Experimental studies on a solar thermal water pump

The performance of a solar water pump which works on the basis of vapour generated by a flat-plate solar collector of exposed area 1 m(2) has been studied for three different discharge heads, namely 6, 8 and 10 m. The design and experimental results of the pump which entailed detailed calculations to obtain the optimal volumes of the vessels, are presented in this paper. The inclusion of a storage tank for storing the vapour facilitates greater freedom in the pump's operation and thereby improved its performance. The pressure in the collector system in both theory and experiments prove that the various tank sizes which were suitably designed for the pumping system, are found to be optimum. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.