Performance analysis and optimization of a vapor-filled flat-plate solar collector

Solar thermal collectors are certain to play a primary role in reducing energy consumption in buildings. At present, significant efforts are being made to find new ways to enhance their performance. An emerging technique is studied in this work based on thermodynamic analysis. The study shows how thermodynamic 2nd-law analysis can be used to complement the 1st law analysis approach for a FPSC (flat-plate solar collector) in which the confined air in the spacing between the absorber and glass cover is replaced by water-vapor. In the analysis, the influence of key parameters such solar irradiation, inclination angle, as well as the use of absorbers with different emissivity values, are investigated. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).