Performance Evaluation of a Solar Thermal Collector With Custom-Made Reflector: An Experimental Study in Midwest Region

Aiming to meet the challenges of worldwide energy demand, solar energy is one of the fastest growing renewable energy sectors which can be used for providing heat to the end user on both residential and industrial scales. Amongst the various thermal systems used for providing solar heat, evacuated tube collectors are the most promising and play a crucial role in solar water heating (SWH) systems, therefore, increasing their efficiency and thermal output is extremely beneficial, especially in cold climates. In this study, an optimized parabolic reflector trough is designed in-house to eliminate the dependence of the system to sun’s availability and reduce the solar scattering. This solution will not only concentrate on increasing efficiency, but also modularity is a design targets to aid in increasing the market penetration of solar water heating systems. The system is tested in Midwest region of the United States and results are compared with regular solar water heater. The results show that maximum and minimum fin temperature enhancement of 19°C and 10°C were achieved, respectfully, with employing the solar reflector. Furthermore, as a result of the achieved enhancement, the proposed SWH system is more primed to be coupled with latent heat storage materials with higher melting temperature and latent heat of phase change.