convection and infrared radiation transfer to the surrounding ambient air.

Because the temperature of the bottom part of the casing is low, the radiation term (hr,b–a) can be
neglected; thus the energy loss is given by:

tb = thickness of back insulation (m).

kb = conductivity of back insulation (W/m K).
hc,b–a = convection heat loss coefficient from back to ambient
(W/m2 K).

The heat loss from the back of the plate rarely exceeds 10% of the upward loss.
Typical values of the back surface heat loss coefficient are 0.3–0.6 W/m 2 K.
 Heat loss from Collector Edges
The heat transfer coefficient for the heat loss from the collector edges can be obtained from:

te = thickness of edge insulation (m).

ke = conductivity of edge insulation (W/m K).
hc,e–a = convection heat loss coefficient from edge to ambient
(W/m2 K).

As the UL is multiplied by Ac the heat loss coefficient from the collector edges must be multiplied by Ae/Ac, where Ae
is the total area of the four edges of the collector. The same applies for the bottom heat loss coefficient which must be
multiplied by Ab/Ac if the two areas are not the same.

Typical values of the edge heat loss coefficient are 1.5–2.0 W/m 2 K.
EXAMPLE

Estimate the top heat loss coefficient of a collector that has the following specifications:
Collector area =2 m2 (1 x 2 m).
Collector slope = 35.
Number of glass covers = 2.
Thickness of each glass cover = 4 mm.
Thickness of absorbing plate =0.5 mm.
Space between glass covers = 20 mm.
Space between inner glass cover and absorber = 40 mm.
Mean absorber temperature, Tp = 80 C = 353 K.
Ambient air temperature = 15 C = 288 K.
Absorber plate emissivity, εp = 0.10.
Glass emissivity, εg = 0.88.
Wind velocity = 2.5 m/s.
Solution
You should repeat this solution
Using EES program

Advantage:
No iteration is required
The property tables are
impeded in the program
Since these three answers are not exactly equal, further trials should be made by assuming different
values for Tg1 and Tg2. This is a laborious process which, however, can be made easier by the use of a
computer and artificial intelligence techniques, such as EES and a genetic algorithm (chapter 11)

If we assume that the values Tg1 =296.8 K and Tg2 =314.7 K are correct, then

Project #1: Do the same example using EES.

Study the effect of wind speed on Ut
For simulating collectors, it
is easier and practical to Difference between
express the output based Tp and Tfm
on simple available
information rather than
difficult data such as Tp.
Thus, the goal is to replace
Tp with temperature(s) easy
to measure or assign. Such
as Tf in
 Temperature distribution between the tubes and collector
efficiency factor
Under steady-state conditions, the rate of useful heat delivered by a solar collector is equal to the rate of energy absorbed by
the heat transfer fluid minus the direct or indirect heat losses from the surface to the surroundings

Assumptions
1. The collector is in a steady state. 2. The collector is of the header and riser type fixed on a sheet with parallel tubes. 3.
The headers cover only a small area of the collector and can be neglected. 4. Heaters provide uniform flow to the riser
tubes. 5. Flow through the back insulation is one dimensional. 6. The sky is considered as a blackbody for the long-
wavelength radiation at an equivalent sky temperature. Since the sky temperature does not affect the results much, this is
considered equal to the ambient temperature.7. Temperature gradients around tubes are neglected. 8. Properties of materials
are independent of temperature.9. No solar energy is absorbed by the cover.10. Heat flow through the cover is one
dimensional.11. Temperature drop through the cover is negligible.12. Covers are opaque to infrared radiation.13. Same
ambient temperature exists at the front and back of the collector.14. Dust effects on the cover are negligible.15. There is no
shading of the absorber plate.
Assuming that the temperature gradient in the flow direction is
negligible

Classical Fin Problem

The solar energy absorbed by this small element is Sx and the
heat loss from the element is UL  x(Tx -Ta), where Tx is the
local plate temperature.

Subjected to BC’s
 Solution of the previous equation along with the BC’s is

Where

Thus:

For Both sides of the tube

Rewrite as: Fin Efficiency

The useful gain of the collector also includes the energy collected above the tube
region. This is given by (F=1):

Accordingly, the useful energy gain per unit length in the direction of the fluid flow
is:

Equation 1

This energy ultimately must be transferred to the fluid, which can be expressed in
terms of two resistances as:
Equation 2

where hfi is heat transfer coefficient between the fluid and the tube
Cb is the bond conductance
wall
Bond thermal conductivity, kb,
Average bond thickness, ,
Bond width, b.
Solving Eq. (1) for Tb, substituting it into Eq. (2), and solving the resultant equation for the useful gain, we
get:

where F’ is the collector efficiency factor, given by:

The physical interpretation of F’ is that it represents the ratio of the actual useful energy gain to the
useful energy gain that would result if the collector-absorbing surface had been at the local fluid
temperature.

The denominator of F’ expression is the heat transfer resistance from the fluid to the ambient air. This
resistance can be represented as 1/Uo. Therefore, another interpretation of F’ is:

The collector efficiency factor F’ decreases with increased tube center-to-center distances and increases
with increase in both material thicknesses and thermal conductivity.
 Example
For a collector having the following characteristics and ignoring the bond resistance, calculate the
fin efficiency and the collector efficiency factor:
Overall loss coefficient = 6.9 W/m2 C.
Tube spacing = 120 mm.
Tube outside diameter = 15 mm.
Tube inside diameter = 13.5 mm.
Plate thickness = 0.4 mm.
Plate material = copper.
Heat transfer coefficient inside the tubes = 320 W/m2 C.
Copper, k = 385 W/m C.
In previous analysis, it is assumed that the fluid temperature has one Temperature Tf. Well, as the fluid moves
in along the collector its temperature increases. Then which temperature should we use. (Tfi) or Tfe?
A suggestion: use Tfm=( Tfi+Tfe)/2 but!
What will happen if we
use Tfi in the collector
energy equation?

At high flow rates Tfi is close to Tfe.

Not much of changes

At low flow rates Tfi is not close to Tfe. Major changes. How to solve this issue
 HEAT REMOVAL
FACTOR
In the Analysis so far, the useful energy is calculated in terms of the average fluid
temperature. Is there any way to replace the fluid mean temperature by Tfi only for all flow
rates with out adding major errors ?!
Consider an infinitesimal length y of the tube as shown below. The useful energy delivered to the fluid is qu dy .
An energy balance for n tubes

Riser Tube
Define FR = Actual output/ (Output for plate temperature = Fluid inlet temperature)

Rearranging yields

Use previous finding

Get

Another parameter usually used in the analysis of collectors is the flow factor, F’’

Manipulate the equation Qu

GET
Incident Angle Effects
• Instantaneous thermal efficiency of a solar collector decreases with
the increase of the incidence angle of the irradiance.
• At low incidence angles, light transmission decreases through the
glazing, and the width of the solar image on the receiver increases.
• For the incidence angle modifier (Kb(θ)) test, one inlet temperature
at steady-state conditions is fixed throughout the whole test to
determine the collector efficiency at the incidence angles of 0, 30, 45,
and 60°.

• The angular dependence of the incidence angle modifier upon the

incidence angle θ is approximately given by
K   1  0.00384( )  0.000143( ) 2
• The parameter bo is called the incidence angle modifier coefficient.
The effect of the modifier angle on the efficiency is then given by

• where ηn is the efficiency value for normal incidence when there are
no optical losses through the gap between the receiver and the
reflector
Performance of Flat-Plate Solar Collectors
==================================================
Example 1
Using the collector efficiency plots shown in Figure 3, determine
the absorptance of the collector surface and also the stagnation
temperature of the collector absorber plate, for still air and for a
wind velocity of 6.6 m/s, when the ambient temperature is 24°C
and the insolation I on the absorber is 630 W/m2.

Solution
From Figure 3, the plots of all of the efficiency lines intercept the
vertical axis at an efficiency of 0.94. Thus, the maximum efficiency
is 0.94 when the value of the parameter (Tp - Ta)/I is zero. Under
this condition  = 
Performance of Flat- Plate Solar Collectors
Absorptance = Collector efficiency = 0.94
To calculate the stagnation temperature, the value of the parameter
(Tp - Ta)/I must be determined for the case  = 0.
Stagnation temperature for still air: When  = 0 (Tp - Ta)/I =
0.04928 (m2 0C)/W (read from horizontal axis of Figure 3).
Now calculate Tp when Ta = 24°C and I = 630 W/m2.
m 2 0C W
T p  (0.04928 )(630 2 )  24 0 C  55 0 C
W m
Stagnation temperature for 6.6 m/s wind velocity:
(Tp - Ta)/I = 0.0176 (m2 0C)/W when  = 0.

m 2 0C W
T p  (0.0176 )(630 2 )  24 0 C  35 0 C
W m
 Example 2

A manufacturer’s specification stipulates that a certain 3 m2

liquid collector has an efficiency of 0.61 under the midday
thermal conditions for which it is designed. Ten of these
collectors will be used to heat water for an apartment house.
Calculate the energy output at noon for the array of 10
collectors when the solar insolation rate is 630 W/m2.

Solution
A = 3 m2  10 = 30 m2
I = 630 W/m2
 = 0.61
Using Q = A I , and substituting values,
Q = 30 m2  630 W/m2 0.61 = 11529 W.