Analysis of heat-pipe absorbers in evacuated-tube solar collectors

Technical Report · Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5904689

Hull, J R; Schertz, W W; Allen, J W

Heat transfer in evacuated-tube solar collectors with heat-pipe absorbers is compared with that for similar collectors with flow-through absorbers. In systems that produce hot water or other heated fluids, the heat-pipe absorber suffers a heat transfer penalty compared with the flow-through absorber, but in many cases the penalty can be minimized by proper design at the heat-pipe condenser and system manifold. The heat transfer penalty decreases with decreasing collector heat loss coefficient, suggesting that evacuated tubes with optical concentration are more appropriate for use with heat pipes than evacuated or nonevacuated flat-plate collectors. When the solar collector is used to drive an absorption chiller, the heat-pipe absorber has better heat transfer characteristics than the flow-through absorbers.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5904689
• Report Number(s): ANL-86-16; ON: DE86010764
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
EVACUATED TUBE COLLECTORS
SOLAR ABSORBERS
HEAT PIPES
PERFORMANCE TESTING
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
HEAT TRANSFER
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUIPMENT
EVACUATED COLLECTORS
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
TESTING
141000* - Solar Collectors & Concentrators