Design, construction and performance study of a flat-plate serpentine solar thermal collector

Abstract

Rising conventional fuel prices, rising energy demand, worries about climate change, and pollution from burning fossil fuels have all spurred interest in various renewable energy solutions. The energy demand related with cooling air for different sectors is quite important. Renewable energy has been used for water heating and air heating for domestic and industrial use. Flat plate solar collector has been used for multiple purposes such as water heating for refrigeration and air heating. This project introduces design and technical evaluation of solar thermal collector to be used for Vapor Absorption Refrigeration System. With the area of 0.84 m2 , one will be able to get a better performance for the system. For the surface coating (generally a mat black) on a mild steel sheet a selective coating system is suggested. A single glazing system minimizes heat losses through convection and radiation from the collector plate. The experiment of this project was carried out at the Mechanical workshop of Islamic University of Technology under Gazipur prevailing weather conditions during the summer months of April and May. Data were gathered hourly between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. With the ground flat, the collector was set at an angle of 23.0° to allow more solar radiation into the surface of the collector. The inlet (Tin) and the outlet (Tout) temperatures were measured by using glass tube thermometer. It has been found that, this collector can heat up water up to 52° C