AIN SHAMS UNIVERSITY-CHEP

ENERGY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAM

SOLAR ENERGY 1 – ERGY420
ASSIGNMENT 9

Theory of the flat plate collector: C-Performance calculations

Problem (1)
Calculate the daily useful gain and plot the variation of the instantaneous efficiency of a bank of 10
solar collectors installed in parallel near Boulder , Colorado, USA, at a slope of 600 and a surface of zero
azimuth angle. The hourly radiation on the plane, 𝐼𝑇 . The hourly radiation absorbed by the absorver
plate, S , and the hourly ambient temperature, 𝑇𝑎 are all given in the following Table. For the collector ,
assume the overall loss coefficient 𝑈𝐿 to be 8 𝑊/𝑚2 𝐾 and the plate efficiency factor , 𝐹 ′ , to be 0.841 .
The flow through each of the 1m by 2m collector panel is 0.03 /𝑠 . The inlet water temperature remains
constant at 400 𝐶 all day.

Time 𝑇𝑎 0 𝐶 𝐼𝑇 𝑀𝐽/𝑚2 𝑆 𝑀𝐽/𝑚2

7 to 8 A.M. -11 0.02 ---
8 to 9 A.M. -8 0.43 0.35
9 to 10 A.M. -2 0.99 0.82
10 to 11 A.M. 2 3.92 3.29
11 to 12 A.M. 3 3.36 2.84
12 to 1 P.M. 6 4.01 3.39
1 to 2 P.M. 7 3.84 3.21
2 to 3 P.M. 8 1.96 1.63
3 to 4 P.M. 9 1.21 0.99
4 to 5 P.M. 7 0.05 ---

Problem (2)
Find the mean fluid and plate temperature for the previous problem where:
The inlet water temperature is 400 𝐶 The useful heat gain , 𝑞𝑢 = 1.5 𝑀𝐽/𝑚2 , collector flow factor ,
𝐹 ′ = 0.948 , The hear removal factor , 𝐹𝑅 = 0.797 , and the overall loss coefficient 𝑈𝐿 = 8 𝑊/𝑚2 𝐾 .

Problem (3)

Find the two days of the year, where there is no shade at noon at the location where the latitude
Φ = 170

[Answer: May the 8th and August the 5th ]