Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Polymeric Solar-Thermal Flat-Plate Collectors
Abstract
In this paper, a novel approach for manufacturing cost effective polymeric solar-thermal collectors is described. The approach known as Twin-Sheet-Thermoforming (TST) is suitable for mass-production and enables a significant cost saving potential compared to conventional, metal-based collectors. Based on an absorber made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a collector prototype was set-up and tested according to EN ISO 9806:2013. The results were compared to data available both from literature and market available polymeric collectors. The tested prototype shows a higher solar-thermal efficiency compared to market available polymeric collectors and a similar efficiency compared to laboratory prototypes recently described in literature. Against this background, the production and manufacturing costs of polymeric solar-thermal collectors become increasingly important, as these costs directly affect the Levelized Cost of Heat (LCOH) of a solar-thermal system equipped with such collectors.