Solar COLLECTORS

By
Anu Singla
Associate Professor
Department of EE
Chitkara University, Punjab
Solar Energy Collectors
Solar energy collector is a device which absorbs the incoming
solar radiation, converts it into heat, and transfers this heat to a
fluid (usually air, water, or oil) flowing through the collector.

The solar energy thus collected is carried from the circulating fluid
either directly to the hot water or space conditioning equipment,
or to a thermal energy storage tank from which can be drawn for
use at night and/or cloudy days.
Types of Collectors
Solar collectors can be classified according to their collecting characteristics, the
way in which they are mounted and the type of transfer fluid they use.
(a)Collecting characteristics: A non-concentrating or flat plate collector is one in
which the absorbing surface for solar radiations is essentially flat with no
means for concentrating the incoming solar radiation.
A concentrating or focusing collector is one, which usually contains reflectors
or employs other optical means to concentrate the energy falling on the
aperture onto a heat exchanger of surface area smaller than the aperture.

(b) Mounting: A collector can be mounted to remain stationary, be adjustable as

to tilt angle (measured from the horizontal) to follow the change in solar
declination or be designed to track the sun. Tracking is done by employing
either an equatorial mounting or an azimuth mounting, for the purpose of
increasing the absorption of the daily solar irradiation.

(c) Types of fluid: A collector will usually use either a liquid or a gas as the transfer
fluid. The most common liquids are water or a water-ethylene glycol solution.
The most common gas is air.
Types of Collectors contd.
Solar collectors are classified basically in two different
categories:

 Flat plate or non-concentrating collectors

 Concentrating or focusing collectors consisting of
• Cylindrical parabolic collector
• Central receiver collector
• Compound parabolic collector
Types of Collectors contd.
Non concentrating collector has the same area
for intercepting and for absorbing solar
radiation, whereas
Sun-tracking concentrating solar collector
usually has concave reflecting surfaces to
intercept and focus the sun’s beam radiation to
a smaller receiving area, thereby increasing the
radiation flux.
Flat Plate Collector (Non-Concentrating
Collector)
A simple flat plate collector consists of an absorber
surface (usually a dark, thermally conducting surface); a
trap for radiation losses from the absorber surface (such
as glass which transmits shorter wavelength solar
radiation, but blocks the longer wavelength radiation
from the absorber, a heat transfer medium such as air,
water etc. and some thermal insulation behind the
absorber surface.
Flat plate collectors are used typically for temperature
required up to 750C although higher temperature can be
obtained from high efficiency collector.
Flat Plate Collector (Non-Concentrating
Collector) contd.
These flat plate collectors are further classified into two
basic types, based on heat transfer fluid.

Liquid type: Where heat transfer fluid may be water,

mixture of water antifreeze oil etc.
Air type: Where heat transfer medium is air (used
mainly for drying and space heating requirements).
Liquid-type Flat Plate Collector
In general it consists of:
Glazing: One or more covers of transparent material like glass,
plastics, etc. Glazing may be left out for some low
temperature applications.
Absorber: A plate with tubes or passages attached to it for the
passage of working fluid. The absorber is usually
painted flat black or electroplated with a selective
absorber.
Header or manifolds: To facilitate the flow or heat transfer fluid.
Insulation: To minimise heat loss from the back and the sides.
Container: box or casing.
Typical Liquid-type Flat Plate Collector
Air Type/ Space Collector
Air type collectors are more commonly used for agricultural drying
and space heating applications.
Their basic advantages are low sensitivity to leakages and no need
for an additional heat exchanger for drying and space heating
applications.
However, because of the low heat capacity of the air and the low
convection heat transfer coefficient between the absorber and the
air, a larger heat transfer area and higher flow rates are needed.

Figure shows some common configurations of air heating

collectors.
Common absorber materials include corrugated Al or galvanised
steel sheets, black metallic screens or simply any black painted
surface.
Some common configurations of air
heating collectors
Air Type/ Space Collector contd.
Unglazed, transpired solar air collector offers a low-cost
opportunity for some applications such as preheating of ventilation
air and agricultural drying and curing.

Such collectors consist of perforated absorber sheets that are

exposed to sun and through which air is drawn.

The perforated absorber sheets are attached to the vertical walls,

which are exposed to the sun.

The most important components, whose properties determine the

efficiency of solar thermal collectors, are glazing and absorber.
Concentrating or Focusing Collectors

Focusing collector is a device to collect solar energy with high

intensity of solar radiation on the energy-absorbing surface.
A focusing collector is a special form of flat plate collector modified
by introducing a reflecting (or refracting) surface (concentrator)
between the solar radiation and the absorber.
Focusing collectors can have radiation increase from low value of
1.5 to 2, high values of the order of 10,000.
Focusing collector comprises of receiver (absorber) and
concentrator.
Concentrators can be reflectors or refractors, can be cylindrical or
parabolic and can be continuous or segmented.
Receivers can be convex, flat, cylindrical or concave and can be
covered with glazing or uncovered.
Schematic of concentrating/ focusing
collector
Concentrating or Focusing Collectors
contd.
There are wide variety of means for increasing the flux of radiation
on receivers.
They can be classified on the basis of
a) Lenses or reflectors.
b) The types of mounting and orienting systems
c) By the concentration of the radiation they are able to accomplish
d) By materials of construction, or by orientation.

Concentrator is a component used to increase the intensity of

energy flux on a receiver. Concentration ratio (CR), it is the ratio of
the quantity = Aa/Ar ,
where Aa is the ratio of the area of the concentrator aperture and
Ar , is the energy absorbing area of the receiver.

It determines the effectiveness of the concentrator.

Types of Concentrating or Focusing
Collectors
Because of the apparent movement of the sun across the sky,
conventional concentrating collectors must follow the sun’s daily
motion. There are two methods by which the sun’s motion can be
readily tracked.
The first is the altazimuth method which requires the tracking
device to turn in both altitude and azimuth, i.e. when performed
properly, this method enables the concentrator to follow the sun
exactly. Paraboloidal solar collectors generally use this system.
The second one is the one-axis tracking in which the collector
tracks the sun in only one direction either from east to west or
from north to south.
Parabolic trough collectors (PTC) generally use this system.
These systems require continuous and accurate adjustment to
compensate for the changes in the sun’s orientation.
Types of Concentrating or Focusing
Collectors
There are different types of concentrating or focusing
collector depending upon the concentrator and receiver
geometries.
These are as follows:
 Cylindrical parabolic collector.
 Central receiver collector.
 Compound parabolic collector
Cylindrical Parabolic collector
 It is a system consisting of a paraboloid or a parabolic
reflector and having receiver at its focal point.
 The concentration ratios are very high and therefore
can be used where high temperatures are required.
 In a cylindrical system, the concentration ratio is
1lower than paraboloid counterparts.
st Generation PV

Crystalline Silicon
 In both the cases the receiver is placed at the focus,
2i.e. along PVthe focal line in cylindrical parabolic system
nd Generation

and Thinat the focus point in paraboloidal system.

Film

The parabolic geometry is given by the relation

Y2Generation
3rd = 4 a X PV
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Where a = Semi Major Axis.
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Cylindrical Parabolic Collector Diagram

1st Generation PV
Crystalline Silicon

2nd Generation PV
Thin Film

3rd Generation PV
Ultra-High Efficiency
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Basic geometry of paraboloid mirror

1st Generation PV
Crystalline Silicon

2nd Generation PV
Thin Film

3rd Generation PV
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Cylindrical Parabolic Collector

1st Generation PV
Crystalline Silicon

2nd Generation PV
Thin Film

3rd Generation PV
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Cylindrical Parabolic Collector contd.

1st Generation PV
Crystalline Silicon

2nd Generation PV
Thin Film

3rd Generation PV
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Ultra-Low Cost
Central Receiver Collector
The concept of central receiver collector is simple.

In order to avoid the cost and heat losses in transporting

a working fluid to a central location, use of sunlight itself
as the transfer medium is proposed.
1st Generation PV
Crystalline Silicon
To implement the concept, one needs a field of mirrors
provided with
2nd Generation PV the means of directing reflected sunlight
to aThincentral
Film location, or a location at one edge of the
field of mirrors.
3rd Generation PV
Ultra-High Efficiency
Ultra-Low Cost
Central Receiver Collector contd.
 In the typical central receiver, the reflector is composed of
many smaller mirrors each with its own heliostat to follow
the sun.
 The heliostats are generally located in the horizontal plane,
but when the situation is favourable, can simply follow the
existing terrain.
1st Generation PV
The basic
 Crystalline difference between a single mirror concentrator
Silicon
and the heliostat system is that the heliostat system has a
2nd Generation PV
dilute mirror. This means that the entire surface within the
Thin Film
system is not covered with mirror surface.
 This diluteness is generally termed as the fill factor.
 A3rdcentral
Generation receiver
PV with a fill factor of about 40% means that
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40% of the
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Receiver Collector

2nd Generation PV
Thin Film

3rd Generation PV
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Compound Parabolic collector (CPC or
Winston collector)
It is possible to concentrate solar radiation by a factor of 10
without diurnal tracking using this type of collector.
A compound parabolic collector is shown in figure (in next slide) .
It consists of two parabolic reflectors which funnel the radiation
from aperture to absorber. The right and the left half belong to
different parabolas (hence the name compound parabolic
concentrator).
The axis of the right branch, for instance, makes an angle θc , with
the collector mid plane, and its focus is at A. At the end points C
2nd Generation PV
and D,Thin
the slope is parallel to the collector mid-plane.
Film

3rd Generation PV
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Compound Parabolic collector (CPC or
Winston collector) contd.

2nd Generation PV
Thin Film

3rd Generation PV
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Compound Parabolic collector (CPC or
Winston collector) contd.
The compound parabolic collector developed by Winston
represents what may be called as the most ideal collector in the
sense that, for a given field of view it achieves the maximum
possible concentration ratio given by
CR = W / b =1 / sin θc
where,
W = entrance aperture.
b = exit aperture, covered by the absorber
θc2=nd Generation
field of view
PV
(half angle)
Thin Film

3rd Generation PV
Ultra-High Efficiency
Ultra-Low Cost
Comparison of Flat Plate and Focusing
Collectors
Main advantages of the focusing systems over flat plate type collectors:
 Reflecting surfaces requires less material and are structurally simpler than
flat-plate collectors. For a concentrator system the cost per unit area of
solar collecting surface is therefore potentially less than that of the flat-
plate collector.
 The absorber area of a contractor system is smaller than that of a flat plate
system of same solar energy collection and the insolation intensity is
therefore greater.
 As it is found that in case of solar energy concentrating collector the energy
lost to the surrounding is less than that for flat plate collector and the
insolation on the absorber is more concentrated, the working fluid can
2nd Generation PV
attain higher temperatures in a concentrating system than that in a flat
Thin Film
plate collector of the same solar energy collecting surface.
 Little or no antifreeze is required to protect the absorber in concentrator
systems whereas the entire solar energy collection surface requires
3rd Generation PV
antifreeze protection in a flat-plate collector.
Ultra-High Efficiency
Ultra-Low Cost
Disadvantages of Concentrating type
Collectors
The concentrating systems also have some disadvantages as given below:
Out of the beam and diffuse solar radiation, components, only beam
component is collected in case of focusing collectors because diffuse
component cannot be reflected and is thus lost.
Additional requirement of maintenance particularly to retain the quality of
reflecting surface against dirt, weather, oxidation etc.
Non-uniform flux on the absorber whereas flux in flat-plate collector is
uniform.
Additional optical losses such as reflectance loss and the intercept loss, so
they introduce additional factors in energy balances.
These disadvantages have restricted the utility of focusing collectors and no
long time practical applications of focusing collectors other than for furnaces
are being made.
QUERIES??