Accepted Manuscript

Experimental analysis on thermal performance of a solar air collector with a single pass Ming Yang, Pengsu Wang, Xudong Yang, Ming Shan PII: DOI: Reference: To appear in: S0360-1323(12)00125-4 10.1016/j.buildenv.2012.04.009 BAE 3141 Building and Environment

Received Date: 27 September 2011 Revised Date: 7 April 2012 Accepted Date: 9 April 2012

Please cite this article as: Yang M, Wang P, Yang X, Shan M, Experimental analysis on thermal performance of a solar air collector with a single pass, Building and Environment (2012), doi: 10.1016/ j.buildenv.2012.04.009 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

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Manuscript for Building and Environment

Experimental analysis on thermal performance of a solar air collector with a single pass

Ming Yang, Pengsu Wang, Xudong Yang*, Ming Shan

Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P.R. China

* Corresponding author: Dr. Xudong Yang

Department of Building Science, School of Architecture Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Tel: +86-10-6278-8845 Fax: +86-10-6277-3461

E-mail address: xyang@tsinghua.edu.cn (X. Yang)

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Experimental analysis on thermal performance of a solar air collector with a single pass

Abstract

Five critical parameters may have influence on the thermal performance of a solar air collector with one pass: (1) heat transfer resistance in the airflow channel, (2) height of the stagnant air layer, (3) optical properties of the transparent cover, (4) emittance of the absorber plate and (5) conductive thermal resistance of the back plate. In order to show the actual effects of these parameters, six collectors, each was made by changing one critical parameter mentioned above, were tested under the same working conditions. Thermal efficiency was employed as the main indicator. Results show that decreasing heat transfer resistance in the airflow channel played the most significant role in improving thermal efficiency. Adjusting the height of the stagnant air layer and improving the optical properties of the transparent cover played the secondary role. Increasing the conductive thermal resistance of the back plate and decreasing the emittance of the absorber plate had the least impact. The results would be useful to guide or optimize solar air collector design.

distribution

List of symbols Nomenclature As solar collecting area (m2) Cp specific heat (J/(kgK)) Dh hydraulic diameter (m)
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Keywords: solar air collector, critical parameter analysis, thermal efficiency, energy

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D F H

L
h Gs

diameter of the duct (m) heat transfer area (m2) height (m) length of the collector (m) heat transfer coefficient (w/(m2K)) solar irradiance intensity (w/m2)

Nusselt number = hDh Prandtl number Pr Q heat (W), or accumulated energy (MJ) Reynolds number = vDh / Re Kelvin temperature (K) T t temperature () v velocity (m/s) width of the collecting area (m) W X view factor position along the airflow direction (m) x V volume (m3) Greek letters absorptivity density (kg/m3) thermal efficiency emissivity time (s), or transmissivity
Nu

Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 5.6710-8W/(m2K4) kinematic viscosity ( m2/s)

Subscripts a air a,inlet inlet air a,outlet outlet air a,out outside air a1 stagnant air layer a2 airflow ac1,out convection of the transparent cover ac3,out convection of the back plate ar3,out radiation between the back plate and ground bp,loss heat loss from the back plate c convection e enthalpy g ground g,1 between the ground and transparent cover internal energy ie other other out outside, ambient
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& Ma

mass airflow rate (kg/s)

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r1,sky r1,g re r21 r12 r32 r23 s s,1 sky sky,1 tc,loss u 1 2 3

radiation between the transparent cover and sky radiation between the transparent cover and ground reflection radiation from the absorber plate to the transparent cover radiation from the transparent cover to the absorber plate radiation from the interior surface of the back plate to the absorber plate radiation from the absorber plate to the interior surface of the back plate solar solar irradiance on the transparent cover sky between the sky and transparent cover heat loss from the transparent cover useful transparent cover absorber plate back plate

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1 Introduction
Solar air collectors, because of their simplicity and low-cost, are a promising heating technology for buildings and industrial processes. Previous studies dealing with the critical parameters of solar air collectors have presented qualitative or quantitative optimization suggestions to guide efficient collector design. These studies cover glazed collectors with different types of covers, solar selective or black-paint absorbers, different roughness elements on absorber plates, airflow channel geometries, fin structures, etc. [1-22]. Many authors regarded the airflow channel structure as the critical parameter, and carried out research accordingly. For instance, Mittal et al [11] found that inclined ribs as the roughness elements had higher efficiency in the higher range of Reynolds number, while expanded metal mesh was suitable in the lower range by simulating several types of roughness in the airflow channel. Pottler et al. [12] drew the optimized finned absorber geometries by comparing several typical types of fin structures in the airflow channel, and the optimal values and thermal efficiency were shown under specific operating conditions. Hegazy [6] stated in his simulation work that the best thermal performance of the collector could be achieved when the optimum depth of airflow channel equaled to 2.510-3 times the length of the channel, indicating that the depth was only 2.5mm when the length was 1m, which may not be very practical. Another parameter analysis was performed by Biondi et al [2]. They employed geometric coefficient as the indicator to predict thermal performance by supposing fully developed turbulent flow in the

Moummi et al [13] pointed out that using the solar selective coating on the absorber plate may

of the air heater with some storage materials, and pointed out that the optimum thickness of the storage material should be about 0.12 m for drying the agricultural products. In order to systematically evaluate the critical parameters influencing solar air collectors

and draw more general optimization suggestions for the collector design, five critical parameters were first singled out based on qualitative modeling research. Comparative experimental measurements were then carried out to show the effects of these parameters. Serial solar air collectors were fabricated by changing one of the five critical parameters at a
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not have significant positive impact. Aboul-Enein et al. [14] analyzed the thermal performance

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rectangular duct. Besides, physical property of the material was another research focus.

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time, and tested under the same working conditions for their thermal performances. Temperatures of the airflow, outdoor air and surfaces, as well as the air volume, wind velocity and solar irradiance intensity were measured. Thermal efficiencies as the main indicator were calculated and compared.

2 Qualitative modelling research

2.1 Heat transfer modeling

The heat transfer components of solar air collector in this work are schematically depicted in Figure 1.The heat transfer model is based on the following assumptions:

1. The solar air collector is normally made of materials with small thermal capacity, such as iron, glass, expanded polystyrene board (EPS). Therefore, the thermal capacity of the collector components can be negligible (

2. The heated air flow inside the collector has a uniform velocity. 3. The air temperature only varies along the air flow direction. 3. The flow channel is hydraulically smooth.

4. There is no air leakage to or from the collector, nor between the stagnant air layer and airflow

5. The side plate is thermally insulated.

Energy balance equations of the components of the collector are written as [23]: For transparent cover (single-layer glazing, Part 1):
C p1 1V1 dt1 = ( hac1, out + hr 1, sky + hr 1, g ) ( t a , out t1 ) F1 + ha1 F1 ( ta1 t1 ) + hr 21 ( t 2 t1 ) F1 + 1Qs ,1 d

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channel.

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dt = 0 ). d

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For absorber plate (Part 2):

C p 2 2V2

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dt 2 = ha1 F2 ( t a1 t 2 ) + ha 2 F2 ( t a 2 t2 ) + hr 12 ( t1 t 2 ) F2 + hr 32 ( t3 t 2 ) F2 + 2 1Qs ,1 d

For back plate (Part 3):

C p 3 3V3

dt3 = ha 2 F3 ( t a 2 t3 ) + hr 23 ( t 2 t3 ) F3 + ( hac 3, out + har 3,out )( t a ,out t3 ) F3 d

For stagnant air layer (Part a1):

C pa aVa1

dt a1 = ha1 F2 ( t2 ta1 ) + ha1 F1 ( t1 ta1 ) d

For airflow (Part a2):

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(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

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C pa aWH a 2

t a 2 t & + M a C pa a 2 = ha 2W ( t2 ta 2 ) + ha 2W ( t3 ta 2 ) x

(5)

Reflection can be calculated by the solar energy balance:

Qre = (1 1 21 )Qs ,1
2.2 Qualitative parametric studies

(6)

It is known that the collector would work in higher efficiency when there is less heat loss and more useful energy extracted from the collector.

Based on equation (1), there are three ways to decrease heat loss from the transparent

decrease the temperature of the absorber plate. This means to intensify convection in the pass, which could be accomplished by minimizing the thermal resistance in the airflow channel; (b) reduce natural convection in the stagnant air layer, so that to decrease the convective heat transfer coefficient accordingly. This could be achieved by adjusting the height of the stagnant air layer; (c) decrease solar irradiance absorption of the transparent cover, which could come true by improving the optical properties of the glazing, such as reducing the absorptivity of the glazing.

decrease the radiation between the absorber and back plate, which could be implemented by minimizing the thermal resistance in the airflow pass as discussed above; (b) decrease the heat loss coefficient of the back plate, by increasing the thermal insulation resistance. Based on equation (6), increasing the transmittance and reducing the reflectivity of the transparent cover and absorber plate can help to increase the optical efficiency of the transparent system, thus to enhance the thermal efficiency of the collector. Generally, it is necessary to concern the following critical parameters: (a) thermal

resistance between the airflow and the absorber plate; (b) the height of stagnant air layer; (c) the optical properties of the transparent cover; (d) the emittance of the absorber plate; (e) the thermal resistance of the back plate.

3 Experimental fundamentals and methodology

On the basis of the energy distribution of the collector, as Figure 2 presents, thermal efficiency of the collector, serving as the main indicator, is calculated by equation (7):
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Based on equation (3), there are two ways to reduce the heat loss from the back plate: (a)

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cover: (a) decrease radiation between the absorber plate and the transparent cover, thereby to

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Qu Qs

(7)

Where Qu is the accumulated useful energy extracted from the collector during the working period, which is written as:

Qs is solar input energy, determined by equation (9):

Qs = (Gs As ) d
0

Based on energy conservation, the internal energy change of the collector is caused by thermal disturbance, expressed as:
Qie = Qs Qu Qtc ,loss Qbp ,loss Qre

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Where Qtc,loss and Qbp,loss are the accumulated heat losses of the transparent cover and back plate respectively, which can be calculated by the following equations:
Qtc,loss = ( hac1,out ,1 + hr1, sky + hr1, g ) ( t1 ta ,out ) F d
0

The convective heat transfer coefficient in equations (11) and (12) can be derived from the relationship drawn by Sparrow et al. [24], which is used for calculating the external heat

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Qbp ,loss = ( hac 3,out + har 3,out )( t3 ta ,out ) F d

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transfer coefficient over the transparent cover and the back plate when Re ( =
2 10 4 to 9 10 4 :

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N u = 0 .86 R e 1/ 2 P r 1/ 3

Where Nu = and Dh =

hac ,out Dh

2WL W +L

And the radiation heat transfer coefficient between the transparent cover and sky is written as [25]:

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va Dh

& Qu = C pa M a ( ta ,outlet ta ,inlet ) d

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

) varies from

(13)

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4 X sky ,11 b (Tsky T14 )

hr1,sky =

Ta ,out T1

(16)

Where the equivalent sky temperature Tsky could be determined by Swinbank equation [26]:
Tsky = 0.0552Ta1.5 , out

The radiation heat transfer coefficient between the transparent cover and ground is expressed as [25]:

For normal installation condition of a solar air collector (e.g., 40 installation angle form

view factor between the transparent cover and ground is only 0.1 [27]. Therefore, it is reasonable to neglect the radiation between the transparent cover and ground. Additionally, the view factor between the back plate and ground is nearly 1.0, so the radiation heat transfer coefficient between the back plate and ground is written as [25]:

Where the ground temperature Tg is obtained from the climate database [28]. It is noticed that the reflection energy Qre and the internal energy change Qie are difficult to

calculated by equation (20):

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be determined by test directly, so Qother is defined to present the sum of them, and it can be

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har 3,out =

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3 b (Tg4 T34 )
Ta ,out T3

the horizontal plane), the view factor between the transparent cover and sky is 0.9, while the

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hr1, g =

X g ,11 b (Tg4 T14 )

Ta ,out T1

Qother = Qs Qu Qtc ,loss Qbp ,loss

4 Experimental devices and procedure

4.1 Collectors

collectors, named A-F, respectively. In which, collector A served as the baseline one, with the parameters as follows: (1) The solar collecting area was 2m (length) 1m (width); (2) The installation angle of the collector was 40 from horizontal;
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The layout of the solar air collector studied is shown in Figure 3. There were totally six

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(18)

(19)

(20)

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(3) The transparent cover was made of a normal polycarbonate panel, with a thickness of 5mm; (4) The height of stagnant air layer was 0.01m, while that of the airflow channel was 0.1m; (5) The absorber plate was made of iron, which was 1mm thick and black-painted; (6) Thermal insulation board EPS (expanded polystyrene board), with thermal conductivity 0.046 W/(mK) , was put on the exterior surfaces of the back and side plates, with a thickness of 50mm.

Collectors B-F were respectively made by changing one critical parameters at a time, as

In order to decrease the thermal resistance in the air flow channel, plate fins were put in the

shows. The fins were made of iron, located parallel to the air flow channel, whose length and height were the same as those of the air flow channel, thickness was around 0.4mm. The fins were added to the absorber plate by rivets. The air driven by the fan diffuses to the entire column area at the inlet of the collector, and flows along the fins, so as to help increase the airflow temperature by strengthen the convective heat transfer in the airflow channel, and finally leads to improved thermal performance of the collector. It was noticed that the convective heat transfer coefficient in the airflow channel could reach more than 4 W/(m2K) normally, so the heat transfer area was chosen as 8 m2 to make the thermal resistance in the airflow channel less than 0.04 K/W, which was low enough if there was no contact thermal resistance between the absorber plate and fins. In the collector fabrication, attention was paid to keep away possible negative effects as much as possible. For instance, the gap among the insulation board was filled with polyurethane foam, with the purpose of maintaining good thermal insulation. The support structure of the transparent cover was made of rubber in order to avoid thermal bridge between the absorber plate and the cover. The block was located near the outlet to make the airflow distribution more uniform on the cross-sectional area in the pass.

4.2 Experiment set-up

The parameters to be measured include: inlet, outlet and outdoor air temperatures, exterior surface temperatures of the transparent cover and back plate, airflow and wind velocities, as
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airflow channel to add heat transfer area and increase heat transfer coefficient, as Figure 4

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Table 1 presents.

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well as solar irradiance intensity on the collecting area. The experimental set-up is shown in Figure 5. All the temperatures were measured by the T-type thermal couples, covered with tin fold. The locations of the temperature measuring points are given in Figure 5. There was only one testing point on each exterior surface under the assumption that the temperature distribution was uniform on the surfaces, which was reasonable because of large heat transfer coefficient, normally more that 15 W/(m2K) [25-26], between the collector and the ambient environment. Besides that, two temperature measuring points were located at the inlet and outlet of the

temperature data were recorded automatically.

shows, the distance between the testing points and flow spoilers (e.g. valve, elbow, and etc.) was at least 6 times of duct diameter (6D) along the flow direction, meanwhile the whole length of the straight, non-spoiler duct was more than (9D) to eliminate the vortex impact. Additionally, in the cross-sectional area, two testing points were put to obtain the average value by considering the airflow velocity distribution in the duct [29].

Details of the measuring instruments used are presented in Table 2. These instruments meet the needs of the measuring range and accuracy to ensure the data reliability. The time step of data collection was set as 2 minutes, except the air velocity in the duct, which was recorded every 15 minutes manually.

4.3 Testing procedure

The experiments were carried out on April 28th, 2011, in the Rural Energy and Environment Laboratory (REEL) of Tsinghua University, a research facility located in the suburb of Beijing, China. The weather condition on the testing day was presented in Figure 7. All six collectors run from 8:30 to 15:30, and the data collection started from 8:45. The fan

pumped outdoor air into the collector at a constant flow rate around 100m3/h, by adjusting the valve on the duct between the fan and inlet manually. As Figures 8 and 9 present, the maximal difference of the inlet air temperatures was less than 1.0, and that of the air velocities in the duct less than 0.5 m/s, indicating the collectors were almost in the same working condition with the same reduced temperature difference. Therefore, the differences of the thermal efficiencies,
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Air velocity measuring points were put in the duct between the inlet and fan. As Figure 6

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collector respectively. Each T-type thermal couple was fitted in the data logger, and all the

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as well as the temperatures and energy distributions would be solely due to the change of critical solar air collector parameters.

5 Results and discussion

5.1 Thermal efficiency
Figure 10 shows the experimental results of thermal efficiency for the six collectors. There was significant enhancement in efficiency, around 14.5% by decreasing the heat transfer resistance in the airflow channel (by comparing collectors A and B), 5.5% by adjusting the height in the stagnant air layer (by comparing collectors C and D), and 3.4 % by increasing the transmittance of the transparent cover (by comparing collectors D and E). However, neither increasing the thickness of the thermal insulation board (by comparing collectors B and C) nor decreasing the emittance of the absorber plate (by comparing collectors E and F) resulted notable improvement. The results indicate that decreasing heat transfer resistance in the airflow channel played the most significant role in improving thermal efficiency. Adjusting the height of the stagnant air layer and improving the optical properties of the transparent cover played the second role. Increasing the conductive thermal resistance of the back plate and decreasing the emittance of the absorber plate seemed to have the least impact.

5.2 Temperatures

As Figure 11 (a) and Figure 12 show, the outlet air temperatures rise could reach around 6.0 by reducing the heat transfer resistance in the airflow channel, and around 2.3 or 1.5

of the transparent cover. Increasing the thickness of the thermal insulation board or decreasing

varied in the opposite way compared with the outlet air temperatures. The higher the outlet air temperature, the lower the exterior surface temperature. It decreased by around 7.0 when reducing the heat transfer resistance in the airflow channel, and around 1.0 when either adjusting the height of the stagnant air layer or increasing the transmittance of the transparent cover. As Figure 11 (c) and Figure 12 present, the exterior surface temperatures of the back plate
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the emittance of the absorber plate did not have significant influence. The exterior surface temperatures of the transparent cover (Figure 11(b) and Figure 12)

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by respectively adjusting the height of the stagnant air layer or increasing the transmittance

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were nearly the same for all six collectors tested. This could be explained by the fact that the conductive heat transfer coefficient of the insulation board was smaller than 0.92W/(m2K), much lower than the comprehensive heat transfer coefficient of the exterior surface (higher than 15 W/(m2K)). Therefore, the exterior surface temperatures were close to the outdoor air temperature.

5.3 Energy distribution

Energy distribution, including the accumulated energy during the fans running period and the ratio of different parts of the energy, was employed to find out the thermal process changes

By comparing the energy distribution of collectors A and B, reducing the heat transfer

method could strengthen the convection under small temperature difference between the absorber plate and air flow. Meanwhile, based on the theory of energy conservation, there would be less heat loss if more solar irradiance was transferred to the airflow. It is also noticed that Qother increased after decreasing the heat transfer resistance, which was probably caused by the increase of thermal mass through adding fins.

By comparing collectors B and C, it was shown that increasing the thermal resistance of back plate would not lead to significant positive effect on thermal efficiency improvement. This could be explained by the fact that the heat loss of the back plate was no more than 3.5% of the total input energy, which played a very small role in enhancing the thermal efficiency. By comparing collectors C and D, adjusting the height of the stagnant air layer would decrease the heat loss from the transparent system, which would be beneficial to increase the temperature of the absorber plate, leading to more convection to the airflow, and more radiation to the back plate. This would increase the useful energy but cause more heat loss from the back plate at the same time. Overall, the positive effect prevailed over the negative one because the back plate was well insulated. By comparing collectors D and E, increasing the transmittance of the transparent cover played a positive role in increasing the useful energy. This was mainly because it could decrease the reflection of the collector, increase the temperature of the absorber plate, and strengthen the convection in the airflow channel consequently.
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resistance in the airflow channel was an effective way to increase the useful energy, because the

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after each step, as Figure 13 presents.

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The energy distribution of collectors E and F was almost the same. This indicates insignificant effect to reduce the emittance of the absorber plate by the use of solar selective coating on the absorber plate. One possible explanation was that the radiation between the transparent cover and absorber plate only took up a small portion of the total radiation from the absorber plate to the two surfaces, transparent cover and back plate. Therefore, using solar selective coating on such collectors would not help much in the low temperature heating mode.

6 Conclusions

Six solar air collectors, made by changing one critical parameter at a time, were tested under the same working conditions. Temperature, air velocity, wind velocity and solar irradiance intensity were measured. Thermal efficiency was chosen as the main indicator to show the effects of these critical parameters, and the thermal processes were analyzed in light of energy distribution changes of the test cases.

Based on the results, decreasing the heat transfer resistance in the airflow channel had the most significant effect on thermal efficiency enhancement. Adjusting the stagnant air layer and increasing the transmittance of the transparent cover played the second role. Increasing the conductive thermal resistance of the back plate or decreasing the emittance of the absorber plate had insignificant impact on thermal efficiency.

Acknowledgement

The project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Project

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Systematically evaluated the critical parameters influencing solar air collectors energy efficiency Six solar air collectors with different key parameters were measured Factors that have significant or insignificant effect on collector efficiency found Results would be useful for high-efficiency solar air collector design.

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Table 1. The parameters of the collectors

Name of the collector Collector B Collector C Collector D Collector E Collector F Change of the parameters On the basis of A, add 8 m2 plate fins in the airflow channel, to decrease the thermal resistance (as Figure 4 shows). On the basis of B, increase the thickness of the insulation board to 100mm, to increase the conductivity resistance of the back and side plates. On the basis of C, increase the height of the stagnant air layer to 40mm, to increase the thermal resistance of the stagnant air layer. On the basis of D, replace the polycarbonate panel by 5mm single-layer glazing, to increase the transmittance of the transparent cover. On the basis of E, decrease the emissivity of the absorber plate to 0.40 by using the solar selective coating, to decrease the heat loss by long wave radiation from the absorber plate.

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Table 2. Measuring apparatus used in the experiments

Name of apparatus Image Measuring range Accuracy 0.75% (number on the dial) Function Measure inlet and outlet air temperatures and surface temperatures

Data acquisition instrument (Agilent 34970A)

----

----

Anemometer (KIMO VT100)

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0-2000W/m
2

Velocity: 0.15 - 30.0 m/s; Temperature: -20 - +80 C Air volume: 0 - 99999 m3/h

Velocity: 3 % (number on the dial) 0.1; Temperature: 0.3 C; Air volume: 3 % (number on the dial)

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2 Temperature: 0.2 Wind velocity: (0.5 0.03 (number on the dial)) m/s

Pyranometer
(WXL20-LVRZC12)

Weather station (BJ7R-DYYZ RTF)

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Temperature: -50-50 ; Wind velocity: 0-60m/s

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Measure air velocity Measure the outdoor air temperature and wind velocity

Thermocouple (T type)

-200~300

Collect temperature data

Measure solar irradiance intensity on the collecting surface

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Captions of listed figures

Figure 1. Schematic showing the heat transfer components of the solar air collector.

Figure 2. Energy distributions of the solar air collector.

Figure 3. Layout of the solar air collector.

Figure 6. Air velocity measurement locations and testing points.

Figure 7. The weather condition on the test day. (a) Outdoor air temperature and solar irradiation on the collecting area; (b) Wind velocity.

Figure 8. Inlet air temperatures.

Figure 9. Air velocities in the duct.

Figure 10. Thermal efficiencies of the six collectors.

Figure 11. Temperature variations during the day. (a) Outlet; (b) Exterior surface of the transparent cover; (c) Exterior surface of the back plate.

Figure 12. Average temperatures of the collectors during the fans running period

Figure 13. Energy distributions of the six collectors.

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Figure 5. The experimental set-up of the solar air collector.

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Figure 4. Schematic view of the plate fin.

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Figure 1. Schematic showing the heat transfer components of the solar air collector.
Qs ,1

hr1, sky
hr1, g

hac1,out

t1 ha1 ta1 t2

ta ,out

hr12

hr 21
hr 23

ha 2 ha 2

ta 2

ta ,inlet

har 3,out hac 3,out

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hr 32

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ta ,outlet
t3

ha1

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Figure 2. Energy distributions of the solar air collector.

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TE D

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SC

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Figure 3. Layout of the solar air collector.

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SC

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Figure 4. Schematic view of the plate fin.

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TE D

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Figure 5. The experimental set-up of the solar air collector.

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TE D

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SC

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Figure 6. Air velocity measurement locations and testing points.

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TE D

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Figure 7. The weather condition on the test day.

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(b) Wind velocity

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(a) Outdoor air temperature and solar irradiance on the collecting area

SC

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Figure 8. Inlet air temperatures.

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TE D

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Figure 9. Air velocities in the duct.

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Figure 10. Thermal efficiencies of the six collectors.

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Figure 11. Temperature variations during the day.

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(b) Exterior surface of the transparent cover

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(a) Outlet

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(c) Exterior surface of the back plate

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TE D

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Figure 12. Average temperatures of the collectors during the fans running period

AC C

EP

TE D

M AN U

SC

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Figure 13. Energy distributions of the six collectors.

AC C

EP

TE D

M AN U

SC

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