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CFD investigation of a new flat plate collector with additional front side transparent insulation for use in cold regions

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  • Zhou, Liqun
  • Wang, Yiping
  • Huang, Qunwu

Abstract

In cold environments, flat plate solar collectors are of limited value because high heat losses lead to low efficiency. The integration of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sheet into flat plate collector is presented in this paper. The performance of this collector in cold weather was investigated using a three-dimension simulation model. A simplified experiment was conducted to verify the precision of numerical model and the simulation data can agree very well with practical ones. The effects of the thickness and location for PMMA sheet on the performance of collector efficiency following steady state were analyzed. The transmittance of transparent insulation material is the key parameter to achieve high performance for the collector. The optimum thickness of the transparent insulation material is 1 mm in simulated conditions and the best location of PMMA sheet was achieved. The result shows that the increase of the collector efficiency from the conventional collector is 11.3%, when reduced temperature difference is equal to 0.1 m2 °C/W and the ambient temperature is −20 °C.

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  • Zhou, Liqun & Wang, Yiping & Huang, Qunwu, 2019. "CFD investigation of a new flat plate collector with additional front side transparent insulation for use in cold regions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 754-763.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:138:y:2019:i:c:p:754-763
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.02.014
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    Cited by:

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    2. Amiche, A. & El Hassar, S.M.K. & Larabi, A. & Khan, Z.A. & Khan, Z. & Aguilar, F.J. & Quiles, P.V., 2020. "Innovative overheating solution for solar thermal collector using a reflective surface included in the air gap," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 355-365.
    3. Wiesław Zima & Łukasz Mika & Karol Sztekler, 2024. "Numerical and Experimental Determination of Selected Performance Indicators of the Liquid Flat-Plate Solar Collector under Outdoor Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Ma, Ruihua & Ma, Dongyan & Ma, Ruijiang & Long, Enshen, 2022. "Theoretical and experimental analysis of temperature variation of V–Ti black ceramic solar collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 1153-1162.
    5. Liu, He & Tian, You & Liu, Jia'ao & Zhang, Dongwei & Wu, Xuehong & Li, Zengyao, 2023. "Performance analysis of solar drying system with sunlight transparent thermally insulating aerogels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    6. William Quitiaquez & José Estupiñán-Campos & César Nieto-Londoño & Patricio Quitiaquez, 2023. "CFD Analysis of Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Flat-Plate Solar Collector/Evaporator with Different Geometric Variations in the Cross Section," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-15, August.

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