4th IASME/WSEAS International Conference on ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEMS and SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (EEESD'08)

Algarve, Portugal, June 11-13, 2008

Mathematical Optimization of Solar Thermal Collectors Efficiency

Function Using MATLAB
1

RALUCA LATES1, ION VISA1, CIPRIAN LAPUSAN2

Product Design and Robotics Department, 2Mechanism, Fine Mechanic and Mecatronic Department
1
Transilvania University of Brasov, 2Technical University of Cluj Napoca
1
Eroilor, nr.29, Brasov 500036, 2B-dul Muncii, 103-105, Cluj Napoca
1
ROMANIA, 2ROMANIA

Abstract: - Solar thermal collectors are devices which collect solar radiation, they transform it into heat and
they deliver it to a heat exchanger through the heat carrier. The aim of the paper is to make an optimization of
their efficiency using MATLAB. The efficiency is expressed as a function of geometric and material
parameters which are variable. Some of the parameters are fixed and some vary in certain ranges. The
maximum value is found for efficiency which corresponds to the optimal combination of values for the
variable parameters. In conclusion comparisons between are made with known values for efficiency given by
solar collectors producers.
Key-Words: - Solar thermal collectors, Efficiency, Optimization, MATLAB, Function, Non-linear
minimization
The main components of a typical solar collector,
shown in Figure 1, are: the glazing surfaces (1) (one,
two or three pieces can be used), the flow tubes (2)
where inside the heat carrier flows, the absorber
plate (3), thermal insulation (4) and the casing (5)
which protects the components [3, 5, 7].
The literature gives information about the geometry
of the collectors components, about dimensions for
them (e.g. diameters of flow tubes, tubes spacing,
absorbers thickness etc.). All of these parameters
influence the efficiency of solar collectors, so in
order to obtain high (maximum) efficiencies the
right combination of parameter values has to be
found.
The aim of the paper is to make this optimization of
the efficiency by mathematical means using
MATLAB. The following section presents the
efficiency function which has to be maximized.

1 Introduction
The available solar energy can be used to obtain
electrical power by using photovoltaic panels or
solar thermal collectors which operates at very high
temperatures and to obtain heat. Solar thermal
collectors are the devices which collect solar
radiation, they transform it into heat and they deliver
to a heat exchanger through the heat carrier. The
paper refers to flat plate solar collectors with liquid
heat carrier.
Their construction can vary much and correspond to
different efficiencies, so it is necessary to find the
optimal combination of the values for parameters
which correspond to the maximum value of the
efficiency function.
In order to understand what the parameters refer to,
the drawing of a typical solar flat plate collector
with its components must be explained, Fig.1.

2 The efficiency function

The efficiency can be expressed as in equation (1)
[1, 2, 3], where:
is the collectors efficiency;

m - the flow rate;

C p - the specific heat of the liquid heat carrier;

U L - heat loss coefficient which will be expressed

in equation (2);
AC - the area of the collector;

Fig.1

ISBN: 978-960-6766-71-8

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ISSN: 1790-5095

4th IASME/WSEAS International Conference on ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEMS and SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (EEESD'08)
Algarve, Portugal, June 11-13, 2008

n - refraction index of the cover plate;

F - collector efficiency factor, expressed in
equation (10);
Ti - fluid temperature inside the collector;
- effective solar transmittance of the collector
Ta - ambient temperature;
cover(s);
H T - the radiation density on the collector surface.
- solar absorptance of the collector absorber plate
surface;

mC p
Ti Ta
U L Ac F

(1)
U
=

1 exp
L

2
2
H T
U L Ac
m C 1 (1 )(n 1) / (n + 1)
p

The heat loss coefficient can be replaced in equation

(1) with:
U L = Ut + Ub + Ue ,
(2)

Ut =

N
C
Tp

T p Ta

N+ f

1
hw

f = 1 + 0,089 h w 0,1166 h w p (1 + 0,07866 N ) ;

Ue =

The equation which define e:

100
;
e = 0,431

T
p

- Stefan Boltzman constant;

g - thermal emissivity of cover plate.

U
Liz

(3)

Al
,
Ac

(9)

where:
U is the thermal conductance of the edge insulation;
Liz - the width of the edge insulation;
Al - the edge area of the collector;
The collector efficiency factor F is expressed as:
1/ U L
,
(10)
F =

(4)

(5)

hw - convective heat transfer fluid coefficient

caused by the wind:
hw = 2,8 + 3,0V
(6)
and v is the wind speed.
p - the thermal emissivity of the absorber plate;

(D + d0 ) U (d 1+ f D ) + C1 + d1h
b
i f
L 0

where:
D is the distance between the flow tubes;
d 0 - exterior diameter of flow tubes;
It is defined f as:
tanh( y )
f=
,
y
where:

(7)

(11)

y = 0,5D(U L / kx )1 / 2 ;
(12)
k is the thermal conductivity of the absorber plate
and x the absorber plate thickness.
C b - represents the thermal conductance of the bond
between the plate and the riser tube:
A k
Cb = b b ,
(13)
tb
where Ab is the cross-sectional area of the heat
transfer through the bond per unit length of riser, k b

In equation (2), U b is the bottom loss coefficient:

k
Ub = ,
(8)
L
where k is the thermal conductance of the insulation
and L, the insulation width.
Also in equation (2), U e is the edge loss coefficient
and it is found as:

ISBN: 978-960-6766-71-8

2 N + f 1 + 0,133 p
1
+
N
p + 0,00591Nhw
g

f is defined as:

)(

T p2 + Ta2 T p + Ta

where:
N is the number of cover plates;
C is defined as:
C = 520 1 0,000051 2 ,
where is collector inclination angle;
T p - absorber plate temperature;

where U t is the top loss coefficient and its

expression is:

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ISSN: 1790-5095

4th IASME/WSEAS International Conference on ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEMS and SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (EEESD'08)
Algarve, Portugal, June 11-13, 2008

restrictions in the optimization process. The rest of

the parameters are considered fixed and values are
given for them.
The aim of the paper is to make the optimization
from the construction point of view that is the reason
why parameters linked to dimensions of different
components are selected. Ranges of values where
they vary are established from the literature [3, 5, 6].

- thermal conductivity of bond material, t b thickness of bond [4].

In equation (10), d i is the interior diameter of flow
tubes, h f the heat transfer coefficient.

3 Selecting the parameters

The section presents the selected parameters (six)
from the efficiency expression which will be the

0,0014 0,000144
0,0044 0,00044
. (14)
+
) F 0,85 +
+
1 exp (0,037 +

L
Liz
1,03LLiz + 0,04 Liz + 0,004 L
L
Liz

27,37 LLiz

optimized there is used one cover plate, N = 1 . It is

placed in town of Brasov (latitude 45,650), Romania,
the collectors inclination angle is = 450. The
absorber plate temperature is assumed as being
T p = 373K ; the ambient temperature Ta = 283K ;

The following parameters are selected and they vary

in some ranges:

The bottom insulation width, L 2 , 10 mm;

The width of edge insulation Liz 2 , 10 mm;

the wind speed v = 2m / s in order to have

ventilation over the collectors surface (as
recommended for testing); he thermal emissivity of
the absorber plate is p = 0,95 ; the Stefan

The distance between tubes, D 87 ; 98 mm;

The interior diameter of the flow tubes,

d i 32,5 ; 57 mm;

Boltzman constant is = 5,6 10 8W / m 2 K 4 ; the

emissivity of cover plate, for glass, there is
g = 0,94 .

The exterior diameter of the flow tubes,

d 0 35 ; 60 mm;

The absorber plate thickness, x 0,2 ; 2 mm.

The conduction coefficient of the thermal insulation

W
; the edge area of the collector
is K = 0,04
m K

The rest of the parameters are established for a

concrete case. The flow rate is established at

kg
m = 70 . The specific heat of the liquid heat
h
carrier which is a water-glycol mixture with 44%
J
glycol is C p = 3570
.
kg K
The transmittance absorptance product is
considered = 0,96 where = 0,95 ; the
refraction index is n = 1,52 [3]; the fluid
temperature inside the collector Ti = 373K ; the
density of radiation incident on the collector surface
is as in non cloudy day in Brasov town, Romania,

Al = 0.3m 2 ; the collector area Ac = 2.53m 2 .

Thermal conductivity of the absorber plate is
k = 1250W / mK .
The thermal conductance of the bond between the
plate and the riser tube is considered to be very high,
so 1 / Cb = 0 . The heat transfer coefficient is
h f = 1000W / m 2C .

After calculation the efficiency function is as shown

in eq. (14), where F is replaced with equation (15).

H T = 800W / m 2 .For the collector chosen to be

ISBN: 978-960-6766-71-8

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ISSN: 1790-5095

4th IASME/WSEAS International Conference on ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEMS and SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (EEESD'08)
Algarve, Portugal, June 11-13, 2008

1 /(1,03 +
F =

0,04 0,004
)
+
L
Liz

1
1
D + d0
+

1 / 2 1000d i

1,03 0,04 0,004

tanh 0,014 D
+
+

x
xL
xLiz

0,04 0,004

(
1
,
03
)
d0 +
+
+

1
/
2
L
Liz

1,03 0,04 0,004

0,014
+
+

x
xL
xL

iz

In order to make the optimization the function

fmincon from MATLAB is used, which calculate the
minimum of a nonlinear function with multi
variables and restrictions.
(16)
min f (x ) .
x
For this reason, in the presented case, the function
will be written:
f (x ) f (x ) .
(17)
The restrictions:
(18)
A x b ;
(19)
Aeq x = beq ;
(20)
lb x ub ;
Where x, b, beq, lb and ub are vectors, A and Aeq
are matrices, and f (x) the function to be calculated.
The expression
x = f min con( fun, x0, A, b, Aeq, lb, ub) ,
(21)
defines a set of values for the variables of x so
lb x ub and
[x, fval ] = f min con(...)
(22)
calculates the function value for solution x.
In order to define the objective function there will be
written in an M file:
function f=objfun(x).
(23)
The function being expressed in equation (14).

(@ objfun,

x0,

[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ],

2 x(1) 10
2 x(2) 10

80 x(3) 120
;

30 x(4) 70
0.1 x(5) 2

30 x(6) 70

(25)

lb = 2, 2, 80, 30, 0.1, 30 ;

(26)

[
]
ub = [10, 10, 120, 70, 2, 70].

(lb, ub

(27)

(28)

The
calculated
value
for
efficiency
is
fval = 0.8391 and the variables which correspond to
this maximum value are given in equation (30).

The value where each variable is checked for

calculations is chosen to be the middle of its range:
x0 = 0.5 (ub + lb ) .
(29)

ISBN: 978-960-6766-71-8

(15)

The restrictions are written in equation (24). For

MATLAB they are translated as in relation (25).
The vectors become as shown in equations (26) and
(27).
The maximum value of function will be calculated
with (28).
L = x(1)
L = x ( 2)
iz
D = x(3)
;
(24)

d 0 = x(4 )
x = x(5)

d i = x(6 )

4 Optimization with MATLAB

[x, fval ] = f min con

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ISSN: 1790-5095

4th IASME/WSEAS International Conference on ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEMS and SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (EEESD'08)
Algarve, Portugal, June 11-13, 2008

x(1) = 2
x(2 ) = 2

x(3) = 120
.

x(4 ) = 30
x(5) = 0.1

x(6 ) = 49.9954

[2] Gordon, J., Solar Energy The State of Art Ises

Position Paper, James & James Ltd., 2001.
[3] Goswami, D. Y., Kreith, F., Kreider, J. F.,
Principles of Solar Engineering, Taylor &
Francis, 2000.
[4] Ho-Ming, Y., Chii-Dong, H., Chun-Hung C.,
The Effect of Collector Aspect Ratio on the
Collector Efficiency of Sheet-and-Tube Solar
Fluid Heaters, Tamkang Journal of Science and
Engineering, Vol.2, No.2, 1999, pp.61-68.
[5] Lates, R., Visa, I., Diaconescu, D., The
influence of the inclination angle on the
efficiency of a flat plate solar collector, Annals
of the Oradea University, Fascicle of
Management and Technological Engineering,
Volume VI (XVI), CD-ROM Edition, Oradea,
Romania, 2007, pp.1082-1088.
[6] Sorensen, B., Renewable Energy, its physics,
engineering, use, environmental impacts,
economy and planning aspects, Elsevier, USA,
2004.
[7] Tiwari, G. N., Solar Energy Fundamentals,
Design, Modelling and Applications, Alpha
Science International Ltd., India, 2002.

(30)

5 Conclusion
The paper presents the mathematical optimization
made by using MATLAB of the efficiency of solar
thermal collectors. The first section makes an
introduction of collectors components in order to be
easier to understand the parameters which appear in
the efficiency equation presented in the second
section.
The described efficiency represents the objective
function used in the optimization process. A number
of six parameters are selected, linked to the
dimensions of different components, which are the
restrictions. The other parameters are adopted for a
concrete collector.
The result gives the maximum value of efficiency
which is 0,8391 and the variable values which
correspond to the maximum function.
On the market the efficiencies for solar thermal
collectors are given around the value of 78%, see
comparison from Figure 2 (column 1 represents the
efficiency given by producers of solar collectors and
2 the optimized efficiency).
Efficiencies comparison
86

Efficiency

84
82
80
78
76
74
1

2
Solar collector

Fig.2
The results show that it is obtained a higher value
for efficiency by using the mathematical
optimization than those offered on market.

References:
[1] Duffie, J. A., Beckman, W. A., Solar
Engineering of Thermal Processes, John Wiley
and Sons, Inc. USA, 1991.

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ISSN: 1790-5095