Experimental Analysis of a Flat Plate Solar Collector System for Small-Scale Desalination Applications

Abstract:

This paper presents the results of the experimental investigation on a solar flat plate collector carried out at Coimbatore, India (11°N Latitude and 74°E Longitude). The collector tubes allowed the water to flow twice across the flat plate collector using a circulating pump during which the water gets heated by the solar radiation received by the absorber. The maximum temperature of water obtained on a typical day in the month of April was 64°C with a solar radiation of 932.2651 W/m². The available solar radiation strongly influences the temperature gain of the system while the wind velocity plays a considerable role in influencing the heat lost by the system. It is observed that the two-pass flow of water across the absorber plate results in a maximum temperature gain with an overall collector efficiency of 43.7 %. This solar water heating system using flat plate collector can be used for small-scale desalination applications.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 984-985)
• Pages: 800-806
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.984-985.800
• Online since: July 2014
• Authors: G Jims John Wessley*, P. Koshy Mathews
• Keywords: Flat Plate Collector, Solar Desalination, Solar Energy, Solar Radiation, Solar Water Heating

References

[1] O.O. Badran, H.A. Al-Tahaineh, The effect of coupling a flat plate collector on the solar still productivity, Desalination 183 (2005) 137-142.

DOI: 10.1016/j.desal.2005.02.046

[2] Hazim Mohammed Qiblawey, Fawzi Banat, Solar thermal desalination technologies, Desalination 220 (2008) 633-644.

DOI: 10.1016/j.desal.2007.01.059

[3] Y. M. El-Sayed, The rising potential of competitive solar desalination, Desalination 216 (2007) 314-324.

DOI: 10.1016/j.desal.2007.01.009

[4] Soteris A. Kalogirou, Seawater desalination using renewable energy sources, Progress in energy and combustion science 31(2005) 242-281.

DOI: 10.1016/j.pecs.2005.03.001

[5] Andrea Cipollina., GiorgioMicale., Lucio Rizzuti, Seawater Desalination – Conventional and renewable energy processes, Springer verlag Berlin Heidelberg, New York, (2009).

[6] Tian Pau Chang, Study on the optimal tilt angle of solar collector according to different radiation types, Journal of Applied Science and Engineering, 6 (2008) 151-161.

[7] Pravin N. Gajbhie, Rupesh S. Shelke, Solar energy concentration techniques in flat plate collector, Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 3 (2012) 450-458.

[8] Raj Thundil Karuppa. R, Pavan. P, Reddy Rajeev, Experimental investigation of a new solar flat plate collector, Research Journal of Engineering Sciences, 1 (2012) 1-8.

[9] Ziqian Chen, Simon Furbo, Bengt Perers, Jianhua Fan, Elsa Andersen, Efficiencies of flat plate solar collectors at different flow rates, Energy Procedia 30 (2012) 65-72.

DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2012.11.009

[10] K. M. A. Nakoa, M. R. Karim, S. L. Mahmood, M. A. R. Akhanda, Effect of colored absorbers on the performance of a built-in-storage type solar water heater, Journal of Renewable energy Research, 1-4 (2011) 232-239.

[11] John A Duffie., William A Beckman, Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, John Wiley and sons, Inc., New Jersy, Fourth edition, (2013).

[12] G. N. Tiwari, Sangeetha Suneja, Solar Thermal Engineering systems, Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, (1997).