Experimental investigation of the performance of five types of solar collectors

Experimental investigation of overall performance, efficiency and reliability of five types of solar collectors is carried out. The systems involved in this study are blue and black coating-selective copper, copper, and aluminum collectors in addition to evacuated tubes collectors. The experiments were carried out during April under same conditions for all collectors. The sky was almost clear with an ambient temperature in the range 18–26 °C. Readings are collected daily from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. The solar radiation intensity ranged from 154.0 to 1004.33 W/m2.Considering size of application, cost of appliance, quality and maintenance follow-up, results show that evacuated tube, blue and black coating-selective copper collectors are recommended for medium and large scale applications due to their long life, high efficiency ease of maintenance. Aluminum collectors are recommended for small applications like houses.

► Experimental investigation of five types of solar collector has been carried out.
► Readings were reported every 2 h starting from 8:00 am till 4:00 pm for 2 weeks.
► The overall performance of different types of solar collectors has been determined.
► The maximum water temperatures at the outlet reached 92 °C.
► Evacuated tube solar collector has the highest efficiency.