p-ISSN : 2278-9510 Vol. 5 No.

04S Apr 2013 161

International J ournal of Engineering Science and Technology e-ISSN : 0975-5462
PREDICTION OF OPTIMUM ANGLE OF SOLAR
WATER HEATER FOR COIMBATORE LOCATION
M. SEKAR
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Technology
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
[email protected]
DR M. SAKTHIVEL
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Regional Research Institute
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
[email protected]
O. MANIYARASU
PG Student, Thermal Engineering, Government College of Technology
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
[email protected]
N.ALAGU MURUGAN
PG Student, Thermal Engineering, Government College of Technology
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu,India
[email protected]
Abstract
The objective of this work was to investigate ways to enhance the performance of solar water heater system
to encourage many households using it. The integrated collector storage is the type of solar water heater
that has retained its existence for well over a century. The fat absorber plate integrated collector storage
type is a relatively recent addition. Being effective, low cost and simple to manufacture, their importance
has been further enhanced by the recent upsurge in efforts to effectively tap renewable energy resources.
Having different inclinations based on latitude, the design of fat plate heaters can beneft from extensive
amount of research on the topic of natural convection in inclined cavities. The thermal performance of
the heater is recorded experimentally at angles 030 from horizontal, in 10 intervals. It was found that
for any given constant value of heat fux, the performance of the heater is a strong function of the angle of
inclination. The optimum confguration of the heater for Coimbatore location is also evaluated.
Keywords: The Integrated Collector Storage; The Flat Absorber Plate; Solar Water Heater; Natural
Convection; Latitude.
1. Introduction
The increase in the price of fossil fuel and its negative environmental impact led to increased research involving
cheap and clean sources of energy such as solar energy. Renewable energies are a source of green energy,
environment friendly. Wind and solar alternatives are essential for growth, fnance, and the political environment.
Solar energy that is clean and abundant is among one of many alternative energy sources. It is widely exploited
for useful energy in the form of heat and electricity. The use of solar energy has been growing in electricity
generation, air conditioning and water heating. An important and costly use, environmentally and economically,
occurs in the production of domestic hot water. Water heater systems consume fourteen per cent of the domestic
energy consumption. An economic and effcient system is required to encourage households to use solar water
heating.
Solar fat plate collectors are used for producing domestic hot water. Integrated collectors are a type of fat
plate collector characterized by incorporating the collection of the solar energy part and the storage of hot water
in one unit. This reduces the cost of the system as there are no connection pipes and only a small area is needed
for installation.
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2. Solar Water Heater
A system in which the suns heat is gathered by a solar collector and used to increase the temperature of a heat-
transfer fuid which fows through the pipes in the collector; the heat contained in this fuid then is conveyed and
transferred to the water to be heated.
Solar water heating systems use solar collectors and a liquid handling unit to transfer heat to the load, generally
via a storage tank. The liquid handling unit includes the pump which is used to circulate the working fuid from
the collectors to the storage tank and control and safety equipment. When properly designed, solar water heaters
can work when the outside temperature is well below freezing and they are also protected from overheating on
hot, sunny days. Many systems also have a back-up heater to ensure that all of a consumers hot water needs are
met even when there is insuffcient sunshine.
Water system consists of the following main components:
Solar
collector
Storage tank
Solar water heaters can be either active or passive. The active system operates with forced circulation by using
an electric pump. The passive system operates with natural circulation and is often called the thermosyphon
system.
Solar energy is collected by the solar collectors absorber plates. Selective coatings are often applied to the
absorber plates to improve the overall collection effciency. A thermal fuid absorbs the energy collected. There are
several types of solar collectors to heat liquids. Selection of a solar collector type will depend on the temperature
of the application being considered and the intended season of use. The most common solar collector types are,
Unglazed liquid fat plate collectors, Glazed liquid fat-plate collectors and Evacuated tube solar collectors.
Passive systems rely on heat-driven convection or heat pipes to circulate water or heating fuid in the system.
Passive solar water heating systems cost less and have extremely low or no maintenance, but the effciency of
a passive system is signifcantly lower than that of an active system, and overheating and freezing are major
concerns.
Active systems use one or more pumps to circulate water and/or heating fuid in the system. Though slightly
more expensive, active systems offer several advantages:
The storage tank can be situated lower than the collectors, allowing increased freedom in system design and
allowing pre-existing storage tanks to be used.
The storage tank can always be hidden from view.
The storage tank can be placed in conditioned or semi-conditioned space, reducing heat loss. Drain back tanks
can be used.
Superior effciency.
Increased control over the system.
The amount of hot water a solar water heater produces depends on the type and size of the system, the amount
of sun available at the site, proper installation, and the tilt angle and orientation of the collectors.
Solar water heaters are also characterized as open loop and closed loop. An open-loop system circulates
household water through the collector. A closed-loop system uses a heat-transfer fuid to collect heat and a heat
exchanger to transfer the heat to household water.
3. Methodology
The research was started with designing model collectors for heating water using the previous works. The
models are made of same material and dimension. Design of solar water heater is based on the climatic conditions
of the place. Solar Water Heaters are designed as self-contained units that act as a solar collector and storage
tank integrated into one piece of equipment. In most cases, they are utilized as a pre-heater to a conventional
water heater; however, they can be installed as direct solar water heaters. The unit can also be used as a pre-
heater for a terminal or instantaneous water heater. Heater is designed to operate automatically. However, as with
all solar water heating systems, the total amount of solar contribution by the system is dependent upon the hot
water consumption pattern of the household, daily weather conditions, and variable amounts of available sunlight
throughout the year. Energy savings will vary from month to month, but it is possible to maximize these savings
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by scheduling large hot water usage, such as clothes and dishwashing, for the early afternoon.
A solar water heater is consists of fat plate solar collector (1.10 0.80 m
2
) and water tank (1.00 x 0.75 x 0.25
m
3
). The solar water has 2 mm thick copper absorber plate coated with black paint to absorb the incident solar
radiation. Absorber plate thicknesses are very small and temperature variation along the
thicknesses is negligible. The absorber plate is placed directly behind the transparent cover with a layer of air
separating it from the cover. To increase the temperature of plate by greenhouse effect, a glass cover of 6 mm
thickness was placed. The gap between the glass and the absorber surface was maintained at 10 mm. One side of
the collector was connected to the water tank. The water tank is insulated with glass wool of 10 mm thickness.
Table 1. Solar water heater specifcations

4. Experimental Setup and Procedure

Figure 1. Solar water heater
First the solar water heater is kept at suitable place to conduct the experiment.
Then the solar water heater is installed at 0, 10, 20 and 30 inclinations with respect to horizontal.
Thermocouples are fxed in solar water heater to measure the temperature of solar collector plate and water.
Solar radiation, air temperature, solar collector plate temperature and water temperature are noted for regular
interval from 9.00 AM to 6.00 PM. The noted readings are tabulated.
The above steps repeated for several day and take readings.
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5. Results and Discussion
Table 2. Thermal performance of solar water heater
5.1. Graphs

Figure 2. Time Vs Solar Radiation Intensity

Figure 3. Time Vs Air Temperature
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Figure 4. Time Vs Collector Plate Temperature

Figure 5. Time Vs Water Temperature
6. Conclusions
In this work, an integrated collector storage solar water heater was investigated experimentally. The angle of
inclination varied from 0 to 30 degree with horizontal. From series of observation it can be concluded that the
thermal performance of the solar water heater is the strong function of inclination of the solar water.
For increasing the solar water heater tilted angle at 10 degree from the horizontal the thermal performance is
increasing. From the detailed analysis it was reveal that the maximum performance of the solar water heater was
obtained at angle of 10 degree with horizontal. So the advisable angle of solar water heater for the maximum
performance is to be maintained at angle 102 degree with horizontal.
From this study the optimum angle of the solar water heater is equal to 0.9 times the value of local latitude. A 5
to 10 degree increase in the angle of inclination for particular latitude would improve the thermal performance of
the heater. The optimum angle of solar water heater for Coimbatore condition is evaluated.
Thus, the optimum angle of solar water heater for Coimbatore location is 10 degree.
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