Two-Dimensional Analysis of Absorber Plates in Solar Collectors with a Nonlinear Plate Temperature at the Tube Section

Many investigators have investigated flat-plate solar collector absorber plates based on one-dimensional heat flows. However, the shape of the absorber plate may always create a two-dimensional temperature distribution if it has a thin thickness. Hence, an analysis of the two-dimensional heat flow in absorber plates is always required. The current paper determines a closed-form solution for the energy equation to establish a two-dimensional energy flow for an absorber plate by considering a nonlinear temperature variation at the plate–tube section. The separation of the established variable method solves the energy equation. The same energy equation was also solved numerically using the finite difference method for validation purposes. It emphasizes demonstrating that the analytical and numerical results match closely with each other. Finally, this work concludes by developing an analytical model for the practicable thermal analysis of absorber plates in solar collectors, providing error-free implementation results.