Study On Design of An Evacuated Tube Solar Collector For High Temperature Steam Generation

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 2, Issue 12, December 2012)
Study on Design of an Evacuated Tube Solar Collector for High

Temperature Steam Generation
Dr.S.P.Vendan1, L.P.A.Shunmuganathan2, T.Manojkumar2, C.Shiva Thanu2
1
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PSG CT.
2
Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PSG CT.
Abstract—The eco-friendly and non-polluting solar energy With less heat loss through the vacuum air layer in the
can be used for direct conversion into electricity by photo- evacuated tubes, these systems are more efficient at lower
voltaic conversion and into thermal energy by using Flat Plate ambient air temperatures. Compared to flat plate collectors,
Collectors (FPC) or Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC). evacuated tube collectors are less expensive. Require a
Evacuated Tube Collectors are more efficient compared to
smaller roof area than comparable flat plate collectors.
Flat Plate Collectors as the former eliminates the convective
heat losses. This paper discusses design calculations involved Maintaining vacuum is difficult in case of evacuated tube
in the development of an Energy Efficient Solar Thermal collector. For low temperature applications, flat plate
System for generating steam at atmospheric pressure. This collectors are more efficient compared to evacuated tube
finds applications such as Steam cooking, laundry etc. It collectors. But, for the purpose of high temperature
includes calculation of collector area and number of applications like steam generation, evacuated tube
evacuated tubes required. It also reports comparison of its collectors are best suited because of its minimum heat loss
performance with the conventionally used steam boilers in as shown in Figure. 1.
terms of fuel usage and carbon emissions.
Keywords— Evacuated Tube Collectors, Flat plate

collectors, Steam Generation, Low pressure steam
applications, Design of ETC.
I. INTRODUCTION
In present scenario, the energy crisis is predominant as
conventional sources of power such as fossil fuels are
depleting at a faster rate. Also, the usage of these fuels,
adversely affect our environment resulting in Global
warming, Ozone layer depletion, Acid rain etc. Hence,
there is a necessity to shift the focus towards other non-
conventional and renewable energy sources. Solar energy
finds its application over diverse fields. This paper focuses Figure 1 Comparison between FPC and ETC
on how solar energy can be used in ironing process of
laundry. The steam generated at 175 oC serves this purpose. III. EVACUATED TUBE COLLECTOR
Steam, generated using boilers or electrical systems can be
replaced by cost-effective solar thermal collector. The ETC’s are built to reduce convective and heat conduction
selection of appropriate solar collector, design calculation loss (vacuum is a heat insulator). Each evacuated tube
to estimate the approximate collector area and experimental consists of two glass tubes. The outer tube is made of
setup required to determine the collector performance are extremely strong transparent glass that is able to withstand
discussed in this paper. changing climatic conditions. The inner tube is also made
of glass, but coated with a special selective coating
II. COMPARISION BETWEEN FPC AND ETC (ALN/AIN-SS/CU) which features excellent solar heat
absorption and minimal heat reflection properties. The air
An evacuated tube collector is slightly more efficient is evacuated from the space between the two glass tubes to
than a flat plate system due to lower heat losses. form a vacuum.
539
In order to maintain the vacuum between the two glass Month Radiation (kWhr/m2/Day)
layers, a barium getter is used. During manufacture this
January 5.46
getter is exposed to high temperatures which cause the
bottom of the evacuated tube to be coated with a pure layer February 5.94
of barium. March 6.39
This barium layer actively absorbs any CO, CO2, N2, O2,
H2O and H2 outgases from the tube during storage and April 5.93
operation, thus helping to maintaining the vacuum. May 5.35
June 3.87
IV. DESIGN PROCEDURES
July 3.71
A. Nomenclature August 4.08
τ Transmittance of glass cover September 4.83
αη Absorptance of absorber surface
M Mass of water (kg) October 4.54
C Average heat capacity of receiver tube (J/kg K) November 4.65
ΔT Change in mass temperature (T) December 4.99
Δt Change in time period(sec)
I Solar radiation (W/m2)
A Area of receiver tube exposed to radiation (m2) For the design of ETC system, the material of outer tube
η Effciency is considered as Borosilicate Glass and its properties are
listed in the table II below:
B. Collector Area Design
TABLE III
The collector area A can be determined from the
following eqn. 1,[1] Material Borosilicate Glass
Selective coating materials AL/SS/CU
(1)
Absorption coefficient(α) 0.93
C. Number of tubes Emission coefficient 0.065
The determination of number of tubes depends on the Transmission coefficient (τ) 0.890
size of each tube available commercially. It is given by
eqn.2,
(2) A model calculation for producing 5Kg of steam at
175oC has been worked out and results have been listed in
D. Efficiency the following table II.
The efficiency is calculated using empirical relation [2] TABLE IIII

as follows:
S.No Description Values Units
η (3)
1 Collector Area 0.31 m2
V. DESIGN CALCULATIONS 2 Number of Tubes 4 Nos

The solar irradiation data is collected for Coimbatore
Theoretical
region over a period, which is shown in table 1. 3 0.251 -
Efficiency
The lowest value has been recorded in the month of July

and it has been used in the calculation of collector area.
TABLE I [3]
540
VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

This paper reviews the use of solar energy in laundry
applications. A Flat Plate collector does not operate
efficiently beyond a temperature difference of 70 0C. Hence
an evacuated tube collector serves as the best alternative
solar thermal technology for high temperature applications
upto 2000C. Greater efficiencies at high temperatures can
be achieved by the use of a solar concentrator technology.
Replacing the conventional method of ironing using boilers
or electrical heaters, by a solar thermal collector reduces
carbon footprint to great extent.
VII. FUTURE SCOPE

Our work can be extended to design an ETC system
with production capacity of 200 kg steam/ day for
industrial purposes. In order to minimize the collector area
and improve the overall efficiency of the system, a
concentrating collector can be used. It is used to focus a
beam of solar irradiation towards focal point with high
intensity, where absorber tube is placed. Further, this could
be optimized for different reflective material of
concentrator. An collector setup with sun-tracking system
could be used for improved efficiency.[3]
REFERENCES
[1] Sukhatme, S.P. and Nayak, J.K. Solar Energy: Principles of Thermal
Collection and Storage.
[2] Rai, G.D. Solar Energy Utilisation.
[3] Website of National Renewable Energy Limited (NREL).
541

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Study on Design of an Evacuated Tube Solar Collector for High

Keywords— Evacuated Tube Collectors, Flat plate

The efficiency is calculated using empirical relation [2] TABLE IIII

V. DESIGN CALCULATIONS 2 Number of Tubes 4 Nos

The lowest value has been recorded in the month of July

VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

VII. FUTURE SCOPE

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