The performance of a built-in storage water heater can be improved by using a baffle plate in the absorber tank. We have studied the following different design conditions: 1.(i) a water heater with baffle plate and with night insulation cover,2.(ii) with baffle plate and without night insulation...

We have considered the general case of a collector with four reflectors. An analytical model is developed for study of the effect of an individual reflector on the collector. Reflectors R-1, R-2, R-3, and R-4 face south, north, west, and east, respectively. For a collector with two reflectors...

This paper presents transient analysis of an evacuated tubular solar collector. Basic energy balance equations for the glass envelope, the absorber and the fluid are solved using the finite difference technique to predict the various component temperatures as a function of time. Four versions of...

The Republic of Botswana is one of the sunniest countries in Southern Africa. It has very little cloud cover, insufficient rainfall, very low humidity, and very low wind speed throughout the year for most parts of the country. The daily extremum temperatures appear to be very much related to...

In this paper we have presented the design and steady-state analysis of a solar thermal system employing a phase-changing fluid as a heat carrier for transporting thermal energy from the collection side to the user side, without the use of an external mechanical device. The connection between...

In this paper, an artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed for estimating beam solar radiation. Introducing a newly defined parameter, known as reference clearness index (RCI), computation of monthly mean daily beam solar radiation at normal incidence has been carried out. This RCI is...

This communication presents a second law analysis based on an exergy concept for a solar thermal power system. Basic energy and exergy analysis for the system components (viz. parabolic trough collector/receiver and Rankine heat engine, etc.) are carried out for evaluating the respective losses...

The energy and exergy analysis has been carried out for the different components of a proposed conceptual direct steam generation (DSG) solar–thermal power plant (STPP). It has been found that the maximum energy loss is in the condenser followed by solar collector field. The maximum exergy...