Research on Annual Thermal Performance of Solar Water Heating Balcony System

AbstractA project has been conducted on an indirect natural circulation solar water heating system which is hung on a simulated balcony wall in Lianyungang City in the east of China. In the solar water heating system, the flat plate collector has an inclined surface of 70°. Tests and analysis have been carried out to obtain solar heat gain of the system and the heat loss coefficient of the storage tank under sunny weather conditions in 2013. The results show that annual solar heat gain of the system is mainly affected by the irradiance and the ambient temperature, and the storage water temperature drops less when the ambient temperature rises, but the average heat loss factor is nearly unchanged when the ambient temperature changes. In addition, there is almost no influence on the heat gain of the system if there is a reverse slope in the circulation pipeline