Study of Cylindrical Honeycomb Solar Collector

Abstract

We present the results of our investigation on cylindrical honeycomb solar collector. The honeycomb has been fabricated with transparent cellulose triacetate polymer sheets. Insulation characteristics of the honeycomb were studied by varying the separation between the honeycomb and the absorber plate. The optimal value of the separation was found to be 3.3 mm for which the heat transfer coefficient is 3.06 W m −2 K −1 . This supports result of previous similar experiments. Further we test the honeycomb through a field experiment conducted in Delhi (28.6°N, 77°E) and found that when the incident angle of the solar radiation is within 20° then the performance of the system with the honeycomb is better than the one without the honeycomb.