DESIGN ANALYSIS

Design parameters
The following parameters have been used to design the solar water heater.
Hot water consumption in hanger for cleaning B777
The amount of water needed to wash a B777 air plane is 2000 gallons (About 7570 litters).
a)
Temperature
From the metrological data of Addis Ababa the average ambient temperature is 21 .
Wind Speed
From the metrological data of Addis Ababa the average wind speed is 3.1 but it is taken to be 5 m/s for our
calculation purpose.
Solar intensity
From the metrological data of Addis Ababa the solar intensity is 0.786 MJ/m2.
4.3 Expected Design Outputs
The desired outputs are the followings:
a)
b)
c)
4.4

The desired output temperature should not more than 71 degree Celsius
The desired output pressure should not more than 80 psi.
The desired volume of hot water should be 2000 gallon.

Design of Solar Collector

The solar collector selected to our prototype on the solar water heater is the flat plate type. This is due to the
following reasons.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

The temperature required is below or about 100 c

It is simple to manufacture
The flat plate collectors are convenient for water heating
They have the advantage of using both beam and diffuse solar radiation
They do not require much tracking unlike that of concentrating collectors
They require little maintenance
5.3.1 Components of solar water heater
The components of the flat plate collector type of the solar water heater are:

Glass

pipe

Absorber

Storage tank

Insulation

Pump

Temperature sensor

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Steel pipe
Copper pipe

Thermocouple
Hot water out
Cold water in

Pump
Figure 3: Solar water heater
5.3.1.1 GLASS
Glass easily transmits short wave radiation, which means that it poses little interference to incoming solar energy,
but it is a very poor transmitter of long wave radiation. Once the suns energy has passed through the glass windows
and has been absorbed by some material inside, the heat will not be radiated back outside. Glass therefore, act as a
heat trap. A phenomenon which has been recognized for some time in the construction of green houses, which can
be get quite warm on sunny days, even in the middle of winter; this has come to be known in fact. As the
(Green house effect) flat plate, collectors usually have one or more glass covers.
The front covers are generally glass (may be one or more) that is transparent to in-coming solar radiation from the
absorber. The glass covers act as a convection shield to reduce the losses from the absorber plate beneath. Glass is
generally used for the transparent covers but certain plastic films may be satisfactory. Glass is the most favorable
material. Thickness of 3 and 4 mm are commonly used. The usual practice is to have 1 or 2 covers with a specific
ranging from 1.5 to 3cm.
Advantage of first glass, which is added above the first one are:
a) Losses due to air convection are further reduced. This is important in windy areas
b) Radiation losses in the infra-red spectrum are reduced by a further 25%, because half of the 50%, which is
emitted outwards from the first glass plate, is back radiated. It is not worthwhile to use more than two glass plates.
This is due to the fact that each plate reflects about 15% of the incoming sunlight.
The performance of solar collectors is described in energy balance that indicates the distribution of incident solar
radiation in to the useful energy gain and various losses .the thermal losses can be separated into three components
1. Conductive losses
2. Convective losses
3. Radiation losses
Under steady state conditions, the useful heat delivered by solar collector is equal to the energy absorbed in the
metal surface minus the heat losses from the surface directly and indirectly to the surrounding. This principle can be
stated in the relationship
Qu=Ac[S-UL{Tpm-Ta}]
Where,
Qu -Useful energy delivered by collector
Collector area
c

S- Absorbed energy
( )
(
S=

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) .

)(

) .

- Over all heat loss coefficient,

= Ut+ Ub+ Ue

Ut - Top loss coefficient

Ub - Bottom loss coefficient
Ue - Edge loss coefficient
Tpm -Mean absorber plate temperature
Ta - Ambient temperature
The heat losses from the surface are the following
a)
Top Loss (Ut)
This loss occurs through the glass covers taking in to consideration the emittances of plate and glass, wind
convective heat loss. Mathematically can be expressed by
(

)
((

))

T
T
h

Where:
N - number of glasses
(
C=520(1-.0000512) for 0

)(
)

)(
0

- Collector tilt angle

g - Emmitance of glass (.88)
p Emmitance of plate

pm

Mean plate temperature

Ambient temperature

5.7 3.8V w

= wind heat transfer coefficient, with wind speed,

-8

= Stefan Boltzmann constant(5.67*10 )

e =0.430(1-100/Tpm)

To calculate the mean plate temperature, steady state heat conduction from the plate to the fluid is used, which
latter is iterated until similar result is obtained with the correct useful energy.
Tpm=Tfi+

(1-FR)

Where:
FR- Collector heat removal factor
QU -Useful energy from collector
UL -Total heat loss coefficient
Tfi -Inlet fluid temperature
b)
Bottom loss coefficient (Ub)
This loss accounts the convective and conductive loss through the insulation.
Mathematically:
Ub=K/L

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Where,
L - Thickness of insulation
K- Thermal conductivity of insulation
Ub -Bottom loss coefficient
c)
Edge loss, (Ue)
This heat dissipation comes from the edge loss to the environment. It is given by
U e=

Where
(UA)e Edge loss coefficient-area product
AC Collector area
Know the overall heat loss coefficient,(UL)is
UL=Ut+Ub+Ue
5.3.1.1fin Efficiency, Fe
Fin efficiency of the collector is given by the following relation;
(

F=
0
1
(
)
Where
W fin width
D outer diameter of heat pipe.
m
K thermal conductivity of fin

Fin thickness
F Standard Fin efficiency
5.3.1.2 Collector Fin Efficiency Factor, F

]
+ -

Where,
Cb bond conductance

fi

, local film heat transfer coefficient

=300w/m2 oc for natural circulation

5.3.1.3 Collector heat removal factor (FR)

+]

Where,
m ass flow rate of the fluid
Cp specific heat capacity for water
F collector Fin Efficiency Factor
5.3.1.4 Collector flow factor (F)

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)+

To get the useful energy

[ (
{
})]
5.4 Absorber (Collector) Design
The following parameters are taken into consideration for design of this part:

Available thickness of the absorber material = 0.5 mm

Fin material selected for this purpose is Aluminum because of the following two reasons;

Low cost

Easily corrugated to hold heat pipes

Thermal conductivity of aluminum K =221

g .88

Emmitance of glass

Ambient temperature Ta=20 oc

Emitance of plate =0.27

Average wind speed, Vw = 5

m
s

ollector tilt angle

w
m2
w
Beam solar radiation Ib =104 2
m
w
Diffuse solar radiation Id=114 2
m
Incident solar radiation, I = 218

Number of glass covers is taken to be 2 to prevent high convection losses

Assumptions taken for this design are

Tube spacing (w) = 150 mm

Tube diameter D = 20 mm

Heat transfer coefficient hfi=300

Bond conductance Cb is very large so

=0

Heat flow through a cover is one dimensional

There is one dimensional heat flow through back insulation

Dust and dirt on the collector are negligible.

5.5 UL over all heat loss coefficients
UL= Ut+ Ub+ Ue
a)

Top loss coefficient (Ut)

(

((

((

))

Lets assume Tpm =60+273.15=333.15k

Ta=21+273.15=294.15k
N= 2
F= 2.82
Hw=24.7
ep= 0.27
e= 0.3

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(
))

)(
)

c=519.99
Then the top loss coefficient will be
Ut=2.448
b)
The bottom loss coefficient(Ub)
Ub=K/L
Where
L Thickness of insulation 0.06m
K Thermal conductivity of insulation 0.025
Ub Bottom loss coefficient
Therefore Ub=0.42
C) Edge loss, (Ue)
(

U e=

U=
where
k is the termal insulation conductivity.(0.025)
te is edge insulation thickness(0.03)
then U=0.833
A=perimeter of the collector * edge insulation thickness
A=6*0.03
=0.18m2
Ac=length of the collector* the width of the collector
= 2m2
Then
Ue=0.022
Therefore, the overall heat transfer coefficient
UL=Ut+Ub+Ue
= 2.89
Fin Efficiency, F
F=

m = =5.11
F= 0.959
5.6 Collector Fin Efficiency Factor, F

+ -

=0 because Cb is very large.

Then F 0.837
5.7 Collector heat removal factor (FR)

FR= 0.791
The solar absorbed energy;
( )
( ) .
S=
S= 373.57

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)(

) .

+]

Then the useful energy will be

QU=AC[S-UL(Tpm-Ta)]
QU =5211.8 W
Then the plate temperature in the first iteration is
Tpm=405.8K
Tpm=344.15k in the second iteration.
Hence taking 344.15k,the UL F,F,FR,F and QU will be
UL=2.731
F=0.962
F 0.926
FR=0.428
F 0.462
QU=7797.8W
5.3.1.2 Pipe
5.3.1.2.1Copper pipe
The copper pipe is used to transfer heat from the solar flat plate to the fluid.
Design parameters
Diameter of the pipe = DC
Length of the pipe = 2m
Number of copper pipes (4)
To find DC we can use this formula
Where rs refers to the radius of steel, which is equal to 50 mm
rc = 25mm, DC = 50mm
5.3.1.2.2 Steel pipe
The steel pipe is used

To transfer the cold water from the tanker to the flat plate

To transfer the hot water to the storage tank

5.3.1.3Absorber
Solar absorber surfaces have been researched the most extensively over the last decade compared to the other
collector materials. For the project I choose the aluminum because of high absorption property.
5.3.1.2 Storage tank
It is used to store the hot water and the size will be as follows
1
x
= 7570
x= 7.57
The size tanker is equal 1.7*1.5*2m which is 8.1 with some allowance.
5.3.1.3 Insulation Design
A. Tanker Insulation
The tanker (hot water reservoir) should be insulated appropriately for two reasons

While the tanker is heating during the sunshine hour, heat loss should not be significant
to reduce the temperature of the water.

During the night, the hot water will be stored in the tanker for the use in the next day in
the morning. So, the heat loss should be minimized to make temperature of the water in the
desired magnitude.
.
The insulation material available is urethane f previously cited properties.
The tanker has six faces with two of them identical in area. The dimensions for one panel containing
7570 liter of water are as follows.

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2m

1.5m
2.7m
Area of each face is
A1=2.7*1.5= 4.05 m2
A2=1.5*2= 3 m2
A3=2.5*2= 5 m2
Total area is Atot= 12.05 m2

material for tanker is steel which is available in the companys workshop with
antirust
paint its thermal conductivity , k=54w/m-k

The minimum ambient temperature, T a is taken to be 10 oC.

Assumed thickness of insulation, L=60 mm.

convective heat transfer to the environment, hw=25.7w/m2-k

Surface temperature of the tanker, T f is taken to be the maximum temperature

the water reaches i.e. 71oC for one shift heating and 90oC for water heating the whole day.
B. Pipe Insulation
The Critical radius of insulation, rcr for cylindrical body is given by
rc r=K/h
=18/24.7
= 0.7mm
Where, k- is thermal insulation conductivity=18
h- is Convective heat transfer coefficient of surrounding medium = 24.7

5.3.1.4 Pump
Its function is to give head to the tap water which flow rate is 0.01k g/s.
In order to find flow rate Q
Q= /
Q = 0.01/1000
Q = 1*10-5 liter
So we can by or order the pump from pump factories which satisfy the above results.
5.3.1.5 Temperature sensor (Thermocouple)
Its function is to indicate the temperature of water.

If the temperature of water is below 71 then the water should have to recycle until it is reached
to 71 .

If the water is reached 71 then the hot water can be used to the required task.
Note that after the storage tank there is a hose and a pump which is used to transmit the hot water and to give the
desired pressure (80psi). And these two materials are available in the company.

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