Thermal performance analysis and economic evaluation of roof-integrated solar concrete collector

Abstract This paper examines the thermal performance of a roof-integrated solar concrete collector for reducing heat gain to a house and providing domestic hot water. The solar concrete collector is made of PVC pipes embedded in deck slab or concrete roof. No glazing on the top of the solar concrete collector or insulation at the back has been used as in conventional solar water heaters. To compare the energy saving, two test rooms of 2.3 m width, 2.5 m length and 2.5 m height were built. In the first room, the reinforced cement concrete (R.C.C.) slab was used as deck slab whereas the second room was equipped with a cement concrete solar collector. The experimental results showed that the cement concrete solar collector is extremely interesting as it can produce up to 40 l of hot water per day at water temperatures ranging from 40 to 50 °C. A mathematical model based on the conservation equations of energy is developed to predict the performance of the cement concrete solar collector. There is reasonable agreement from the comparison between measured data and predicted results. The economic analysis indicates that the payback period is rather fast.