SOLCOSI: a New on Line Software for Evaluate the Thermal Performance of Flat Plate Solar Collectors
Abstract
SolCoSi (SOLar COllector Simulator) is a software developed for determine the thermal performance of the flat plate solar collectors for water heating systems. SolCoSi can be used as a tool for design and optimize flat plate solar collectors varying its principal parameters such as: materials and dimensions of the absorber, transparent cover, number of tubes, types and dimensions of insulation, selective surface, and its working conditions (mass flow rate, wind speed, solar radiation, etc.). The mathematic model consist in a two-dimensional arrange of nodes disposed in longitudinal and axial direction; for determine the temperature in each node an energy balance was used. As a result, SolCoSi predict the thermal efficiency curves (lineal or quadratic), incident angle modifier factor, stagnation temperature (calculated for the particular case when the mass flow rate is near to zero) and the temperature distribution in fluids and solids. The model developed is available as free online software in English and Spanish on the following website: http://solcosi.ier.unam.mx/