In this work, the solar water collector flow tube geometry is modified as curved and spiral to enhance the system’s performance. The investigation is carried out experimentally under the meteorological conditions of the Kovilpatti region (9°100N, 77°520E), Tamil Nadu, India. The flow pipes of the solar water heater are made of copper material which has higher thermal conductivity to recover the water heat as thermal energy. The influence of the mass flow rate (MF) on the flow pipes with respect to the surface temperature for various configurations of the flow tubes is investigated. The two MFs of 0.0045 kg/s and 0.006 kg/s are tested. The MF of 0.006 kg/s yields the maximum efficiency of 73% compared to the other MF. The straight, curved, and spiral tubes yielded the maximum efficiency of 58%, 62%, and 69%, respectively, at 0.0045 kg/s. Similarly, the MF of 0.006 kg/s obtained an efficiency of 62%, 65%, and 73% for straight, curved, and spiral flow tubes, respectively. The economics and exergy of the system are analyzed. The maximum exergy efficiency of the collector is estimated to be 32% for the MF of 0.0045 kg/s for the spiral flow collector, and for the 0.006 kg/s MF, the obtained exergy efficiency is 27% for the spiral flow water heater. The economic analysis revealed that the expense is $0.0608 and $0.0512 worth of hot water produced for the domestic space heating.

中文翻译：

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弯、直、螺旋流平板太阳能集水器的能源和经济分析

在这项工作中，太阳能集水器流管几何形状被修改为弯曲和螺旋形，以提高系统的性能。调查是在 Kovilpatti 地区 (9°10 0 N, 77°52 0E)，泰米尔纳德邦，印度。太阳能热水器的流管采用导热系数较高的铜材料，将水的热量回收为热能。研究了质量流量 (MF) 对流管相对于不同配置的流管的表面温度的影响。测试了 0.0045 kg/s 和 0.006 kg/s 的两个 MF。与其他 MF 相比，0.006 kg/s 的 MF 产生 73% 的最大效率。直管、弯曲管和螺旋管在 0.0045 kg/s 时的最大效率分别为 58%、62% 和 69%。类似地，对于直线、弯曲和螺旋流管，0.006 kg/s 的 MF 分别获得了 62%、65% 和 73% 的效率。分析了系统的经济性和火用。对于螺旋流收集器的 MF 为 0.0045 kg/s，收集器的最大火用效率估计为 32%，而对于 0.006 kg/s MF，螺旋流热水器获得的火用效率为 27%。经济分析显示，用于家庭取暖的热水费用分别为 0.0608 美元和 0.0512 美元。