A Model for Simulation of the Energy Flows in a Heat Pipe Solar Collector

The domestic sector is one of the major energy consumers and hot water is a compulsory service in modern society. Therefore, one of the possibilities for reducing energy expenses is heating water using solar collectors. However, the optimization of such installations requires careful planning and preliminary simulations. This study presents a model for simulating the energy flows in a heat pipe solar collector. Unlike previous studies, it also accounts for the self-shading of the vacuum tubes at certain hours of the day. An experimental setup was organized to collect reference data for model validation, and the data was automatically stored in a database by a microcontroller-based electronic system. The modeled and experimental data were compared and a PME of 1.55%, and a PMAE of 16.33% were obtained. The proposed model could be used for simulating the useful power of hybrid hot-water systems under different application scenarios.