In this paper, artificial neural network (ANN) models are developed for estimating monthly mean hourly and daily diffuse solar radiation. Solar radiation data from 10 Indian stations, having different climatic conditions, all over India have been used for training and testing the ANN model. The...

Experimental and theoretical investigations to optimise the geometrical design parameters of a tubular collector under atmospheric and evacuated (~ 10-3 torr) conditions are reported. The results indicate that a maximum stagnation temperature, which corresponds to the minimum heat loss, is...

A linear Fresnel reflector-concentrator employing commercial flat, front-reflecting mirror strips (of reflectivity [varrho] = 0·6), arranged in a planar configuration, has been fabricated and analyzed. An average concentration ratio of about 18 has been obtained for two-thirds of the...

Highly stable selective coatings of cobalt oxide have been prepared on commercial aluminium and galvanised iron substrates by the method of spray pyrolysis. The optothermal, structural and optical properties of these films have been investigated to determine the optimum growth parameters. Best...

This paper presents a transient behaviour model for a single-glazed hot box type solar cooker which enables the temperatures of various elements of the cooker to be predicted. The experimental results conform well with the theoretically predicted values. In an attempt to establish a simple...

Natural convection losses between an absorber plate and the cover glazing for different gap sizes and at different plate temperatures have been predicted theoretically by various empirical correlations developed by McAdams,4 Mikheyev,3 Tabor,5 Buchberg et al.6 and Hollands et al.7 The free...

Indoor test methods for solar collectors are widely accepted and recommended by ASHRAE. The development of a solar simulator for indoor testing and the certification procedure for photo-thermal solar devices is discussed in this paper. The system consists of 14 quartz halogen lamps and provides...

The results of a comparative study of the steady-state approach and the periodic analysis as applied to the air heater are presented. For the periodic analysis, the meteorological data are represented by a Fourier series. The periodic analysis is carried out by taking half-hourly and hourly...

In this paper an expression for the accurate computation of the overall heat loss coefficient, UL--including front, edge and rear losses--from a solar flat-plate collector has been derived. This expression is used and values of overall heat loss coefficients and overall collector efficiencies...