Author : Shrikant G. Pise and Milind Limaye

Solar water heaters are used to heat water for various purposes in domestic and commercial applications. In the domestic field, heated water is frequently for bathing, medicinal use, washing clothes. There are various ways to improve the performance of solar water heaters. To make conventional heating systems electricity free, solar energy is a very good option. By use of concentrating collector for solar irradiations, water is heated inside the absorber. In solar heaters, concentrating collector with cubical receiver is new approach of minimizing cost and reduces the conventional space consuming solar water heaters. Concentrated collector is a part where lots of work is possible. The efficiency of the heater depends on various parameters such as solar irradiation available, flow rate, initial temperature etc. Present paper discusses various apparatus setups and ways to improve efficiency by various means.

Keywords: Cfd analysis, concentrated collector, design, performance, solar water heater.