Performance enhancement of solar collectors—A review

Abstract

Given rapid depletion of conventional energy sources and environmental degradation caused by their over exploitation, the renewable energy sources are believed to be the future. Technologies utilizing renewable energy sources differ significantly from one another, not only with regard to technical and economic aspects but also in relation to their reliability, maturity, and operational experience in utility scale conditions. Technologies used to harness solar energy have emerged as the most promising and mature since solar energy is abundant, freely available, and it has commercial potential too. This paper presents a review of advancements made in the field of solar thermal technology with a focus on techniques employed for its performance enhancement. It also covers the description of different types of solar collectors to facilitate the systematic understanding of solar thermal technology and the novel modifications realized in each category of solar collectors have been highlighted to promote the use of solar energy in routine activities. Performance enhancement techniques such as geometrical modifications on the absorber plate, use of solar selective coatings and nanofluids have been given a special attention.

Analysis of different tracking intervals for Parabolic Trough Collectors for water disinfestation in agricultural applications

“…The single-axis tracking collectors are orientated on a North-South axis and tracked on an East-West axis. The second category has two tracking axes that move perpendicularly to each other (Suman, Khan, & Pathak, 2015).…”

Particle Optimization of Ceo2/Water Nanofluids in Flat Plate Solar Collector

“…Authors suggested future research workto minimize uncertainties in nanofluids by doing study in 2phase manner.Sharafeldinet al [8]did study on flat plate solar collector for finding the performance by using WO 3 /Water nanofluid. Suman et al [9]has reviewed comprehensively methodologies used to examined the collector performance. He reported that improvement in various solar collectors can be enhanced by applying collector coating, geometrical modifications and stability of nanoparticles in ethylene glycol.…”

Solar Air-Conditioning Systems

“…On the other hand, 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO 2 emissions in the EU are caused by buildings, according to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). As a result, an increasing interest has been concentrated on the design of modern sustainable AC systems powered by renewables, especially the solar energy that is a universally inexhaustible natural and clean resource [1]. Hence, it can offer a reduction of the consumption, the demand, and the costs of energy, without decreasing the desired comfort.…”