Studies on methods of reducing heat losses from flat plate solar collectors. Progress report, August 1, 1974--January 31, 1976

Technical Report · Tue Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7125623· OSTI ID:7125623

Hollands, K G.T.; Raithby, G D; Unny, T E

Improvements to flat plate solar collectors for heating and cooling of buildings have been evaluated through three parallel studies. The first study has demonstrated suppression of free convection by a honeycomb at all angles of inclination. Reductions by a factor of 5 in the free convective heat loss are reported, and equations and charts permitting the rational design of honeycombs for convection suppression in solar collectors are presented. The second study has resulted in a precise, easily programmable set of equations for the free convective heat loss through the air gaps in flat plate solar collectors, for any angle of tilt. The third study has theoretically and experimentally demonstrated that the solar transmittance of a flat transparent cover for a solar collector can be very substantially increased by V-corrugating. Since V-corrugating should also decrease the free convective and radiant losses, substantial improvements in collector efficiency are predicted.

• Research Organization: Waterloo Univ., Ontario (Canada)
• OSTI ID: 7125623
• Report Number(s): COO-2597-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
CONVECTION
COVERINGS
DESIGN
ENERGY LOSSES
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLAT PLATE COLLECTORS
HEAT LOSSES
HEAT TRANSFER
HONEYCOMB STRUCTURES
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PERFORMANCE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
REFLECTIVITY
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SURFACE PROPERTIES