Formulation of an Efficiency Model Valid for High Vacuum Flat Plate Collectors

Eliana Gaudino, Antonio Caldarelli, Roberto Russo () and Marilena Musto
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Eliana Gaudino: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Napoli “Federico II”, Piazzale Vincenzo Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Antonio Caldarelli: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Napoli “Federico II”, Piazzale Vincenzo Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Roberto Russo: Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems, National Research Council of Italy, via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy
Marilena Musto: Industrial Engineering Department, University of Napoli “Federico II”, Piazzale Vincenzo Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-12

Abstract: High Vacuum Flat Plate Collectors (HVFPCs) are the only type of flat plate thermal collectors capable of producing thermal energy for middle-temperature applications (up to 200 °C). As the trend in research plans is to develop new Selective Solar Absorbers to extend the range of HVFPC application up to 250 °C, it is necessary to correctly evaluate the collector efficiency up to such temperatures to predict the energy production accurately. We propose an efficiency model for these collectors based on the selective absorber optical properties. The proposed efficiency model explicitly includes the radiative heat exchange with the ambient, which is the main source of thermal losses for evacuated collectors at high temperatures. It also decouples the radiative losses that depend on the optical properties of the absorber adopted from the other thermal losses due to HVFPC architecture. The model has been validated by applying it to MT-Power HVFPC manufactured by TVP-Solar. The dissipative losses other than thermal radiation were found to be mostly conductive with a linear coefficient k = 0.258 W/m 2 K. The efficiency model has been also used to predict the energy production of HVFPCs equipped with new, optimized Selective Solar Absorbers developed in recent years. Considering the 2019 meteorological data in Cairo and an operating temperature of 250 °C, the annual energy production of an HVFPC equipped with an optimized absorber is estimated to be 638 kWh/m 2 .

Keywords: solar energy; efficiency formula; thermal energy; solar thermal collectors; radiation losses; thermal losses; high vacuum flat plate collectors; HVFPC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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