Thermal efficiency and cost analysis of solar water heater made in Rwanda

Solar water heating is a technology of capturing the energy from the sun’s radiation for the purpose of raising the temperature of water from water supply temperature to the desired higher temperature depending on the use. There are many views and discussions on the questions of thermal efficiency o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy exploration & exploitation 2019-05, Vol.37 (3), p.1147-1161
Main Authors: Nshimyumuremyi, Esdras, Junqi, Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aluminum
Ambient temperature
Cost analysis
Efficiency
Galvanized iron
Galvanizing
Heating
Heating systems
Metal sheets
Research Article
Solar heating
Solar radiation
Thermodynamic efficiency
Water heaters
Water heating
Water supply
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Solar water heating is a technology of capturing the energy from the sun’s radiation for the purpose of raising the temperature of water from water supply temperature to the desired higher temperature depending on the use. There are many views and discussions on the questions of thermal efficiency of solar water heaters and their associated cost, especially different customers/users want to replace their existing conventional water heating energy by solar water heating systems. In this present paper, a deep investigation has been accomplished to determine thermal efficiency and cost analysis of solar water heater made in Rwanda. During manufacturing of solar water heater, the collector was the main part to emphasize on. The high efficiency of the system was achieved by replacing galvanized iron sheet by aluminum sheet slotted and black painted as an absorber plate. The ambient temperature and average solar radiation of the three sites where solar water heaters are installed were investigated. The used materials, specifications and sizing were discussed in this paper.
ISSN:0144-5987
2048-4054
DOI:10.1177/0144598718815240