Experimental analysis of thermal performance of the modified vacuum tube solar collector

Vacuum tube solar water heaters are one of the most common types of solar water heaters, and they have been used widely in recent years. Evacuated tube solar collectors compared to flat plate collectors have higher absorption coefficient and lower heat loss. Many factors are effective on thermal efficiency of evacuated solar water heaters and many studies have been done to increase their efficiency. In this study, thermal performance of a modified model has been investigated experimentally. Two laboratory samples, one of them with the modified structure and the other like commercial samples have been made and their performance has been studied under equal solar radiation and ambient temperature. The results have shown that this structure modification has a positive effect on collector performance. This change has made the temperature distribution in the pipe and tank more uniform, and has increased the efficiency to 11 percent. Absorbing thermal energy in the modified model was more than typical model about 25 percent in duration one hour. Also, effects of solar radiation on the average temperature of water in the storage tank have been investigated in both cases. In this study, an experimental method is used to calculate the radiation received to vacuum tubes.