New look at long-term collector performance and utilizability

Technical Report · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:5900223

Evans, D L; Rule, T T; Wood, B D

A simple technique has been developed to calculate monthly collection efficiency or monthly utilizability for solar thermal flat-plate and concentrating generic collectors. It is applicable to collectors operating with a fixed fluid inlet temperature although extensions to other more generalized uses of utilizability are discussed. The heart of the technique consists of empirically determined performance maps that make possible quick evaluations of changes in collector design, geographic location and collector inlet temperature. The collector input variables are those that are commonly measured in most thermal test procedures; geographic input variables are the mean monthly temperature and K/sub T/ (the Liu and Jordan clearness factor). The method, in general, gives good results compared to long term hourly simulation. The technique also allows one to determine under what operating conditions collector performance begins to depend on site-to-site solar radiation/weather variability and what uncertainties can be expected from its use.

• Research Organization: Arizona State Univ., Tempe (USA). Coll. of Engineering and Applied Sciences
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-79CS30203
• OSTI ID: 5900223
• Report Number(s): ERC-R-81015; ON: DE82005259
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
CALCULATION METHODS
CONCENTRATING COLLECTORS
CORRELATIONS
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
EQUIPMENT
FLAT PLATE COLLECTORS
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
INCLINATION
INSOLATION
MONTHLY VARIATIONS
ORIENTATION
PERFORMANCE
SIMULATION
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
VARIATIONS
WEATHER