TY - JOUR
TI - Heat transfer in a low latitude flat-plate solar collector
AU - Oko Chika Ogbonna Chima
AU - Nnamchi Stefen Ndubuisi
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2012
VL - 16
IS - 2
SP - 583
EP - 591
PT - Article
AB - Study of rate of heat transfer in a flat-plate solar collector is the main  subject of this paper. Measurements of collector and working fluid  temperatures were carried out for one year covering the harmattan and rainy  seasons in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, which is situated at the latitude of  4.858oN and longitude of 8.372oE. Energy balance equations for heat exchanger  were employed to develop a mathematical model which relates the working fluid  temperature with the vital collector geometric and physical design  parameters. The exit fluid temperature was used to compute the rate of heat  transfer to the working fluid and the efficiency of the transfer. The optimum  fluid temperatures obtained for the harmattan, rainy and yearly (or combined)  seasons were: 317.4, 314.9 and 316.2 [K], respectively. The corresponding  insolation utilized were: 83.23, 76.61 and 79.92 [W/m2], respectively, with  the corresponding mean collector efficiency of 0.190, 0.205 and 0.197 [-],  respectively. The working fluid flowrate, the collector length and the range  of time that gave rise to maximum results were: 0.0093 [kg/s], 2.0 [m] and  12PM - 13.00PM, respectively. There was good agreement between the computed  and the measured working fluid temperatures. The results obtained are useful  for the optimal design of the solar collector and its operations.