Performance Comparison Of Flat Plate Collectors Fitted With Non Circular Risers With Integral Fins

摘要

The present study deals with comparison of experimentally determined performance characteristics of solar flat plate collectors fitted with novel designs of absorber plate involving non-circular risers with integral fins and operating under natural circulation mode. The main flow passages considered were square, triangular and semicircular in cross section. One standard solar flat plate collector with circular risers was also tested simultaneously for direct comparison. The test results indicate that the absorber fitted with the triangular sectioned risers yields the best performance in terms of the efficiency (63%), and the buoyancy induced flow per unit area (76 kg/hr-m~2) from amongst the collectors investigated. It is followed by the absorbers fitted with the semicircular and square sectioned risers respectively. The standard solar flat plate collector is found to yield the lowest values i.e. 46% and 40 kg/hr-m~2 respectively.