Thermal performance analysis of the glass evacuated tube solar collector

with U-tube
Liangdong Ma
*
, Zhen Lu, Jili Zhang, Ruobing Liang
School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 7 October 2009
Received in revised form
31 December 2009
Accepted 19 January 2010
Keywords:
Thermal performance analysis
Glass evacuated tube
Solar collector
U-tube
a b s t r a c t
In this paper, based on the energy balance for the glass evacuated tube solar collector with U-tube, the
thermal performance of the individual glass evacuated tube solar collector is investigated by analytical
method. The solar collector considered in this study is a two-layered glass evacuated tube, and the
absorber lm is deposited in the outer surface of the absorber tube. The heat loss coefcient and heat
efciency factor are analyzed using one-dimensional analytical solution. And the inuence of air layer
between the absorber tube and the copper n on the heat efciency is also studied. The results show that
the function relation of the heat loss coefcient of the glass evacuated tube solar collector with
temperature difference between the absorbing coating surface and the ambient air is nonlinear. In the
different ambient temperatures, the heat loss coefcient of the solar collector should be calculated by
different expressions. The heat efciency factor will be subject to inuence of air layer between absorber
tube and the copper n. Specially, the inuence is remarkable when the heat loss coefcient of the
collector is large. When the synthetical conductance amounts to 5 W/m K, the solar collector efciency
decreases 10%, and the outlet uid temperature decreases 16% compared with the case which the air
thermal resistance is neglected. And the surface temperature of the absorbing coating increases 30

C
due to the effect of air thermal resistance. So the surface temperature of the absorbing coating is an
important parameter to evaluate the thermal performance of the glass evacuated tube solar collector.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The glass evacuated tube solar collectors provide the combined
effects of a highly selective surface coating and vacuum insulation
of the absorber element so they can have high heat extraction
efciency compared with at plate collectors at the temperature
range above 80

C [1]. At present, the glass evacuated tube has
become the key component in solar thermal utilization, especially,
they are proved to be very useful in residential applications that
require higher temperatures because of its lower heat loss. So the
evacuated solar collectors are widely used to supply the domestic
hot water or heating, including heat pipe evacuated solar collectors
and U-tube glass evacuated tube solar collectors [2e7]. Kim et al.
employed the one-dimensional model to carry out an investigation
for all glass evacuated tube with a coaxial uid conduit inserted in
each tube [2]. Then, Han et al. performed a three-dimensional
performance analysis for it by means of computational uid
dynamics [3]. The variation of the water temperature between the
inlet and outlet of the coaxial conduit was studied for the different
mass ow rate of water. The results show that the hottest water
temperature does not necessary exist at the outlet, which depends
on the mass ow rate of water in the conduits. Shah and Furbo [4]
developed a theoretical model to calculate the thermal perfor-
mance of vertical evacuated tubular-collectors. The optimal
distance between tubes, optimal collector-azimuth and yearly
thermal performances for different climates were investigated
based on a theoretical model. And heat transfer and owstructures
inside glass evacuated tube solar collectors for different operating
conditions were also investigated using computational uid
dynamics by Shah and Furbo based on a collector design with
horizontal tubes connected to a vertical manifold channel [5]. The
unsteady state efciency of the glass evacuated tube solar collector
with an inserted heat pipe was studied by experimental method
based on the conguration of the evacuated solar collector [6]. The
heat pipe evacuated tubular solar collectors have some advantages,
such as anti-freezing, rapid start-up, resistance to high pressure,
easy installation and maintenance, etc., many countries have paid
more and more attention to them [8]. But the heat pipe evacuated
tubular must maintain the vacuum environment. In the practical
application, maintaining vacuum environment is very difcult
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 86 411 84707753; fax: 86 411 84707753.
E-mail address: liangdma@dlut.edu.cn (L. Ma).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
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j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ bui l denv
0360-1323/$ e see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.01.015
Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967
because lots of noncondensable gas will be produced in the heat
pipe at the running process of the system. The thermal perfor-
mance of the heat pipe will be subject to serious inuence because
of the accumulation of noncondensable gas. So the running life of
heat pipe evacuated tubular will be restricted, which is its serious
shortcoming.
Currently, U-tube glass evacuated tube solar collector is much
more widely used compared with the heat pipe. In Ref. [1],
considered four different shapes of absorber tubes (nned tubes, U-
tube welded inside a circular n, U-tube welded on a copper plate,
and U-tube welded inside a rectangular duct), the performances of
solar collectors were studied by numerical method to nd the best
shape of the absorber tube for the solar collector. The results show
that the U-tube welded inside a circular n has a best thermal
performance among four different collectors based on the
comparison of the performances of a single collector tube.
However, considered the effects of the diffuse irradiation and the
shadow due to the adjacent tubes, the performance of U-tube
welded on a copper plate was the best for all ranges of the inci-
dence angle. Diaz analyzed numerically the performance of mini-
channel-based evacuated tube solar collectors. The results show
that efciency of mini-channel tube attached to a metal absorber
can be improved approximately 5% compared with the standard U-
tube collector if the tube free owarea for the working uid is same
[9]. In these studies, the bond conductance between the absorber
plate and the U-tube was not considered, but for the realistic
performance estimation, the thermal contact between the absorber
plate and the U-tube is of paramount importance to conduct most
of the heat collected by the absorber plate to the owing uid
inside the U-tube. The bond conductance in solar collector absorber
plate was investigated experimentally by Badran et al. [10]. The
temperature gradient in the air gap between the pipe and the plate
is very large (The temperature difference between the pipe and the
plate exceeds 50

C). The bond conductance of ve samples used in
the experiment ranged from 6.3 to 1.8 W/m K. And in practical
application of the glass evacuated tube solar collector with U-tube,
the circular copper n can not be tightly tted inside the glass
evacuated tube, so air is existing between the absorber tube and the
copper n due to the gap, which will also effect on the thermal
efciency of the solar collector. And the inuences of the emissivity
of the selective absorbing coating and the bond conductance
between the absorber tube and copper n on thermal performance
of the U-tube glass evacuated tube solar collector were analyzed by
Tian [11]. But to the authors knowledge, there have been very few
reports on the effect of air gap between the absorber tube and U-
tube on thermal performance of U-tube glass evacuated tube solar
collector. And these points as background, we have made attempts
to make clear theoretical analysis of heat loss coefcient and
thermal efciency for the U-tube glass evacuated tube solar
collector.
In this paper, the thermal performance of the individual evac-
uated glass tubular solar collector is investigated based on the
energy balance for the U-tube glass evacuated tube solar collector
[11,12]. Because a one-dimensional analytical solution often yields
satisfactory accuracy for steady heat transfer processes, and the
analytical solutions also provide more physical insights about the
ow and energy transfer processes involved, one-dimensional
analytical solution has been widely applied to solar collector design
and analysis [2]. Here, one-dimensional analytical solution is also
provided in our studies. The heat loss coefcient and heat efciency
factor are analyzed. The inuence of air layer between the absorber
tube and the copper on the heat efciency is also studied.
2. Analysis
The solar collector considered in this study is a two-layered
glass evacuated tube which is fused together at one end, and the
selective absorbing coating deposited in the outer surface of
absorber tube. Air is withdrawn from the space between the two
glass tubes, forming a vacuum. So the solar energy can be absorbed
Nomenclature
A
C
the outer surface area of absorber tube, m
2
A
P
the diffuse reection area of solar collector, m
2
C
B
bond conductance, W/(m K)
C
b
synthetical conductance, W/(m K)
C
pf
the specic heat capacity, kJ/(kg K)
d diameter of the U-tube, m
D outer diameter of absorber tube, m
F n efciency of straight n
F
0
collector efcient factor
h
f,i
the heat transfer coefcient between the uid and the
U-tube wall, W/(m K)
h
ga
convection heat transfer coefcient, W/(m
2
K)
h
pg,r
radiation heat transfer coefcient, W/(m
2
K)
h
pg,c
heat transfer coefcient due to the conduction,
W/(m
2
K)
L the length of absorber tube, m
L
u
the length of U-tube, m
m mass ow rate of working uid, kg/s
P the perimeter of copper n, m
Q
L
thermal loss, W
Q
u
net heat energy absorbed by working uid, W
q

u
the net heat gain, W/m
2
q

fin
energy collection by n, W/m
2
R thermal resistance, m K/W
T
a
ambient temperature, K
T
f
mean temperature of the working uid, K
T
g
the temperature of the outer glass tube, K
T
P
the temperature of the absorber tube, K
U
e
the loss coefcient from absorber tube to the ambient,
W/(m
2
K)
U
L
overall loss coefcient, W/(m
2
K)
U
t
the edge loss coefcient of the header tube, W/(m
2
K)
W the circumferential distance between the U-tubes, m
Greek
d the thickness of the copper n, m
d
1
the thickness of absorber tube, m
d
2
the thickness of air layer, m
3
1
the emissivity of the selective absorbing coating
h solar collector efciency
l conductivity of copper n, W/(m K)
l
1
conductivity of absorber tube, W/(m K)
l
2
conductivity of air layer, W/(m K)
s StefaneBoltzmann constant
Subscripts
b n base
n copper n
in location at the U-tube inlet
mid location at the U-tube bend
out location at the U-tube outlet
tube U-tube
L. Ma et al. / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967 1960
well and the thermal loss is very small due to no conductive and
convective heat losses. The illustration of the all glass evacuated
tube and its cross section vieware given in Fig. 1. The length and out
diameters of the outer glass tube and absorber tube are assumed to
be 1200, 47 and 37 mm, respectively. The U-tube is welded or
wedged inside a circular n. And the solar energy of amount S
absorbed by the selective absorbing coating is equal to the incident
solar radiation, reduced by optical losses as shown in Fig. 2. And the
solar energy transferred to the working uid, i.e., net heat gain, is
equal to the difference between S and the thermal loss through the
glass tube due to the radiation, conduction and convection.
One-dimensional analytical investigation for a single unit of the
glass evacuated tube solar collector is carried out in present study.
To simplify calculations without losing accuracy signicantly,
several assumptions are used.
(1) The thermal resistance through the outer glass tube wall is
negligible.
(2) Solar energy absorption of the outer glass tube is neglected.
(3) The heat transfer coefcient due to convection from the glass
tube exposed to outside atmosphere is constant.
(4) The loss coefcient from the header tube is also constant.
(5) The averaged heat ux along the circumferential direction is
used as the heat ux boundary condition although the heat ux
is not evenly distributed for the real solar collector.
(6) The heat transfer process is assumed to be steady, and transient
phenomena are not included in the study [1].
Table 1 gives the details of the analytical model parameters
considered in the present study for the glass evacuated tube solar
collector.
2.1. Overall loss coefcient
Based on the above assumption, a network of thermal resis-
tances is used in place of energy equation describing the physical
phenomena. Fig. 3 gives the heat transfer processes involved in the
operation of the glass evacuated tube solar collector by using
a series of thermal network. It is found from Fig. 3 that the thermal
loss Q
L
can be expressed as [12]
Q
L
S Q
u
(1)
where S is solar energy amount absorbed by the selective absorbing
coating, and Q
u
is the net heat gain absorbed by the working uid.
The overall loss coefcient can be dened as
U
L
U
t
U
e
(2)
where U
e
is edge loss coefcient of the header tube, which depends
on the insulation conductivity, insulation thickness and the surface
Fig. 1. Glass evacuated tube solar collector with U-tube. a) Illustration of the glass evacuated tube; b) Cross section.
L. Ma et al. / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967 1961
areas of the header tube. The losses through the edge should be
referenced to the outer surface area of absorber tube. If the edge
loss coefcientearea product is (UA)
edge
then the edge loss coef-
cient, based on the outer surface area of absorber tube, A
c
, is [11,12]
U
e

UA
edge
A
c
(3)
where A
c
is dened as
A
c
pDL (4)
where D is the outer diameter of absorber tube and L represents the
length of absorber tube.
The loss coefcient fromthe absorber tube to the ambient U
t
can
be written as
U
t

1
1
h
ga

1
h
pg;r
h
pg;c
(5)
where h
ga
is convection heat transfer coefcient from the outer
glass tube to the surroundings. h
pg,r
represents radiation heat
transfer coefcient between the absorber tube and outer glass tube,
and h
pg,c
is the heat transfer coefcient due to the conduction by
the bracket and the close up of the glass evacuated tube solar
collector. These heat transfer coefcients should be referenced to
the outer surface area of absorber tube, A
c
.
The h
pg,r
changes with temperature of the absorber tube, T
p
,
and the outer glass tube, T
g
, which can be expressed as
h
pg;r

s3
p
1
3
p
D
3
g
D
g
_
1 3
p
_
_
T
2
p
T
2
g
_
_
T
p
T
g
_
(6)
where 3
p
is the emissivity of the selective absorbing coating. 3
g
is
the emissivity of the inner surface of outer glass tube. s represents
StefaneBoltzmann constant. D
g
is inner diameter of outer glass
tube.
The overall heat loss coefcient is an important parameter to
estimate the performance of the solar collector. In expressions (2)
and (4), the convection heat transfer coefcient, h
ga
, conduction
heat transfer coefcient, h
pg,c
and edge loss coefcient of the
header tube, U
e
, can not be predicted effectively because they relate
to environment and quality of production. Here, the experimental
results are used in our study. The convection heat transfer coef-
cient, h
ga
, and the heat transfer coefcient, h
pg,c
are given to be
12.7 W/(m
2
K) and 0.2796 W/(m
2
K), respectively. And the edge loss
coefcient is 0.1687 W/(m
2
K) [11].
It is found from Fig. 3 that the heat loss of the glass evacuated
tube can be expressed as
U
t
_
T
p
T
a
_
h
pg;r
_
T
p
T
g
_
h
pg;c
_
T
p
T
g
_
(7)
In expressions (5)e(7), the parameters D, D
g
, 3
p
, 3
g
, s, h
ga
and
h
pg,c
are known. If T
p
and T
a
are given, the unknown parameters
U
t
, h
pg,c
and T
g
can be calculated by iterative method using these
expressions. Then the overall loss coefcient can also be calculated
by Eq. (2).
2.2. The collector efciency factor
To simplify calculation, several assumptions are adopted for the
copper n. (1) The temperature gradient in the owdirection along
the U-tube is negligible; (2) The heat transfer of the copper ncanbe
studied as at plate because the surface of the absorbed tube is
parallel to the copper n [11]; (3) The temperature gradient of
copper n along the radial direction is negligible. The energy
absorbed by the absorber tube is transferred to the working uid in
the U-tube through the copper n and the U-tube. So the tempera-
ture of copper nis variable along the circumferential direction. And
the temperature of absorbedtube is supposedas a constant, whichis
similar tothat of thecover intheat platecollector [12]. Consider the
sheet-tube conguration as shown in Fig. 4. The U-tube diameter is
d, the thickness of the copper n is d, and the distance between the
U-tubes is W P/2, P is perimeter of the copper n. The n is of
length(Wd)/2. Anenergy balance onanelemental regionof width
Dx and unit length in the ow direction yields [12]
Sun light
100
90.7
S=80.0
Absorptance of the
galss tube 1.8
Reflectance of the
glass tube 7.5
Reflectance of the coating 6.3 Emittance of the coating 4.4
Selective absorbing coating. Solar absorptance 0.93. Emittance 0.06
absorber tube
Vacuum jacket
Outer glass tube. Transmittance 0.907
Fig. 2. Optical loss of the glass evacuated tube [2].
Table 1
The computational parameters for the glass evacuated tube solar collector.
Material Parameters Unit
Absorbing coating Absorptivity 0.92
Emissivity 0.08
Out glass tube Outer diameter 47 mm
Thickness 1.2 mm
Conductivity 1.2 W/(m K)
Absorber tube Outer diameter 37 mm
Thickness 1.2 mm
Conductivity 1.2 W/(m K)
Copper n Thickness 0.6 mm
Conductivity 307 W/(m K)
Air layer Thickness 1 mm
Conductivity 0.03 W/(m K)
U-tube Outer diameter 8 mm
h
f,i
700 W/(m
2
K)
Length of a tubular collector 1200 mm
Bond conductance 30 W/(m K)
L. Ma et al. / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967 1962
ld
dT
dx

_
ld
dT
dx

xDx
_
Q
u
Dx 0 (8)
where l is conductivity of copper n. Q
u
is heat gain of solar
collector, based on the absorber tube and air layer between the
absorber tube and the copper n, which can be written as
Q
u

T
p
T
d
1
l
1

d
2
l
2

T
p
T
1
C
b
(9)
where d
1
and d
2
represent the thickness of absorber tube (conduc-
tivity is l
1
) and air layer (conductivity is l
2
) (see Fig. 3(a)), respec-
tively. C
b
is synthetical conductance. FromEq. (1), it is found that the
outer surface temperature of absorber tube can be expressed as
T
p

S U
L
T
a
C
b
T
U
L
C
b
(10)
Substituting Eq. (9) and (10) into Eq. (8), following energy equation
can be obtained.
d
2
T
dx
2

S U
L
T T
a

ld
_
1
U
L
C
b
_ (11)
where T
a
is ambient temperature. The two boundary conditions are
necessary to solve this second-order differential equation [12]
dT
dx
j
x0
0, and Tj
xWd=2
T
b
The solution of Eq. (11) is then
T
cos mx
cos mW d=2
_
T
b
T
a

S
U
L
_
T
a

S
U
L
(12)
where m is dened as
m
_
U
L
ld1 U
L
=C
b

_
1=2
(13)
Eq. (12) gives the temperature distribution in the x-direction. The
energy conducted to the region of the U-tube per unit length in the
owdirection can be obtained by evaluating Fouriers lawat the n
base x (W d)/2
q

fin

W dS U
L
T
b
T
a
F
21 U
L
=C
b

(14)
where
F
tan hmW d=2
mW d=2
(15)
The function F is the standard n efciency for straight ns with
rectangular prole. Eq. (14) accounts for the energy collected on
only one side of the U-tube. For both sides, the energy collection is
U tube
Copper fin
Glass evacuated tube
Ta
Tg
Tp
T1
T2
Tb
Tf
D
d
1
2
(Ambient temperatur)
rad
cond
cond
conv
cond cond cond cond conv
Ta
Tg
Tp T1 T2 Tb Tf
S
S
QL Qu
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5 R6 R7 R8 R9
Fig. 3. System congurations for the glass evacuated tube solar collector and its thermal network. a) System conguration; b) Thermal network.
Fig. 4. Energy balance on copper n.
L. Ma et al. / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967 1963
q

fin

W dS U
L
T
b
T
a
F
1 U
L
=C
b
(16)
The heat gain for the collector also includes the energy collected
above the tube region. The energy gain can be given by
q

tube
Q
u
d
dS U
L
T
b
T
a

1 U
L
=C
b
(17)
Accordingly, the net heat gain per unit length in the direction is the
sum of Eq. (16) and (17).
q

u
q

fin
q

tube

W dF dS U
L
T
b
T
a

1 U
L
=C
b
(18)
Ultimately, this energy must be transferred to the uid, which
can be written in terms of two resistances as [12]
q

u

T
b
T
f
1
h
f;i
pd

1
C
B
(19)
where h
f,i
is the heat transfer coefcient between the uid and the
tube wall. C
B
represents the bond conductance, and it is less than
30 W/(m K) [12]. And the thermal resistance due to the tube
thickness is neglected. Solving Eq. (19) for T
b
, substituting it into Eq.
(18), we get the result for the net heat gain.
q

u
WF

_
S U
L
_
T
f
T
a
__
(20)
where F is collector efciency factor, which is expressed as
F

1
U
L
W
_
1
UL
C
b
U
L
d W dF

1
C
B

1
h
f;i
pd
_ (21)
T
f
is mean temperature of the working uid in U-tube.
Along the ow direction of working uid, the heat transfer by
conduction at the point of contact between the n and the tube at
the two sides of U-Tube is calculated by
q
u;left
WL
u
F

_
S U
L
_
T
f1
T
a
__
(22)
q
u;right
WL
u
F

_
S U
L
_
T
f2
T
a
__
(23)
where L
u
is the length of U-tube. T
f1
and T
f2
are the averaged
temperatures of working uid in the two sides of the U-tube,
respectively, and which can be written as
T
f1

T
in
T
mid
2
(24)
T
f2

T
mid
T
out
2
(25)
T
in
and T
out
represent the inlet and outlet temperatures of working
uid in the U-tube, respectively. And T
mid
is the temperature of
working uid at the tube bend. So the temperature of working uid
can be calculated by following equations based on Eq. (22) and (23).
T
mid
T
in

q
u;left
mC
pf
(26)
T
out
T
mid

q
u;right
mC
pf
(27)
where m is the mass ow rate of working uid, and C
pf
represents
the specic heat capacity. The thermal performance of the glass
evacuated tube solar collector can be estimated by the solar
collector efciency, h, which is dened as the ratio between the net
heat gain and the solar radiation energy based on diffuse reection
area of solar collector, A
p
.
h
mC
pf
T
out
T
in

I
0
A
p
(28)
where A
p
can be expressed as
A
p
2DL (29)
2.3. Validation of the numerical model
To examine the reliability of the analytical approach hired
throughout this study, the efciency of solar collector is compared
with the results of Tian [11] and Yin [13]. Fig. 5 gives the efciency
proles of the glass evacuated tube solar collector for the solar
radiation intensity, I
0
950 W/m
2
. It is observed that the present
results are in accordance well with the references [11,13], indicating
the one-dimensional analysis investigation is reasonable and can
be used to analyze the thermal performance of the glass evacuated
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
Experimental value[13]
Computational value [10]
In present study
(T
f
-
T
a
) /I
0
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y
,

Fig. 5. Efciency variation of the glass evacuated tube solar collector. I
0
950 W/m
2
.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
T
a
=263K
T
a
=273K
T
a
=283K
T
a
=293K
T
a
=303K
h
r
,
g
-
p
T
p
-T
a
Fig. 6. h
pg,r
vs T
p
T
a
.
L. Ma et al. / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967 1964
tube solar collector. The efciency calculated in present study is
slightly higher than that of the experimental study, maybe because
the synthetical conductance between the absorber tube and the
copper n, C
b
, considered as 29 W/(mK) which can be calculated by
the values in Table 1, is larger than that in the actual application.
The experimental results of Ref. [10] showthat C
b
is quite small due
to the air gap (less than 6.3 W/(m K)). And the bond conductance,
C
B
, between the copper n and the U-tube is also very large in our
analysis (30 W/(m K)) [12], indicating the U-tube is welded well
with the copper n. It is found from Fig. 5 that the efciency
decreases with increase of the inlet temperature of working uid in
the solar collector, indicating the thermal loss of the solar collector
system increases with increase of the working uid temperature.
3. Results and discussion
The radiation heat transfer coefcient between the absorber
tube and outer glass tube, h
pg,r
, is given in Fig. 6. The h
pg,r
is
related to the temperature of ambient and absorbing coating. It can
be seen that the radiation heat transfer coefcient increases with
increase of the ambient temperature for the same temperature
difference between the absorbing coating and the ambient. And
similarly, for the same ambient temperature, T
a
, the radiation heat
transfer coefcient increases with increase of temperature differ-
ence (T
p
T
a
). So it is not linear relation with ambient temperature
and temperature difference (T
p
T
a
). And in the different ambient
temperature, it should be calculated by different expression. The
radiation heat transfer coefcient is larger compared with the h
pg,
c,
whose value reaches to 0.9 with ambient temperature of 303 K
and temperature difference (T
p
T
a
) of 110 K. Table 2 gives the
values of all thermal resistances in Fig. 3. The thermal resistances
R
1
, R
2
, R
3
, R
4
, R
5
and R
6
are normalized by the perimeter of absorber
tube. Because the efciency of copper n is large, the R
7
is very
small compared with other thermal resistances, and it will be not
considered in Table 2. It can be seen that the resistances R
1
, R
2
, R
3
and R
4
are very large compared with resistances R
5
, R
6
R
8
and R
9
,
indicating the heat loss of glass evacuated tube is small, and heat
energy can be easily transferred to the working uid. For the heat
losses to the atmosphere, the radiation heat loss is dominant
compared with conduction heat loss. The heat energy transferred
from absorber tube to working uid will be subject to inuence of
thermal resistances R
5
, R
6,
R
8
and R
9
, and conduction thermal
resistance of air layer, R
6,
must be considered in these thermal
resistances. It is almost ten times larger than convection thermal
resistance R
9
. In order to improve the heat efciency of solar
collector, it is very important to decrease the inuence of air layer.
Fig. 7 shows the variation of temperature difference, DT,
between the outer glass tube and the ambient with the tempera-
ture difference (T
p
T
a
). It is found from the Fig. 7 that the
temperature difference increases nonlinearly with increase of
temperature difference (T
p
T
a
), specially, for the larger ambient
temperature. And it is also increscent when the ambient temper-
ature increases if the temperature difference (T
p
T
a
) is given,
indicating the thermal loss increases with increase of the absorber
tube owing to the larger radiation heat transfer coefcient (see
Fig. 6), so that the outer glass tube temperature increases.
Fig. 8 gives the variation of efciency and coating temperature
with synthetical conductance, C
b
, with I
0
950 W/m
2
, T
a
283 K
and temperature difference T
f
T
a
110 K. The efciency increases
from 28 to 38% when the synthetical conductance increases from 5
to 40 W/m K. If the synthetical conductance is larger than 40 W/
m K, the thermal resistance of the air layer between the absorber
tube and the copper n can be neglected. And it is found fromFig. 8
that the inuence of C
b
on the coating temperature is large. The
coating temperature will increase 30

C if the thermal resistance of
the air layer is taken into account. Because the smaller synthetical
conductance indicates the net heat gain of working uid is small,
which results in increase of coating temperature.
Fig. 9 shows the variation of overall loss coefcient, collector
efciency factor and the coating temperature with temperature
difference between the working uid and the ambient tempera-
ture. It is observed that the collector efciency factor decreases
with increase of the temperature difference, but the variation is
slight, and the coating temperature linearly increases from 330 to
440 K if temperature difference increases from 0 to 150 K, so that
the overall loss coefcient increases. The efciency variation of
solar collector with solar radiation intensity is given in Fig. 10. It is
Table 2
The values of all thermal resistances in Fig. 3.
Thermal resistance Value (m K/W)
Radiation thermal resistance, R
1
19.1e49.06
Conduction thermal resistance, R
2
61.62
Convection thermal resistance, R
3
1.354
Conduction thermal resistance, R
4
101.97
Conduction thermal resistance of absorber tube, R
5
0.017
Conduction thermal resistance of air layer, R
6
0.516
Bond thermal resistance, R
8
0.03
Convection thermal resistance, R
9
0.056
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
T
a
=263K
T
a
=273K
T
a
=283K
T
a
=293K
T
a
=303K
=
T
T
g
-
T
a
T
p
-T
a
Fig. 7. T
g
T
a
vs T
p
T
a
.
Fig. 8. Variation of efciency and coating temperature with C
b
, I
0
950 W/m
2
.
T
a
283 K.
L. Ma et al. / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967 1965
found that the efciency increases with increase of solar radiation
intensity, but it reaches gradually to a constant.
Fig. 11 shows the collector efciency factor prole with C
b
. Here,
we assume that the overall loss coefcient is a constant. It is
observed that the collector efciency factor, F, decreases largely
with increase of the overall loss coefcient if the synthetical
conductance is less than 40 W/m K. The results show the inuence
of thermal resistance of air layer on efciency of the solar collector
increases due to the larger overall loss coefcient, which will
reduce obviously the thermal performance of the solar collector.
Fig. 12 gives the variation of coating temperature with inlet
temperature of working uid for I
0
950 W/m
2
, T
a
283 K. It can
be seen fromFig. 12 that the coating temperature increases linearly
with increase of inlet temperature of working uid. And with
decrease of mass ow rate of working uid, the coating tempera-
ture of solar collector increases, but the increase rate is small. For
example, the coating temperature increase only 2.7

C when the
mass ow rate decreases from 0.003 to 0.001 kg/s at the inlet
temperature of 303 K Fig. 13 shows the variation of temperature
difference, DT T
out
T
in
, with inlet temperature of working uid.
Because the heat loss increases with increase of inlet uid
temperature, the temperature difference decreases, that is, the net
heat gain of working uid decreases. And it can be observed from
Fig. 13 that the rate of change of temperature difference increases
with decrease of mass ow rate. The outlet temperature difference
decreases 0.65

C when the inlet uid temperature increases from
Fig. 12. Variation of coating temperature with inlet temperature of working uid.
Fig. 13. Variation of temperature difference, DT T
out
T
in
, with inlet temperature of
working uid.
Fig. 9. Variation of the F, U
L
and T
p
with working uid temperature, I
0
950 W/m
2
.
T
a
283 K, C
b
29 W/(m K).
Fig. 10. Variation of efciency and coating temperature with radiation intensity I
0
.
T
a
283 K, T
f
T
a
110 K, C
b
29 W/(m K).
Fig. 11. The collector efciency factor prole with C
b
.
L. Ma et al. / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967 1966
30 to 90

C for the mass ow rate of 0.003 kg/s, but it decreases
1.96

C for the mass ow rate of 0.001 kg/s Fig. 14 shows the
comparison of temperature increase, DT, and the collector ef-
ciency for the different synthetical conductance at the different
inlet uid temperature. Here, the mass ow rate is 0.001 kg/s. It is
found that the solar collector with larger synthetical conductance
has a better performance. The larger synthetical conductance
indicates the thermal resistance of air between the absorber tube
and the U-tube is very small. When C
B
C
b
5 W/m K which are
accordance with the experiment values [10], the collector efciency
decreases 10%, and the outlet uid temperature decreases 16%
compared with the case of C
B
C
b
30 W/m K.
4. Conclusion
In this paper, the thermal performance of the individual glass
evacuated tube solar collector is investigated by one-dimensional
analytical method. The inuences of air layer and the solar radia-
tion intensity on the heat efciency are studied. The results show
that inuence of the thermal resistance of air layer on the heat
efciency is large. The efciency of solar collector increases 10%,
and the outlet uid temperature increases 16% if the synthetical
conductance increases from 5 to 40 W/m K. And the coating
temperature will increase 30

C if the thermal resistance of the air
layer is taken into account. So, to evaluate the thermal performance
of the glass evacuated tube solar collector, not only should the heat
efciency be considered, but also the surface temperature of the
absorbing coating is an important parameter. And the efciency
increases with increase of solar radiation intensity, but it reaches
gradually to a constant.
Acknowledgement
The authors are gratefully to the nancial support by the
Municipal Foundation of Science and Technology Talents for
Outstanding Young Scholar of Dalian, China (No. 2008J23JH024).
And they also greatly appreciate for the support of National
Eleventh Five Science and Technology Sustentation, China. (No.
2006BAJ01A09, 2008BAJ12B05)
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Fig. 14. The comparison of the temperature difference, DT T
out
T
in
, and the
collector efciency for the different the synthetical conductance.
L. Ma et al. / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 1959e1967 1967