Results of the experimental verification of the mathematical model of the thermal behaviour of а double exposure flat-plate solar collector

Abstract

The double exposure flat-plate solar collector (DEFPC) is a solar collector which can absorb solar radiation by upper as well as lower absorber surface. Absorption from lower absorber surface is enabled by application of a flat-plate reflector. The reflector is placed in parallel below the collector. To enable absorption from the lower absorber surface, it is necessary, beside the reflector, for the insulation mounted on the lower part of the collector box to be removed and the lower box surface replaced by a glass cover. In this paper the results of the experimental verification of the mathematical model of the thermal behaviour of a DEFPC are presented. The experiments were performed in the months of August, September and October of 2012.Theoretical and experimental results of the thermal power of the analyzed DEFPC for the five selected dates are presented. The mean daily deviations of the theoretical results range from 3.43% to 7.23%.