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UNIVERSITI KUALA LUMPUR (MICET) MALAYSIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL AND BIOENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

LAB MANUAL

SOLAR THERMAL COLLECTOR UNIT

PREPARED BY: ARASU A/L UTTRAN AP DR ROBERT THOMAS BACHMANN

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TABLE OF CONTENT 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................3 2.0 3.0 3.1 3.2 4.0 SPECIFICATIONS...........................................................................................................................5 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE .......................................................................................................7 Experiment 1 ...............................................................................................................................7 Experiment 2 ...............................................................................................................................8 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................9

APPENDIX 1 ...........................................................................................................................................10 APPENDIX 2 ...........................................................................................................................................12 APPENDIX 3 ...........................................................................................................................................14 APPENDIX 4 ...........................................................................................................................................17 APPENDIX 5 ...........................................................................................................................................20

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1.1: Solar thermal system For solar thermal systems, the most important component is the solar collector. They are basically two types of system namely the water and air based system depending on the working fluid. Flat plate solar collector is the most widely used and effective means of collecting solar energy for applications that require heat at temperatures below 80OC. The technology has been used widely for domestic and industrial water heating, space heating and drying. A typical flat plate collector as shown in Figure 2 consist of the following components (a) absorber plate, (b) transparent cover, (c) thermal insulation, (d) fluid passage and (e) casing. The absorber is generally a sheet of metal of high thermal conductivity like copper. It is coated with black paint or given a special coating called selective coating so that it absorbs the incident solar radiation efficiently and minimises loss of heat by radiation from the collector plate. A glass of transparent sheet of good quality is fixed about 2-4 cm above the absorber plate. This prevents convective heat loss from the absorber plate and infra-red radiation from the plate to escape to the atmosphere. Insulating material is used to cut down the heat loss due to conduction and must be adequately thick. There are a number of alternatives for removing heat from the collector plate. The most common method is to fix tubes, called risers, at spacing of about 10-25 cm. These tubes could be soldered, spot welded, tied with wires and clamped. Good thermal contact between the tubes and the plate is very important for efficient operation of the collector. These risers are connected to large pipes called headers at both ends so that heat removal fluid can enter from the lower header and leave from the upper header. This configuration is called the fin and tube type and is most commonly used. The heat removal fluid, normally water or oil, flow through these tubes to carry away the heat received from the sun. In another type of collector, heat removal fluid flows between two sheets of glass of metal sealed at the edges, the top acting as the absorber plate. 3|Page

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All parts of the collector are kept in an outer case usually made of metal sheet. There should be no leakage of air from this case; otherwise, considerable loss of heat from the collector plate to the ambient can occur. The collector is finally placed on a stand so that the absorber plate is correctly inclined to the horizontal and receives maximum amount of heat from the sun either during a particular season or the entire year. Flat plate solar collectors can be classified into two main divisions based on type of heat transfer used. Either liquid of gases (most often air) is used in collectors. Liquid heating collectors are used for heating water and non-freezing aqueous solutions and occasionally for non aqueous heat transfer liquids such as thermal oils, ethylene glycol etc. Air heating collectors are used in solar drying or space heating. The performance of a solar collector can be determined by thermal efficiency. The thermal efficiency is defined as the ratio of heat gained from the collector over heat input. The rate of heat gained can be obtained by measuring the flow rate (m) through the collector and the inlet, Ti and outlet, To fluid temperatures as

Qu = Cp (To,f Ti,f)

(1)

where Cp is the specific heat of the working fluid at constant pressure. If Ac represents the operative area of the collector and S is the source intensity, then the efficiency of the collector is = Cp (To,f Ti,f) / Ac S (2)

The efficiency of a flat plate solar collector is therefore dependent on many factors such as collector temperature, ambient temperature, source intensity, and mass flow rate. Hence, it is necessary to carefully specify the conditions under which the efficiency has been calculated. Ideally, these conditions should be specified in such a manner that the thermal efficiency of a flat plate solar collector is defined unambiguously and can be reproducibly.

Figure 1.2: Schematic of a plate solar collector

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2.0 SPECIFICATIONS
a) Solar collector i) Collector 1 (Insulator: Styro foam, Coating: black paint) ii) Collector 2 (Insulator: Styro foam, Coating: No coating) b) c) d) e) Light source: Variable intensity 1 kW halogen wide angle lamp Water tank: 50 L, cylindrical stainless steel tank with coils Water pump: capacity-26 LPM maximum at 3.5 m head Transmitters i) Temperatures transmitter ii) Flow transmitter (range: 0-10 LPM)

f) Rotameter (range: 0-10 LPM) g) Digital display i) Temperature (OC) ii) Flow rate (percentage of 10 LPM) iii) Intensity (percentage of 2350 W/m2)

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Figure 2.1: Schematic diagram of Solar Collector Unit (Model: HE171)

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3.0 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

There are two experiments used for the solar collector investigating the effect of water flowrate (experiment 1) and light radiation intensity (experiment 2) on heat transfer.

3.1 Experiment 1
Objective i. To study the effect of water flow rate on the thermal efficiency of the solar collector at fix light radiation intensity of 450 W/m2

Procedure 1. Install the solar collector no. 3 into the equipment 2. Make sure that there is sufficient water in the stainless steel tank (i.e. at least 70 % full) 3. Check and make sure that HV4, HV5 and HV6 are fully close while HV1, HV2 and HV3 are fully open. 4. Check and make sure that the communication wire between the control panel and the computer are securely connected to the computer. 5. Switch on the isolator on the wall. 6. Switch on the main switch of the control panel 7. Switch on the computer and the software shall be started automatically 8. Switch on the pump by pressing the START button. Let the water run through HV6 for a little while to get rid of the air bubbles in the system. 9. Close HV6 10. Adjust HV2 so that FT reads approximately 1.5 L/min 11. Turn on the light by turning the potentiometer on control panel clockwise until the PR reads approximately 450 W/m2, and let the system stabilize for 1 minute. 12. Monitor the temperatures TT1 and TT4 every 5 min for 30 min. Record the data in the table provided (Appendix 1). 13. Change the water flow (Appendix 1) by adjusting HV2 and repeat step 12. 14. 14. The experiment is completed at flowrate 6 L/min. 15. Calculate the heat transfer efficiency for each flowrate and plot the graph of efficiency versus water flow rate. 16. Complete your report (Appendix 4) and submit to Mr Arasu A/L Uttran one (1) week after date of this experiment. For every day of late submission one (1) mark will be deducted

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3.2 Experiment 2
Objective i. To study the effect of light radiation intensity on the thermal efficiency of the solar collector at a fix flowrate of 2 L/min

Procedure 1. Install the solar collector no.3 into the equipment 2. Make sure that there is sufficient water in the stainless steel tank (i.e. at least 70% full). 3. Check and make sure that HV4, HV5 and HV6 are fully closed while HV1, HV2 and HV3 are fully open. 4. Check and make sure that the communication wire between the control panel and computer are securely connected to the computer. 5. Switch on the isolator on the wall 6. Switch on the main switch of the control panel 7. Switch on the computer and the software shall be started automatically 8. Switch on the pump by pressing the START button. Let the water run through HV6 for a little while to get rid of the air bubbles in the system. 9. Close HV6 10. Adjust HV2 so that FT reads approximately 2 L/min 11. Turn on the light by turning the potentiometer on control panel clockwise until the PR reads approximately 50 W/m2 12. Let the system run for 1 minute for light intensity reading to stabilize and then start to record the temperature readings for TT1 and TT4 every 5 min for 30 min or until thermal equilibrium has been attained. Use the table provided in Appendix 2. 13. Change the PR reading to the next higher value as specified in Appendix 2 and repeat step 12. 14. The experiment is completed at maximum PR setting of 6.0 (equivalent to 600 W/m2). 15. Calculate the heat transfer efficiency for each light intensity and plot the graph of efficiency versus intensity. 16. Complete your report (Appendix 4) and submit to Mr Arasu A/L Uttran one (1) week after date of this experiment. For every day of late submission one (1) mark will be deducted.

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4.0 REFERENCES
Chopey, N.P Handbook of Chemical Engineering Calculations. 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill, 1994 Christi J. Geankoplis, Transport Processes and Unit Operations, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall International Edition, 1995, pp 217-219 Donald Q. Kern, Process Heat Transfer, International Edition, McGraw Hill, 1965. Perry, R.H., Green, D.W. and Maloney, J.O., Perrys Chemical Engineering Handbook, 6th Edition, McGraw Hill, 1984

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APPENDIX 1

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EXPERIMENT 1 Date Group ID : ___________________________ : ___________________________

Type of collector: __________________________ Mass flow rate : ___________________________

WFR: 1.5 L/min Intensity t TT1 TT4 [min] [C] [C] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

WFR: 3.0 L/min Intensity t TT1 TT4 [min] [C] [C] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

WFR: 4.5 L/min Intensity t TT1 TT4 [min] [C] [C] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

WFR: 6 L/min Intensity t TT1 TT4 [min] [C] [C] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Summary F Intensity [l/min] [W/m2] 1.5 3.0 4.5 6.0

M (kg/sec]

TT1 [oC]

TT4 [oC]

Qin [Watt]

Qout [Watt]

E [%]

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APPENDIX 2

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EXPERIMENT 2

Date Group ID

: ___________________________ : ___________________________

Type of collector: __________________________ Mass flow rate : ___________________________

Light intensity:1.5 (150W/m2) t TT1 TT4 [min] [C] [C] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Light intensity:3.0 (300W/m2) t TT1 TT4 [min] [C] [C] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Light intensity:4.5 (450W/m2) t TT1 TT4 [min] [C] [C] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Light intensity:6.0 (600W/m2) t TT1 TT4 [min] [C] [C] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Summary F PR [L/min] [W/m2] 1 2 3 4 5 5.7

TT1 [C]

TT4 [C]

Input [Watt]

Output [Watt]

E [%]

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APPENDIX 3

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Operative area of the collector : A = 1.48 m2 Working fluid : Water Specific heat of water (1 bar) : Cp = 4174 J/kgoC Table A3.1 Steam table

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Sample calculation Intensity, S = 452.6 W/m2 Flow rate, V = 2 L/min TT1= 35.6OC TT4=38.7OC For example at 350C H2O = 1/ v (Refer appendix A1) = 1/ 1.006 cm3/g = 0.994 g/cm3 x 1kg/1000g x 1cm3/0.01L x 1L/0.001m3 = 994 kg/m3 Mass flow rate of water m=xV = 994 kg/m3 x 2 L/min x 0.001 m3/ L x min/60 s = 0.0331 kg/sec Heat input to the collector: Qin = A x S = 1.48 m2 x 452.6 W/m2 = 669. 8 W Heat output to the collector Qout = m Cp (TT4-TT1) = 0.0331 kg/s x 4174 J/(kg K) x (3.1 K) = 428.3 W Efficiency of the collector = (Qout / Qin) x 100% = (428.3 W/ 669.8 W) x 100% = 63.9 %

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APPENDIX 4

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LAB REPORT (OUTLINE)

Table of content List of figures, tables, appendices Labelling of pages, figures and tables References (complete, correct format) [1 Mark] [3 Marks] [3 Marks] [2 Marks]

1.0 Introduction: Theory including at least two (2) factors influencing the heat transfer in solarthermal devices, one (1) schematic diagram of a solar-thermal device, and a brief discussion of two (2) advantages and two (2) disadvantages of solar-thermal devices (no references no marks!) [9 Marks] 2.0 Objective: Refer manual 3.0 Materials and methods: 3.1 List of materials (equipment, chemicals) 3.2 Method (flow chart, diagram etc) [1 Mark]

[2 Marks] [5 Marks]

4.0 Result: Present data obtained from experiment using 4.1 Summary table [7 Marks] 4.2 Two graphs (one depicting effect of time on TT1 and TT4 temperatures; one depicting effect of either flowrate (experiment 1) or light intensity (experiment 2) on heat transfer efficiency [4 Marks] 4.3 sample calculations [8 Marks] 5.0 Discussion: 5.1 Compare the main finding of the experiment with the theory [4 Marks] 5.2 In your own words, state at least two (2) factors that can affect the accuracy of the results obtained [2 Marks] 5.3 Briefly explain how to counter the two (2) problems / factors which can affect the result. [4 Marks] 6.0 Conclusion: State whether the objective are achieved or not. Provide the main result with and some recommendation from the experiment. [3 Marks] 7.0 Reference: Please use HARVARD style. For advanced users it is recommended to make use of referencing softwares such as Mendeley (www.mendeley.com), which is available free of charge with online tutorial. 8.0 Appendix: The raw data from the experiment should be attached together; all the calculations should be included as well. [5 Marks]

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UNIVERSITI KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL BIOENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY REPORT SUBMISSION FORM To: (Lecturer) Subject code: From: (Student name) Student ID No.

Title of Experiment: Date of Experiment: CONTENT Table of content

List of figures, tables, appendices Labelling of pages, figures and tables

Date of Submission:

Marks

1 3 3 9 1 7 19 10 3 2 5 63

CONTENT Introduction Objective Procedure Result Discussion Conclusion Reference Appendix

NOTE Theoretical of process, description of equipment List of objectives of experiment Simplified procedure (start-up, analysis, experimental) Table of results, graph and calculation Graphical explanation or discussion Principal outcomes and recommendation At least three (3) references, complete, correct format Raw data during experiment TOTAL:

Received by: ........................................ (ARASU S/O UTTRAN)

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APPENDIX 5

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LAB SESSION:
Experiment 1: Week 10 Experiment 2: Week 11 Experiment 3 (Gasifier-Demo): Week 12

Grouping Group G1 ID 55201112027 55202112056 55201112073 55201112100 55201112125 55201112097 55201112102 55201113628 55203211324 55201113471 55201112096 55201112112 55201112127 55201210218 55204112015 55201112028 Student name IRNA BINTI RUSLI SITI NORLAILA FAEIZAH BINTI MOHD RUDIN NOR AMINAH BT MOHD KHALIL NUR SYAFIQAH BINTI HASSAN MOHAMAD HANIF BIN YUSOF NAVINC RAJAMOHAN NOR ATHIRAH BINTI MOHD YUNUS MUHAMAD HAFIZ BIN OTHMAN MOHD SYAFIQ BIN MOHD ROSLI MATHIAS ANAK JOHN MUHAMMAD AZFFAR BIN MOIDEEN NOR HISHAM BIN AHMAD NUR SYAFIQAH BINTI ABDUL ARIS AHMAD ZHAFIR BIN MUHAMAD SHUKRI NUR HIDAYAH BT KAMARUDDIN MUHAMMAD SAIDINA ALI BIN ARIFFIN

G2

G3

G4

G5

G6

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