FACULTY OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Bachelor of Engineering Technology

(Energy & Environment) with Honours

Lab
Solar Thermal Collector
02
BTV4703
Solar Energy System
Objectives

By the end of this lab, students should be able to:

1. To measure the irradiation of light source using Solar Power Meter.

2. To understand the basic process take place in a solar thermal collector.
3. To determine the factor that may affect the efficiency of a solar thermal
collector.

Lecturer’s Name : Dr. Amir bin Abdul Razak

20 Student names
Student
Section Group
ID
WAN NUR FATHIYAH BT PAUZI TC16002 01G 1
RAIHAN SYAHIRAH BINTI RAMLI TC16044 01G 1
MUHAMMAD AMIR HIZBULLAH BIN
TC16051 01G 1
SEZALI
INTRODUCTION
Solar collectors are the key component of active solar-heating systems. They gather the sun's
energy, transform its radiation into heat, and then transfer that heat to a fluid (usually water or
air). The solar thermal energy can be used in solar water-heating systems, solar pool heaters,
and solar space-heating systems. There are a large number of solar collector designs that have
shown to be functional. These designs are classified in two general types of solar collectors:
 Flat-plate collectors – the absorbing surface is approximately as large as the overall
collector area that intercepts the sun's rays.
 Concentrating collectors – large areas of mirrors or lenses focus the sunlight onto a
smaller absorber.

Flat-plate collectors
Flat-plate collectors are the most common solar collector for solar water-heating systems in
homes and solar space heating. A typical flat-plate collector is an insulated metal box with a
glass or plastic cover (called the glazing) and a dark-colored absorber plate. These collectors
heat liquid or air at temperatures less than 80°C.

Figure 1: A typical liquid Flat Plate Collector

The amount of solar radiation received by the collector can be measure using a formula where
I is the intensity of solar radiation, in W/m2 and the incident on the aperture plane of the solar
collector having a collector surface area of A, m2.
However, as shown in Figure 2, a part of the radiation is reflected back to the sky, another
component is absorbed by the glazing and the rest is transmitted through the glazing and
reaches the absorber plate as short wave radiation.

Figure 2: Heat flow through a Flat Plate solar collector

Therefore the conversion factor indicates the percentage of the solar rays penetrating the
transparent cover of the collector (transmission) and the percentage being absorbed. Basically,
it is the product of the rate of transmission of the cover and the absorption rate of the absorber.
As the collector absorbs heat its temperature is getting higher than that of the surrounding and
heat is lost to the atmosphere by convection and radiation. The rate of heat loss (Qo) depends
on the collector overall heat transfer coefficient (UL) and the collector temperature.

Thus, the rate of useful energy extracted by the collector (Qu),

expressed as a rate of extraction under steady state conditions, and is proportional to the rate
of useful energy absorbed by the collector, less the amount lost by the collector to its
surroundings. It is also known that the rate of extraction of heat from the collector may be
measured by means of the amount of heat carried away in the fluid passed through it, that is:
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

1. Solar thermal collector modules

2. Spotlight (solar power simulator)
3. Solar power meter
4. Air velocity meter
5. Digital thermometer
6. Pump
7. Plastic plate cover
8. Bucket

PROCEDURE
a) Solar thermal collector by using water as transport agent

1. Ensure one of the plastic tubing of the solar collector is connect to the pump in
order to allow the water to enter the solar collector system.
2. Add water to the bucket until the pump inlet is completely submerged.
3. Ensure the pump is fully open.
4. Place the digital thermometer on the black flat plate and then place the plastic
plate cover on the solar collector system.
5. Place the solar collector system in the desired location, ensuring the sufficient
of light is available.
6. Measure the temperature of the water inlet and outlet.
7. Measure the radiation of the spotlight solar.
8. Measure the temperature of the black flat plate.
9. Ensure that the reading is taken every 10 minutes until 30 minutes.
10. Repeat step 6 - 9 with half open pump.
 b) Solar thermal collector by using air as transport agent

1. Ensure the plastic tubing is detached from the pump.

2. Switch on the fan of the solar collector by minimum speed.
3. Measure the temperature of the black flat plate.
4. Measure the inlet and outlet air velocity.
5. Measure the temperature of the inlet and outlet air velocity.
6. Ensure that the reading is taken every 5 minutes until 15 minutes.
7. Repeat step 3 – 6 with the maximum speed of the fan.

RESULTS
Solar heat collector (water)
Ambient temperature: 20 °C
Initial solar radiation: 368.1 W/m2
Initial water inlet temperature: 28.7 °C
Table 1: The result for the solar heat collector using fully open pump
Solar Different in
Time Black plate Water inlet Water
radiation Temperature
(minutes) (°C) (°C) outlet (°C)
(W/m2 (°C)
350.6 10 50.5 29.5 30.1 0.60
363.1 20 52.7 30.5 31.1 0.60
360.1 30 54.1 31.5 32.1 0.60

Table 2: The result for the solar heat collector using half open pump
Solar Different in
Time Black plate Water inlet Water
radiation Temperature
(minutes) (°C) (°C) outlet (°C)
(W/m2 (°C)
357.1 10 55.3 32.3 33.6 1.3
361.8 20 56.1 33.2 34.6 1.4
367.6 30 56.7 33.8 35.0 1.2
Solar heat collector (air)
Initial inlet air velocity temperature: 31.1 °C
Initial inlet air velocity: 0.15 m/s
Initial outlet air velocity temperature: 31.5 °C
Initial outlet air velocity: 0.87 m/s
Table 3: The result for the solar heat collector using minimum fan speed
Black Inlet air Outlet Inlet air Outlet air Different in
Time
plate velocity velocity temperature temperature Temperature
(minutes)
(°C) (m/s) (m/s) (°C) (°C) (°C)
5 56.5 0.20 0.80 32.0 32.4 0.40
10 55.3 0.18 0.87 31.0 32.0 1.00
15 54.1 0.21 0.98 31.0 32.3 1.30

Table 4: The result for the solar heat collector using maximum fan speed
Black Inlet air Outlet Inlet air Outlet air Different in
Time
plate velocity velocity temperature temperature Temperature
(minutes)
(°C) (m/s) (m/s) (°C) (°C) (°C)
5 52.3 0.22 1.37 31.0 32.6 1.60
10 51.5 0.18 1.38 31.3 33.3 2.00
15 51.2 0.19 1.25 31.3 33.2 2.10
QUESTIONS

1. Compare the different between the rate of temperature change between Table 1
and Table 2.
The different in temperature change every 10 minutes in Table 2 are double more than
values in Table 1. The manipulation variable is the water volumetric flow rate where
experiment for Table 1 are using fully open valve while for Table 2, the valve are half-
open. Simplest hypothesis that can been made is the slower the volumetric flow rate the
higher the different in temperature between inlet and outlet water temperature.
2. Compare the different between the rate of temperature change between Table 3
and Table 4.
The different in temperature in Table 3 are change drastically while in Table 4 the
different in temperature only slightly change for every five minutes. The manipulated
variable are the air flow rate where slow air flow rate were used for experiment 3 while
high air flow rate were used for experiment 4. To conclude, the slower the air flow rate
the higher the different in temperature change between inlet and outlet air temperature.
3. Determine the factors that may affect the efficiency of the solar thermal collector
in both experiments.
For the first and second part of experiment, the materials used are be the main
factor that may affect the result. This is because the experiment used an open bucket as
the water storage. This would a lot of heat losses to surrounding easily. Then, plastic
piping system maybe not a very conductor to transfer heat from the black plate into the
water used. The design of piping system also may affect the result. Maybe using a
rectangular piping may increase the efficiency where the surface contact area are larger.
For the third and fourth part of the experiment, the main factor that could affect
the result is the surrounding environment where people keep walk around the area. The
movement of those people may produce some unwanted heated. At same time, there
are a switch-on floor fan nearest the area. The repeating rotation of the fan from left to
right and right to left maybe could affect the air velocity.
DISCUSSION
1. State the different between the medium used. Which one is better? Air or
water?
Based on the experiment, the different in temperature for using water shown a
consistent changes even the water flow rate were manipulated and the different in
temperature for using air are not consistent. For directly used purpose, water would be
better in this case because consistency could be an important thing to control most of
process. In addition, water are using close system while air are using open system. In
term of safety, we could say that close system are more secure from contamination.
Besides, water are looking easier to be handle compare to air for example in term of
insulation.
2. Based on the experiment, what do you think the most common factor that may
affect the efficiency of a solar thermal collector?
The main factors that maybe influencing energy generation of a solar thermal
collector is solar radiation intensity that received by the collector (in W/m²), which is
an environmental factor. This effectively received solar radiation can be limited by dust,
snow or any other natural or artificial shadowing. Average collector temperature which
itself depends on heat transfer driven by two environmental factors either ambient
temperature or wind, which causes forced convection heat transfer with the atmosphere.
Wind influence is relatively small for glazed collectors but becomes very important for
unglazed collectors (like the ones used to heat swimming pools for instance).
Next is the design and material used. Current technology sure can produce a lot
of design that may counter or adapt with the environment factor that maybe could
reduce the efficiency or maybe at least optimize the efficiency of a solar thermal
collector.