PROBLEM 1.

70
KNOWN: Solar collector designed to heat water operating under prescribed solar irradiation and loss conditions. FIND: (a) Useful heat collected per unit area of the collector, q , (b) Temperature rise of the water u flow, To Ti , and (c) Collector efficiency. SCHEMATIC:

ASSUMPTIONS: (1) Steady-state conditions, (2) No heat losses out sides or back of collector, (3) Collector area is small compared to sky surroundings. PROPERTIES: Table A.6, Water (300K): cp = 4179 J/kgK. ANALYSIS: (a) Defining the collector as the control volume and writing the conservation of energy requirement on a per unit area basis, find that

E in E out + E gen = E st .
Identifying processes as per above right sketch,

q solar q q rad conv q = 0 u

where q solar = 0.9 q s ; that is, 90% of the solar flux is absorbed in the collector (Eq. 1.6). Using the appropriate rate equations, the useful heat rate per unit area is
4 4 q = 0.9 q Tcp Tsky h ( Ts T ) u s W W W q = 0.9 700 3034 2634 K 4 10 0.94 5.67 108 ( 30 25 ) C u 2 2 K4 2 K m m m

q = 630 W / m2 194 W / m2 50 W / m2 = 386 W / m2 . u

<

(b) The total useful heat collected is q A. Defining a control volume about the water tubing, the u useful heat causes an enthalpy change of the flowing water. That is,

q A=mcp ( Ti To ) u

or

( Ti To ) = 386 W/m2 3m2 / 0.01kg/s 4179J/kg K=27.7 C.

(c) The efficiency is = q / qS = 386 W/m 2 / 700 W/m 2 = 0.55 or 55%. u

)(

< <

COMMENTS: Note how the sky has been treated as large surroundings at a uniform temperature

Tsky.

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