A Case Study on the Determination of Optimal Angle of Mounting of Solar Collector on Balconies of High-Rise Apartments

With growing urbanisation, high-rise apartments in India are becoming more popular and an increase in the energy consumption as well. Thus, there arises a need for utilisation of renewable energy. One such application is the solar thermal systems. The space on the roof-top is not sufficient to place as many solar water heating systems as the number of families residing in the building. Also, placing the collectors on the roof-top would result in considerable heat-loss. Thus, the vertical surfaces of balconies can be made use of to mount the collectors. On the roof-tops, collectors are mounted at 23˚ for South India with respect to the horizontal. But collectors cannot be mounted at these angles on the facades as it would affect the aesthetics of the building. Thus, it is important to determine the angle at which collectors should be mounted so that the system efficiency is the highest. A case study was carried out for Bangalore and the optimum angle of inclination of the collector with the horizontal was determined by using a simulation tool, T*SOL. A thermosyphon system was considered. It was found that the optimal angle of inclination for South orientation for Bangalore was 55˚ and it was proved from physical tests that the system performed marginally better at 60˚.