Flat-plate Solar Collector

Under the Supervision of:

Prof. S.K. Shukla
Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT (BHU), Varanasi-221005
Flat plate collector
❖ A solar collector is a special kind of heat exchanger that transforms solar
radiant energy into heat.
❖ A solar collector differs in several respects from more conventional heat
exchangers.
❖ Flat-plate collectors can be designed for applications requiring energy
delivery at moderate temperatures, up to 100◦C above ambient temperature.
❖ They use both beam and diffuse solar radiation, usually, do not require
tracking of the sun, and require little maintenance.
❖ The major applications of these units are in solar water heating, building
heating, air conditioning, and industrial process heat.
❖ Transparent envelopes are used over the solar absorber surface that reduce
convection and radiation losses to the atmosphere, and back insulation to
reduce conduction losses.
❖ The analysis of Solar collectors presents unique problems of low and variable
energy fluxes and the relatively large importance of radiation.
 Construction
• Glazing: Consists of one or more sheets of glass or other
radiation-transmitting material.

• Tubes, fins, or passages to conduct or direct the HTF from

the inlet to the outlet.

• Absorber plates: These are flat, corrugated, or grooved

plates, to which the tubes, fins, or passages are attached.
The plate may be integral with the tubes.

• Insulation to minimize heat loss from the back and sides

of the collector.

• Container or casing to surround the other components

and protect them from dust or moisture.
Temperature distribution on an Absorber plate
Governing equation
The thermal energy lost from the collector to the surroundings by conduction,
convection, and infrared radiation can be represented as the product of a heat
transfer coefficient UL times the difference between the mean absorber plate
temperature T pm and the ambient temperature Ta.

In steady state the useful energy output of a collector of area Ac is the difference
between the absorbed solar radiation and the thermal loss. The solar radiation
absorbed by a collector per unit area of absorber is S.

Qu = Ac [ S – UL(T pm – T a) ]

Collection efficiency: It is defined as the ratio of the useful gain over some
specified time period to the incident solar energy (GT) over the same time period.
Cross sectional view of a basic flat-plate solar
collector.
 Collector Overall
Heat Loss
Coefficient
For this two-cover system, the Top Loss
Coefficient from the collector plate to the
ambient is

Equivalent thermal
circuit for FPC
The loss through the top per-unit area is then equal to the heat transfer
from the absorber plate to the first cover

Similarly, we can calculate for R2.

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

hw is convective heat transfer.

Bottom heat loss coefficient:
• R4 represents the resistance to heat flow through the insulation (k,L).

• 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.

• Back loss coefficient (Ub) is approximately;

𝟏 𝒌
Ub= =
𝑹𝟒 𝑳
 Edge loss heat coefficient
• 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.
• 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 (UA)edge, then the edge loss coefficient,
based on the collector area Ac, is

𝑼𝑨 𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆
𝑼𝒆 =
𝑨𝒄
Question
Calculate the top loss coefficient for an absorber with a single glass
cover having the
following specifications:

Plate-to-cover spacing 25mm

Plate emittance 0.95
Ambient air and sky temperature 10 °C
Wind heat transfer coefficient 10 W/m2 ° C
Mean plate temperature 100°C
Collector tilt 45°
Glass emittance 0.88
 Solution: Procedure

• In this question, we have to follow

iterative method to calculate the
Top loss coefficient (Ut), We shall
start with initial guess value of glass
temperature (Tc).
• That will be useful to calculate the
radiative heat transfers.
• After calculating top loss coefficient
we will again calculate the Tc value
if it come closer to our initial guess
then that will be final answered
otherwise we have to repeat the
same process with new calculated
value of Tc
• With an assumed value of the cover temperature of 35 °C, the two radiation
coefficients become,
hr,p−c = 7.60 W/m2 ◦C, hr,c−a = 5.16 W/m2 ◦C

Now, we have to calculate convective heat transfer coefficient.

Before that, we have to calculate Rayleigh No. to calculate the Nusselt No. that
eventually give convective heat transfer between plat and glass.

The mean temperature between the plate and the cover is 67.5 °C so the air
properties are ν = 1.96 × 10−5 m2/s, k = 0.0293 W/m °C, T = 340.5 K, and Pr = 0.7.

= 5.33 × 104

= 3.19
When the cover glass temperature is calculated with this new top loss coefficient, it
is found to be 48.4 °C, which is essentially equal to the estimate of 48.5 °C.
Solar geometry: Collector angles


Horizontal


( - )

Beam
radiation


Normal
Solar geometry: Collector angles

Zenith

z

W
N
s 

s


E
South
Solar geometry: Collector angles
 = Slope – the angle between the plane of the
collector and the horizontal
g = Surface azimuth angle – the deviation of the
projection on a horizontal plane of the normal
to the collector from the local meridian (with
zero due south, east negative and west
positive)
 = Angle of incidence – the angle between the
beam radiation on the collector and the
normal
Solar geometry: Collector angles

Sun angles q = Angle of

incidence
cos = cos  s sin  sin  sin  s
as = Solar attitude
+ cos  s cos  sin  cos  s angle
+ sin  s cos   = Surface azimuth
angle
s = Solar azimuth
Earth angles angle
b = Collector slope
cos  = sin  ( sin  cos  − cos  sin  cos  )
d = Declination
+ cos  cos  ( cos  cos  − sin  sin  cos  )  = Latitude
+ cos  sin  sin  sin  w = Hour angle
B1.3 Nature of the solar resource
Solar geometry: Collector angles
Northern Hemisphere

cos ss = − tan  tan ( −  )

ss = Sunset angle
 = Declination
 = Latitude
 = Collector slope
Southern Hemisphere

cos ss = − tan  tan ( +  )

System design: Irradiance Variables

 Latitude at the point of observation

 Orientation of the surface in relation to the sun
 Day of the year
 Hour of the day
 Atmospheric conditions
B5.1 System design
Irradiance on a horizontal surface
Gb,n

Gb

Gb = Gb,n cos z

Gb = Beam Irradiance normal to the earth’s surface (W/m2)

Gb,n = Beam Irradiance (W/m2)
z = Zenith angle
B5.5 System design
Tilt: Beam radiation
Gb,n
Gb,T

Gb,t = Gb,n cos

Gb,t = Beam Irradiance normal to a tilted surface (W/m2)
Gb,n = Beam Irradiance (W/m2)
 = Angle of incidence
Ratio of Beam Radiation on Tilted Surface to that on
Horizontal Surface

Gb,n Gb = Beam Irradiance normal to the

earth’s surface (W/m2)
Gb ,t Gb,n = Beam Irradiance (W/m2)
qz = Zenith angle
Gb,n Gb,t = Beam Irradiance normal to a
tilted surface (W/m2)
q = Angle of incidence
Gb
Gb = Gb,n cos z
Gb,t = Gb,n cos
Gb ,t Gb ,n cos cos 
Geometric factor Rb Rb ,t = = =
Gb Gb , n cos  z cos  z