Enhanced Heat Transfer in Solar Water Heater (with Parabolic Collector) Using Partially Reflective Glass
Abstract
Solar energy collectors are special kind of heat exchangers that convert the solar irradiation into internal energy of the flowing fluid. It is the major component of any solar system. There are basically two types of solar collectors: non-concentrating (or stationary) and concentrating. The concentrating type collectors require tracking mechanism for better performance. Solar water heaters with parabolic collectors are very common type. Line focusing type of collection of radiation energy is adopted in parabolic trough collectors. In this paper an attempt is made to incorporate partially reflective glass with the parabolic collector. Partially reflective glass will allow 50% of the radiation to pass through and the remaining 50% of radiation will be reflected back. This reflected radiation along with incoming radiation is from the source is collimated to form highly intense radiation. This high energy radiation, if allowed to focus on the flowing fluid will result in high temperature output.