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Solar Flat Plate Collectors

A solar collector is a device that utilizes the solar radiation to heat a fluid (usually water or
air), which can then be used for suitable applications. This is done by absorbing the solar
radiation on an absorber plate and thus heating it. This heat is then transferred to a circulating
fluid for use elsewhere. If the surface area of the exposed suns rays is nearly equal to the
surface used for absorbing the sun's rays, the device is said to be of non-concentrating type of
solar collector of which the most common one is the flat plate. A typical 100 lpd (litres per
day) and 200 lpd domestic solar water heating systems are shown here.



The basic working principle of a flat plate solar collector is explained here:

Consider a rectangular metal plate painted black on its top surface, placed at an angle to the
horizontal and exposed to sun's rays. Solar radiation strikes the black surface. A part of the
radiation is absorbed and the remaining is reflected (as the plate is opaque, none is
transmitted through the plate). Due to absorption, the plate temperature rises above the
ambient. The metal plate absorbs solar radiation and hence can be called an absorber. To
attain thermal equilibrium with the surroundings, the plate loses heat by two means: by
convection to the air in the vicinity of the plate and by radiation to the sky. The convective
heat transfer is mainly due to wind, while the radiative heat transfer takes place at longer
wavelength (infra red). The aim is to attain high temperature in the plate. Therefore, the plate
should have the property to (a) absorb all the radiation falling on it (or at least the major part
of the solar spectrum) and (b) reflect no (or a minimum) radiation. The plate should be
oriented in such a manner to receive maximum radiation for achieving maximum output.

The thermal energy of the plate has to be transferred to a working media for use. This could
be done by bonding (welding or clamping) tubes (called risers) on the bottom side (or at the
top) of the metal plate along the length of the plate and through which a fluid (say, water)
could be circulated. The two ends of the tube are connected to headers (horizontal pipes,
which distribute and collect the water flow), which are connected to the storage tank
containing the water to be heated.

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Components of a Solar Flat Plate Collector

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Due to this arrangement, the absorber plate now transfers a part of its energy to the water in
the tube (through the material of the tube and the joints of the tube and plate) and therefore,
the water gets heated. This water (heated) becomes lighter and hence rises to the storage tank
thus bringing in fresh cold water to the riser tube. This cold water receives heat from the
absorber plate and rises and the process continues. To improve the efficiency and reduce the
losses, the bottom and the sides of the absorber plate (with riser tube) are insulated. This will
reduce the heat loss at the bottom and thus the temperature of plate and, therefore, the
temperature of water will rise. The hot water is usually collected in an insulated water storage
tank, usually kept about 30 cm above the top most point of the collector to aid the water
circulation.

To suppress the convective and radiative losses from the top, a glass cover is placed on top of
the absorber plate. Glass has the property of being transparent in the visible spectrum of solar
radiation and is opaque to infra red. Therefore, it allows most of the solar radiation to pass
through, while not allowing the long wavelength radiation from the absorber plate to be
radiated to the sky. Due to the air gap (of 1 to 1.5 cm), the convective heat transfer is also
reduced. This increases the efficiency of the system and thus produces a higher temperature
lift of the water flowing in the riser tubes.

The absorber should have a high absorptance of solar radiation and should be able to conduct
heat efficiently to the heat transfer fluid. The choice of an absorber coating (to have high
absorptance in the solar spectrum and low emittance in the thermal spectrum) depends on many
factors such as collector efficiency, cost, durability, etc. Black paints are cheap and easier to
apply as compared to coatings deposited by chemical or electrical processes. But, they are
sensitive to ultra violet radiation and crack during thermal cycling. The absorber plate material
could be copper or steel and the riser tubes are generally bonded to the plate to have a good
thermal contact. The tubes are placed about 10 -15 cm apart. Typical collector sizes are 1m by
2m. Collector performance can be enhanced by using a spectrally selective coating. Selective
coating has a coefficient of absorption that is high (>0.9) in the visible part of the spectrum and
low in the IR region (<0.1). Since the heat is lost from the absorber plate by emission, the
selective coating having low values in the IR range will also emit less (for every wavelength,
=).
, values of some typical selective coatings

Material Absorptivity () Emissivity ()
Black crome 0.94-0.96 0.20-0.25
Black nickel 0.91 0.14
Black copper 0.88-0.91 0.12-0.20
Commercial coatings 0.94-0.95 0.06

The ideal top cover is a transparent insulator, has a high transmittance for solar radiation and a
low transmittance for thermal radiation. It should be durable, strong and cheap. The normal
cover material used for solar collector is tempered glass or plastic. Other system components
include the insulation, casing, pipes and the storage tank. Insulation is important if the collector
has to provide a good thermal performance. The back and the sides of the collector have to be
adequately insulated with about 50 mm thickness of mineral wool or glass wool and at least 20
mm for the storage tank. Pipes have also to be insulated.

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Transmissivity of some typical cover materials used in solar collectors

Material Thickness (mm) Transmissivity ()

Normal glass 3.2 0.85-0.89
Low iron glass 3.2 0.89-0.92
PMMA (Perspex) 3.2 0.89-0.92
Polycarbonate 3 0.82-0.89
Teflon 0.5 0.93-0.96

The performance of the collector is evaluated in terms of efficiency, which is defined as the
ratio of the useful energy delivered by the collector during a specified time period
(instantaneous, hourly or daily) to the incident solar radiation on the collector during the
same time period.

Thus, the efficiency of the collector () is given by

Q d
A Hd
u
c
.
=
Radiation Solar Incident
Delivered Energy Useful

where, Q
u
is the useful energy delivered by a collector of area A
c
in time d during which it
received a solar radiation H (per unit area).

( ) [ ]
a i f L a R c u
T T U H F A Q =
,


where A
c
- area of the collector (m
2
)
F
R
- heat removal factor (dimensionless)
H
a
- solar radiation absorbed by collector (MJ /m
2
)
U
L
- overall heat loss coefficient (W/m
2
C)
T
fi
- inlet fluid temperature, C
T
a
- ambient temperature, C

The above equation is known as the Hottel-Whillier-Bliss (HWB) equation. The heat loss
coefficient will have typical values in the order of 5 W/m
2
C at 1000 W/m
2
radiation levels.
The heat removal factor expresses the relative level of effectiveness of heat transfer through
the absorber. It is the ratio between the actual amount of heat removed to the maximum
possible heat removal (i.e. at when the absorber is at fluid inlet temperature)

At times, it is possible that the heat from the solar collector is left un-utilised or not removed.
In such cases, the absorber temperatures will increase (till the absorbed radiation is balanced
by the heat losses) and reach high values. The temperature at which this equilibrium occurs is
called the Stagnation temperature. A solar collector can have different stagnation
temperatures at different times (depends on various ambient parameters). This is a useful
parameter in designing a (safe) collector. At temperatures above 100 C, the water inside the
collector boils and steam is generated, which may attain high pressures and damage the
collector. Typical stagnation temperatures may be of the order of 200 C above ambient. To
prevent such conditions, it is safe to drain the water inside the collector when the collector is
not put to use for long periods. This will also protect the collector from damages from water
freezing.
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If we plot a graph of (T
i
T
a
)/G
T
against instantaneous efficiency () of a collector (assuming
other factors remain constant), we get a straight line fit to the data as shown in the graph.


To maximize the annual availability of solar radiation, the collector should be installed in
such a way that the slope is equal to the local latitude and face south. To maximize the winter
sun, the slope is increased by another 10 degree. However, studies have shown that
deviations of more than 10 degrees will result in a drop of less than 5%. Also the collectors
deviating plus or minus 10-20 degrees from south have little effect on annual collection of
solar radiation.

Flat plate collectors are intended to supply hot water for domestic/ industrial usage. They are
basically simple systems based on natural circulation/ thermosyphon and forced circulation and
supply hot water at temperatures of above 60-80C. This hot water is intended for purposes such
as bathing, washing clothes and dishes, etc. Generally, the temperature is not a very important
criteria for domestic applications but important for industrial applications.

The thermosyphon/ natural circulation hot water system consists of the following: flat plate
collector, storage tank and associated piping. The flat plate collector is placed below the storage
tank. The cold water from the bottom of the storage tank enters at the bottom to the bottom of
the collector. Due to the action of solar radiation, this cool water gets heated in the collector,
becomes light and rises to the storage tank. Hot water is removed from the top of the storage
tank. A fresh water inlet (from the main water storage tank) is provided in a manner that the
fresh water enters the storage tank near the bottom. In the storage tank, hot water gets
accumulated near the top when water is heated during the day by solar radiation. Normally, to
take into account the cloudiness, etc, storage tanks are sized to allow two days hot water to take
care of any day being completely cloudy.

The flat plate collector is generally fixed permanently and therefore, the tilt of the collector is
determined primarily by considering the season of predominant hot water use. For a year round
use, the collector tilt is kept equal to the latitude, while for winter use, the collector tilt is (lat +
10) and for summer use, it is (lat -10). The orientation of collector is facing direct south even
though a few degrees shift towards east or west will not greatly influence the performance of
collector.
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The collector area is primarily determined by the daily hot water demand, which varies from
place to place depending on the local customs. In US, typical domestic hot water use is 75
l/person/day, while in Australia it is 45 l/person/day. The storage tank capacity of 2.5 times the
daily requirement is generally sufficient. The following could be taken as a 'guideline' in
estimating the domestic hot water requirements:
1. Conservative 30 - 40 l/person/day
2. Average 40 - 60 l/person/day
3. High 60 - 120 l/person/day

For natural convection systems, the bottom of the storage tank should be at least 30 cm above
the top of the collector. The daily overall system efficiency of a domestic solar hot water system
is about 30 - 40%. To reduce the frictional losses, the diameter of the pipe between the collector
and the storage tank for natural circulation systems is usually kept between 28-35 mm for a
collector of area 10 m
2
, while for higher collector surface areas, larger pipes could be used. For
forced circulation systems, the recommended pipe diameter is 18 mm for collector areas up to
10 m
2
, 22 mm for collector areas up to 20 m
2
and 28 mm for higher collector areas. The flow
rate through a natural circulation system is about 40 l/m
2
/h in bright sunshine and around noon
and the normal temperature difference between the collector outlet and inlet is about 10C.

Forced circulation systems: In situations where the placement of storage tank above the
collector is inconvenient or impossible, the tank may be located below the collector. In such
cases, a small pump is used to circulate the water between the collector and the storage tank.
Also, in case of industrial water heating applications where more than 2500-3000 lpd need to be
heated, generally a pump is used for circulation of water in the system.

To obtain maximum utilisation of solar energy, thermostatic controls are added so that the pump
is activated only when there is sunshine and useful energy is delivered by the collector. This is
effected by measuring the temperature difference between the bottom of the collector and the
exit of the collector and, if the difference is greater than a preset value (say 5C), then the pump
is switched on automatically. This ensures that the pump works only when useful heat is
delivered. Similarly, if the temperature difference is low and is less than a preset value (say
2C), then the pump is turned off.
Unglazed flat-plate solar collectors
In North America unglazed flat-plate collectors currently account for the most area installed
per year of any solar collector. Because they
are not insulated, these collectors are best
suited for low temperature applications
where the demand temperature is below
30C. By far, the primary market is for
heating outdoor swimming pools, but other
markets exist including heating
seasonal indoor swimming pools, pre-
heating water for car washes and heating
water used in fish farming operations. There
is also a market potential for these collectors
for water heating at remote, seasonal
locations such as summer camps.
Unglazed flat-plate collectors
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Unglazed flat-plate collectors are usually made of black plastic that has been stabilized to
withstand ultraviolet light. Since these collectors have no glazing, a larger portion of the
suns energy is absorbed. However, because they are not insulated a large portion of the heat
absorbed is lost, particularly when it is windy and not warm outside. They transfer heat so
well to air (and from air) that they can actually capture heat during the night when it is hot
and windy outside.