Improving the performance of a liquid solar collector

The effects of varying design and dimensions of a heat exchanger, and of expanding a collector's area, on the solar energy collection efficicy of the liquid solar collector was examined experimentally. A geometric efficiency factor (g) was defined and calculated. Results illustrate the advantage of employing a heat exchanger made up of a set of vertical tubes over one made up of a continuous tube of several bends. It is suggested optimization of exchanger and collector dimensions should be made as a means of improving thermal performance in terms of heat collected at the storage tank and material cost.