An Experimental Investigation of Heat Pipe flat-Plate Solar Collector with Water-Ethanol mixture as a Working Fluid

摘要

The objective of the present study is to investigate the performance of solar collector with serpentine shape of heat pipe and water-ethanol as a working fluid. Serpentine shape is easy of manufacturing and also to reduce cost of manufacturing. In this work, heat pipe is made from copper tube having ID 10mm and OD 12mm. The tube is bent in serpentine manner and filled with Water-ethanol as a working fluid with 70% filling ratio. The length of evaporator, adiabatic and condenser section was 480mm, 50mm and 65mm respectively. The test is conducted for coolant flow rate 4.5 kg/hr different angle of collector 20°, 31.5°, 40°, 50°, 60°. Result shows that waterethanol collector gives better performance than collector with water as a working fluid. Maximum efficiency is observed at 31.5° inclination.