Heat loss through the piping of a large solar collector field

The effect of the heat loss from the piping system of a solar collector field of a large size is measured and the effect of this loss on the effective collector efficiency is evaluated. The data are used to develop a model that can be used to evaluate the effect of piping loss on collector efficiency for solar field of different areas. The collector field used in this study consists of 1064 evacuated tube collectors; each one has an absorber area of 1.75 m². They are connected in a series–parallel arrangement and designed in a U-shape. Measurements of the heat loss in the piping system indicate that a drop in the collector efficiency occurs due to this heat loss. The effect of the heat loss on the collector efficiency was found to depend on the collector x-parameter with higher x corresponding to larger efficiency drop. The standard Hottel–Whillier–Bliss (HWB) equation for the collector efficiency was modified so that the form of the equation is maintained while the parameters change due to the inclusion of piping loss in the equation. The modified parameters were estimated for the collector field based on measurement and the data were used in the model to generalize the results for field with different piping to collector area ratios.