Experimental study of the efficiency of a solar water heater construction from recycled plastic bottles

Abstract

A solar polymer heat exchanger is designed to heat water; its primary materials are plastic water bottles with a capacity of 1.5 liters. These materials were recycled to preserve the environment and to make use of it again. The thermal insulation properties are adopted for the characterization of polymeric materials. These properties concern the conservation of energy for the longest period of time and the absence of problems caused by rust and corrosion, which are usually encountered in traditional heat exchangers. The heat exchanger experiments start by tracking the flow of water inside the pipes by a valve. The water temperature and flow rates are determined at the inlet and outlet surfaces of the exchanger. The obtained results indicated an increase in water temperature exceeding 10℃ in an ideal spring day. The thermal efficiency of the solar collector was about 62% under the sunlight, and 44% in the laboratory where halogen lamps were used as an industrial light source.