Low-Cost Performance Monitoring System for Solar Water Heaters

摘要

A need to monitor on-site performance of solar-domestic water heaters has been universally identified throughout the solar industry. A low cost method for accomplishing this objective is described. This system utilizes a moderate amount of basic instrumentation for data acquisition and a manual data reduction technique. Comparative testing of the method using two separate configurations of commonly available instruments is reported. Results and observations noted in these tests are discussed in detail. Descriptions of the instrumentation and its installation and the equations applied in the data analyses are also included. (ERA citation 04:015750)