Performance studies of an integrated solar collector-cum-storage water heating system with transparent insulation cover

Abstract In this paper the effect of transparent insulation on the performance of a 100 dm 3 capacity built-in-storage type solar water heater is theoretically investigated. The materials of transparent insulation in covering 1 m 2 area of the top surface are Honeycomb hexagonal PS, Honeycomb hexagonal PA and Honeycomb square PC as suggested by Pfluger et al. (paper presented at the ISES Solar World Congress, Hamburg, 1987). Performance of the third material is compared with a glass cover with and without night insulation cover. Also, the performance of a similar system with an area of 0.5 m 2 on its top surface but with the same capacity and with transparent insulation on top and on all the side walls is studied. Finite difference forward time step marching technique is used in solving the energy balance equations. A comparison between the three materials shows that the system with Honeycomb square PC presents the best performance, but it is inferior to the system with night insulation cover.