Experimental Study to Evaluate the Performance of Flat Plate Solar Collector with Natural Circulation

In this research, a practical study was carried out on a flat plate solar collector covered by transparent layer faced toward the south and tilted 30o from horizon. The collector is low cost and simple design with 170 litters volume capacity. The collector works according to the natural circulation phoneme where the flow occurs due to the differences in water density. The practical data were collected for Baghdad (33.3o N, 44.3o E) during the period 15 Sep – 31 Dec 2007. The performance of solar collector had evaluated for various conditions and water demands. The obtained data show confident results. It is noticed that the maximum temperature of the water on 15 Dec could reach (43oC) where the inlet temperature was (18oC). Based on that, the using of mentioned collector is reliable and applicable to supply domestic hot water in conjugation with auxiliary heater. Keywords: Solar Collector, Natural Circulation, Hot Water, Renewable Energ