Calculate the top loss coefficient for an absorber with a single glass cover having the following
specifications:
𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 − 𝑡𝑜 − 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 40 𝑚𝑚
𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 𝜀𝑝 = 0.04 (𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔)
𝐴𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 = 𝑇𝑎 = 20° 𝐶 = 293 𝐾
𝑆𝑘𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 = 𝑇𝑠𝑘𝑦 = 14° 𝐶 = 287 𝐾
𝑊
𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 = ℎ𝑤 = 10 𝑚2 𝐾
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 = 𝑇𝑝 = 80° 𝐶 = 353 𝐾
𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑡 = 45°
𝐺𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 𝜀𝑐 = 0.89
𝑊
𝜎 = 5.670373 ∙ 10−8
𝑚2 𝐾4
𝑊
The convective heat transfer coefficient is assumed to be ℎ𝑐,𝑝−𝑐 = 0.25 𝑚2 𝐾.
The top loss coefficient in the case of one glass cover is
−1
1 1
𝑈𝑡𝑜𝑝 = ( + )
ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐 + ℎ𝑐,𝑝−𝑐 ℎ𝑟.𝑐−𝑠 + ℎ𝑤
Heat transfer coefficients
𝜎(𝑇𝑝2 + 𝑇𝑐2 )(𝑇𝑝 + 𝑇𝑐 )
ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐 =
1 1
+ −1
𝜀𝑝 𝜀𝑐
Radiation coefficients
2
ℎ𝑟,𝑐−𝑠 = 𝜀𝑐 𝜎(𝑇𝑐2 + 𝑇𝑠𝑘𝑦 )(𝑇𝑐 + 𝑇𝑠𝑘𝑦 )
The calculation is iterative, which means we must first guess the cover temperature and solve the equations
with that value. Once we have 𝑈𝑡𝑜𝑝 , we need to recalculate new cover temperature and use that value to
solve the equations again. Once the old temperature and new temperature are very close to each other, we
can stop the iteration.
The new cover temperature
𝑈𝑡𝑜𝑝 (𝑇𝑝 + 𝑇𝑎 )
𝑇𝑐 = 𝑇𝑝 −
ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐 + ℎ𝑐,𝑝−𝑐
Iteration round 1
Let’s guess that the cover temperature is 𝑇𝑐 = 30°𝐶 = 303 𝐾.
5.670373 ∙ 10−8 (3532 + 3032 )(353 + 303)
ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐 = = 0.3204
1 1
+
0.04 0.89 − 1
ℎ𝑟,𝑐−𝑠 = 0.89 ∙ 5.670373 ∙ 10−8 (3032 + 2872 )(303 + 287) = 5.1862
−1
1 1 𝑊
𝑈𝑡𝑜𝑝 =( + ) = 0.54975 2
0.3204 + 0.25 5.1862 + 10 𝑚 𝐾
0.54975(353 + 293)
𝑇𝑐 = 353 − = 288.5066 𝐾
0.3204 + 5.1862
The new cover temperature differs quite a lot from our guess, so let’s continue…
Iteration round 2
5.670373 ∙ 10−8 (3532 + 288.52 )(353 + 288.5)
ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐 = = 0.3009
1 1
+
0.04 0.89 − 1
ℎ𝑟,𝑐−𝑠 = 0.89 ∙ 5.670373 ∙ 10−8 (288.52 + 2872 )(288.5 + 287) = 4.8096
−1
1 1 𝑊
𝑈𝑡𝑜𝑝 =( + ) = 0.53114 2
0.3009 + 0.25 4.8096 + 10 𝑚 𝐾
0.53114(353 + 293)
𝑇𝑐 = 353 − = 285.8602 𝐾
0.3009 + 4.8096
Let’s continue at least once more…
Iteration round 3
5.670373 ∙ 10−8 (3532 + 285.862 )(353 + 285.86)
ℎ𝑟,𝑝−𝑐 = = 0.2975
1 1
+
0.04 0.89 − 1
ℎ𝑟,𝑐−𝑠 = 0.89 ∙ 5.670373 ∙ 10−8 (285.862 + 2872 )(285.86 + 287) = 4.7437
−1
1 1 𝑊
𝑈𝑡𝑜𝑝 = ( + ) = 0.5279 2
0.2975 + 0.25 4.7437 + 10 𝑚 𝐾
0.5279(353 + 293)
𝑇𝑐 = 353 − = 285.353 𝐾
0.2975 + 4.7437
This is close enough (285.8602 𝐾 − 285.353 𝐾 < 1𝐾). The top loss coefficient for an absorber is the result
from iteration round 3:
𝑊
𝑈𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.5279
𝑚2 𝐾