A novel approach for energy and exergy analysis of a fat plate solar collector with energy storage

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of a flat plate solar collector in terms of its energy, exergy, and efficiency. The data were analyzed using three factors in a Completely Randomized Design. The first factor was tilt angle with three levels, the second was air mass flow rates with four levels, and the third was heat storage fluid with four levels, making a 4 x 3 x 4 factorial experiment. The least significant difference between means was calculated with Alfa (α) < 0.01. The results showed that the maximum energy of 1509.74 kJ hr-1 was gained by the flat plate solar collector when a polyethylene glycol solution was used in head raised pipes at 11.76 kg min-1 air flow rates with a 30^o collector tilt. The maximum exergy of 46.0 % was gained by the flat plate solar collector when air was used in head raised pipes at 4.67 kg min- 1 air flow rates, with 30^o collector tilt angle, while the minimum exergy gain of 32.67 % was recorded for a polyethylene glycol solution in the solar collector at 1.78 kg min^-1 air flow rates with collector tilting at 30^o . The maximum efficiency of 39.71 % was gained by the flat plate solar collector when a polyethylene glycol solution was used in head raised pipes at 9.69 kg min^-1 air flow rates with 40^o collector tilt angle. The storage medium showed that the maximum energy of 40,207 kJ day^-1 was stored in the energy storage unit per day, followed by 33,291 kJ day^-1  stored in salt solution while the minimum energy of 29,640 kJ day^-1 was stored with water.