Traditional flat-plate collectors are one of the most important types of solar collectors because of simplicity and a wide range of potential applications. For this reason, considerable effort has been expended over the years to improve performance and the output temperature of the flat plate collectors. A new style flat plate collector is presented in this paper. The traditional collector absorber plate was replaced with reticulated aluminum (6061) foam provided by ERG of Oakland, CA. The metal foam was painted flat black to improve the absorptivity. Two similar 6-in. × 20-in. solar collector test units were designed and constructed. The two units differed only for their absorber plates (traditional and metal foam). Each unit was instrumented with flow and temperature sensors. The components were placed on identical carts made from "Flex-Angle" and were tested at the collector tilt angle of 57.5°. The test results indicated that the new style flat plate collector with metal foam absorber had performance efficiency 14-40% higher than that of the traditional flat plate collector.
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