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Performance Test of Solar Water Heater

1. The experiment aims to study the characteristics of a flat plate solar water heater and plot its characteristic curves. 2. The apparatus used includes a flat plate solar water heating system setup with a glass cover, absorber plate, thermometers, and flowmeter. Water is pumped through copper tubes coated with a selective surface like black chrome or black nickel. 3. Observations of inlet and outlet water temperatures and solar flux are taken over time at different mass flow rates. Efficiency is calculated and a performance curve is plotted between efficiency and the temperature difference divided by the solar flux.

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15 views8 pages

Performance Test of Solar Water Heater

1. The experiment aims to study the characteristics of a flat plate solar water heater and plot its characteristic curves. 2. The apparatus used includes a flat plate solar water heating system setup with a glass cover, absorber plate, thermometers, and flowmeter. Water is pumped through copper tubes coated with a selective surface like black chrome or black nickel. 3. Observations of inlet and outlet water temperatures and solar flux are taken over time at different mass flow rates. Efficiency is calculated and a performance curve is plotted between efficiency and the temperature difference divided by the solar flux.

Uploaded by

guru jee
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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EXPERIMENT – 10

16BME0476 DATE:- 23/10/2019


SUMANT KUMAR

PERFORMANCE TEST ON FLAT PLATE SOLAR WATER HEATER

Aim

To study the characteristics of a Flat plate Solar Water Heater and to plot its characteristic
curves.

Apparatus required

Flat plate solar water heating system setup, Digital thermometer and flowmeter and water
pump,

Description

The flat plate solar water heating system works on greenhouse effect, where the
incident solar radiation is trapped inside the gap between the glass cover and absorber
plate. The radiation losses are cut down by using a selective absorber surface. The three
sides of the collector system are insulated where as the top is left open to receive solar
radiation.

Fig.1 Solar water heater system setup

Black chrome and black nickel are the most widely used selective surfaces for absorber pipe.
Copper tubes of φ 12 mm and 1900 mm long are mechanically polished and then coated
with nickel layer by electrolysis deposition technique. A storage tank is provided at the top of
the collector to provide cold water. Thermocouples are provided to record the temperature
of glass cover, inlet water, outlet water and absorber plate. A rotameter is provided in the
flow circuit to control the mass flow rate of water flowing in the pipes.

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Procedure

1. Open the inlet valve to allow cold water into the collector and make sure that the
all the tubes are filled with the water. The collector system should not be run
without water as the pipes will be subjected to thermal stresses.
2. Measure and control the water to a required flow rate using rotameter and the
temperature readings are noted down using the digital thermometer.
3. Take the readings in regular interval of 10 to 15 minutes and plot the
characteristic curves.
Formulae used
Calculations for steady flow condition

mw C p w To Ti
Efficiency,
Is A
mw = mass flow rate of water, kg/sec Is = solar flux, W/m2
Cp = specific heat of water, J/kg.K A = area of absorber plate = (2 x 1) m2
To = water outlet temperature, °C Ta= atmospheric temperature, oC
Ti = water inlet temperature, °C
Graph
1. Time Vs Solar insolation (W/m2)

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2. Solar insolation Vs Outlet water temperature

3. Performance Curve
Tfi Ta I
s
Vs i

Instantaneous efficiency (ƞi) can be written as,


A Tfi T
P
F ( ) U a
i R l
Ac av
 IT
T T
fi a
a b where a and b are constants
i
IT

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Find a and b from the graph (see Fig.3)

Fig.2 Experimental collector efficiency data measured for a liquid heating in Flat plate solar
water heater with one cover and a selective absorber.

Experimental test setup:

Fig.3 Line diagram of solar liquid flat plate collector experimental setup

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LAB WORK
Observation

Time (hrs) Solar Flux


Mass of water
(am) Tinlet Toutlet Tambient Efficiency
[Link].
(oC) (oC) (oC) (mV) (W/m2) (%)
LPH Kg/s
10:20 100 0.0277 29 34.0 30.2 2.9 290.58 99.78
1

10:22 80 0.0223 29 34.6 30.8 2.9 290.58 89.97


2

10:25 60 0.0167 29 34.3 30.5 2.9 290.58 63.76


3

10:27 40 0.0112 29 35.1 30.4 2.9 290.58 49.22


4

10:29 20 0.00556 29 35.2 31.0 2.9 290.58 24.83


5

10:31 10 0.00278 29 35.4 31.8 2.9 290.58 12.81


6

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Model calculation – calculation for Reading no.1

o LPH kg/s

100LPH=100/3600 kg/s=0.0277 kg/s

o mV W/m2

Assuming Sensitivity of pyranometer as 9.98

2.9 mV= (2.9*1000)/9.98=290.58 W/m2

o Efficiency:

0.0277* 4187* (34 29)


290.58* 2

=0.9978

Results and discussions

o From the tabular column and observations we see that the outlet
temperature of water increases with decrease in mass flow rate.
o The efficiency also decreases on decreasing the mass flow rate.
o The temperature difference between the inlet and outlet temperature is
coming around 5-7 deg Celsius.
o Solar radiation was constant throughout the experiment.

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