Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

A simulation modeling for optimization of flat

plate collector design in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
S.A. Al-Ajlan , H. Al Faris, H. Khonkar
Energy Research Institute, P.O. Box. 6086, Riyadh 11442, King Abdulaziz City for Science and
Technology, Saudi Arabia
Received 4 October 2001; accepted 5 November 2002

Abstract
A simulation of forced convection solar heated water system is presented. A computer program is developed consisting of independent subroutines, capable of handling the variation of
the collector tube diameter, tube spacing, ambient conditions, material thermal properties, collector and system design optimization.
The meteorological data of Riyadh were used as the input in the program to simulate the
performance of the collector system. The output of the program is analyzed to optimize the
system design in the Riyadh region. The results of the simulations are compared with experimental data. There is a good agreement between the predicted and measured values.
2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Flat-plate collector; Computer simulation; Optimization; Riyadh; Forced convection

1. Introduction
Solar thermal systems can be used to supply a variety of different loads. Domestic
hot water loads are typically random. The solar thermal systems used are of the
conventional forced circulation type or of the thermosyphon type, designed to have
a storage volume approximately equal to the average daily demand of hot water.
The demand of using solar thermal hot water is increasing in Saudi Arabia as part
of the energy conservation and load management programs. Saudi Arabia has four
different climatic regions (hot arid, hot humid, temperate, cool) and the design of

Corresponding author. Tel.: +966-4813504; fax: +966-4813880.

E-mail address: salajlan@kacst.edu.sa (S.A. Al-Ajlan).

0960-1481/03/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0960-1481(02)00254-9

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Nomenclature
a
b
f
C
e
s
f
b
w
d
(t a)
w1,w2
rg
g
p
t
ws
Ac
At
Cb
Ch
CL
Cp
CW
D
Di
h
hfi
hw
hwt
I
Is
kb
k
ke
ki
l
le
m
mt

0.409+0.5016 Sin (ws60);

0.66090.4767 Sin (ws60);
(1+0.089 hw0.1166 hw p) (1+0.07866 N);
520 (10.000051 b2);
0.43 (1100/Tpm);
5.669108 w/m2k4;
Altitude angle, deg;
Collector tilt angle, deg;
Hour angle, deg;
Absorber plate thickness, m;
Transmittance absorptance product for the glazing;
hour angles at the start and the end of the hour;
Ground reflectance;
Emittance of glass cover;
Emittance of absorber plate;
Emittance of tank outer surface;
Sunset hour angle;
Collector area, m2;
Tank outer surface area;
Bond conductance;
Collector height, m;
Collector length, m;
Specific heat of the working fluid, J/kg K;
Collector width, m;
Tube outer diameter, m;
Tube inner diameter, m;
Tank height, m;
Convective heat transfer coefficient inside tube, W/m2 K;
Wind convective heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K;
Tank wind convective heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K;
Solar radiation, W/m2;
Solar radiation reaching the absorber plate, W/m2;
Back insolation conductivity, W/m K;
Absorber plate conductivity, W/m K;
Edge insolation conductivity, W/m K;
Tank insulation conductivity, W/m K;
Back insolation thickness, m;
Edge insolation thickness, m;
Collector flow rate, kg/s;
Moss of water in the tank;

S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

n
N
Qlt
Qcond
Qconv
Qrad
r1, r2
Rb
T
Ta
Ti
Tpm
ti
Tt
UL
W
V
L

1327

day number of the year;

Number of glass covers;
Tank thermal loss;
Conduction heat loss from the tank;
Connection heat loss from the tank;
Radiation heat loss form the tank;
Inner and outer radii of the tank, respectively, m;
Ratio of beam radiation on tilted surface to that on horizontal
surface;
Temperature in K;
Ambient temperate, K;
Fluid inlet temperature, K;
Mean absorber plate temperature K;
Tank insulation thickness;
Tank temperature K;
Overall heat loss coefficient, W/m2 K;
Tube spacing, m;
Wind speed in (m/s);
The cube root of the tank volume.

solar thermal hot water may vary accordingly. So there is a need for developing a
computer simulation to optimize flat-plate collector design taking into account the
local parameters and requirements.
This paper is organized as follows: The description of the mathematical model,
the description of an experimental set-up leading the model validation, and model
exploitation with the aim to optimize the flat plate collector design for the Riyadh
region.

2. Mathematical model
The aim of the mathematical model is the determination of solar thermal water
heater application. The model is based on the heat balance on both the solar collector
and the water tank, and therefore also predicts the water mean temperature in the
tank.
The useful energy output (Qu) of a collector in a steady state condition is defined
as the difference between the solar radiation reaching the absorber plate and the
thermal loss [111] (1):
Qu Ac [ Is UL ( Tpm Ta ) ]

(1)

The solar radiation Is falling on the absorber plate (or the heat gain) can be calculated
using the following relation (2):

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Is Ib Rb (ta)b Id (ta)d
Id ) (ta)g

1 Cosb
2

rg (Ib

(2)

1Cosb
2

where b, d, and g represent beam, diffuse, and ground respectively.

Rb, the ratio of the solar radiation falling on a tilted horizontal surface in the
northern hemisphere is (3):
Rb

Cos (f b) Cosd Cosw Sin (f b) Sin d

.
Cos f Cosd Cosw Sin f Sin d

(3)

Declination angle d is calculated as follows (4):

d 23.45 Sin 360

284 n
, degrees.
365

(4)

Knowing the daily total solar radiation H, hourly solar radiation I is calculated as
follows (5):
I H

p
( a b Cos w)
24

Cosw Cosws
pws
Sin ws Cos ws
180

(5)

The extra terrestrial radiation Io is calculated from the following equation (6):
Io

123600
360n
Gsc 1 0.033
p
365
p(w2w1 )
SinfSind
180

CosfCosd(Sinw2Sinw1)

(6)

where: Gsc=Solar constant [1]=1367 W/m2. Then the clearness index kt is calculated as:
I
kt .
Io
Depending on the value of kt; diffuse radiation Id is calculated as [1] (7):
Id {I(10.09kt) if kt0.22I(0.95110.1604kt 4.388k2t
16.638k 12.336k ) if 0.22 kt0.80.165 I
3
t

4
t

(7)

if kt 0.8}.

Then beam radiation Ib is calculated as follows:

Ib IId.
The heat loss form the collector-the second term of Eq. (1) is controlled by the
overall heat loss coefficient UL and mean plate temperature Tpm. UL is the summation

S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

1329

of three separate components; the top loss coefficient Ut, the bottom loss coefficient
Ub, and the edge loss coefficient Ue (8):
UL Ut Ub Ue.

(8)

The top loss coefficient Ut is the reciprocal of the total resistance to heat flow in
the direction facing the sun, this coefficient can be calculated using an impirical
relation as follows (9):
1

Ut

C TpmTa
Tpm N f

(9)

hw

s(Tpm Ta)(T2pm T2a)

2N f1 0.13ep
(ep 0.00591Nhw)1
N
eg

Similarly, the bottom loss coefficient Ub is the reverse of the resistance to heat flow
in the bottom direction. The expression of Ub is (10):
Ub

kb
.
1

(10)

The third term in Eq. (8) which is the edge loss coefficient Ue can be calculated as
follows (11):
Ue

ke 2 (CL CW ) Ch

.
le
CL CW

(11)

Mean plate temperature in a given period of time (1 h) is calculated in an iterative

manner by assuming an initial temperature (fluid inlet temperature +10 C) to calculate a first value of UL. Then, the collector efficiency factor F can be calculated as
follows (12):
F

1 / UL

1
1
1
W

UL[D (WD) F] Cb p Di hfi

(12)

where:
F Fin efficiency factor
m

tanh [m(WD) / 2]
m (WD) / 2

kd .
UL

Knowing collector efficiency factor; heat removal factor FR is then calculated as

follows (13):

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S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

FR

m
AC UL F,
Cp
1exp
.
Ac UL
m
Cp

(13)

Once FR is calculated, the useful energy gain QU is calculated as follows [1,2] (14):
Qu FR AC[(IsUL (TiTa)].

(14)

By comparing Eqs. (14) and (1); a new value of absorber plate mean temperature
is then calculated and the same process is repeated until the difference between
calculated temperatures is less then 0.1 C. From the most accurate absorber plate
mean temperature, the useful energy gain is calculated, from which the increase of
tank temperature is calculated for the same period.
The time interval chosen is 1 h since it is the shortest time interval in which the
three components of solar radiation (beam, diffuse, and ground reflectance) can be
calculated on a tilted surface based on the daily total solar radiation on a horizontal surface.
2.1. Tank losses
The tank loss is calculated based on the assumption that the tank and the ambient
temperatures are constant during the 1-h time interval of the calculations. Also, it
is assumed that the tank inner wall temperature is equal to the average tank temperature, or
Tsi Tt.
The thermal loss from the tank Qlt occurs first by conduction in the tank insulation
from Tsi to Tso through cylindrical sides and the top and bottom flat surfaces then
by convection and radiation from the tank outer surfaces to the surroundings. The
radiation is assumed to occur between the tank outer surface at Tso and the surroundings at Ta as shown in Fig. 1.
Qlt Qcond

(15)

Fig. 1.

Description of the tank heat loss thermal resistances.

S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

Qcond Qconv Qrad

Qcond 2pki

l
ln(r2 / r1)

r22
(TsiTso)
ti

1331

(16)
(17)

Qconv hwtAt (TsoTa)

(18)

Qrad esAt (T T ).

(19)

4
so

4
a

The convective heat transfer coefficient hwt is calculated according to [1] and [11]
under the assumption that the tank can be represented by a sphere the diameter of
which is equal to the cube root of the tank volume (20).
hwt

8.6V0.6
L0.4

(20)

where:V=wind speed in (m/s), L=the cube root of the tank volume.Eq. (16) can be
written in terms of Tso as f(Tso) by substituting Eqs. (17), (18) and (19) in Eq. (16).
The Newton-Raphson iterative method is then used to calculate a new value of
tank outer surface temperature Tson by assuming a first guess for Tso Ta as (21):
f(Tso)
.
Tson Tso
f(Tso)

(21)

If Abs(TsonTso)0.1 then the process is repeated by letting Tso Tson until the
condition is achieved.
Eq. (15) is then used to calculate the tank loss, which leads to the new tank
temperature Ttn as (22):
Qlt
Ttn Tt
.
mtCp

(22)

3. Experimental set-up
The main goal of the experimental test is to verify the temperature results with
the mathematical model results in different weather conditions during 24 h. Riyadh
is located in the center of the country with longitude of 46.4 E, latitude of 24.4
N and altitude of 600 m.
3.1. Description
The schematic diagram of the solar thermal water heater is used to run the experiment is presented in Fig. 2. It consists mainly of a flat-plate collector, a water tank
(136l) and water flow circulator (pump) where the apparatus is exposed to outside
weather conditions. The collector is oriented facing south, inclined at an angle equal
to the latitude of Riyadh, i.e. approximately 25 degrees. The insulated water storage
tank is installed with thermocouples at different heights inside the tank. All connec-

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S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

Fig. 2.

Flow chart of the mathematical model.

tions (piping and hosing) are insulated. In addition to this, a flow meter and a differential temperature controller are used to control the water flow. The pump is added
to circulate the water inside the collector and the tank to ensure a known and a
constant flow rate. Other measuring instruments as pyranometer (for measuring solar
insulation in W/m2) and wind speed sensor (for measuring wind speed in m/s) are
also used. The thermocouples and other sensors are connected to a data-logger for
collecting and recording the data. The block diagram of this experimental setup is

S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

1333

Fig. 3. Block diagram of the flat plate collector component.

shown in Fig. 3 and the photograph of the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 4.
Table 1 illustrates the general specifications for mathematical model validation.
3.2. Experimental procedure
The solar thermal water heater system is operated for 24 h from sunrise to the
next day during different seasons of the year. The data are recorded with 5 min
interval. The average tank temperature is obtained by calculating the average of the
four different temperatures inside the tank.

Fig. 4. Experimental setup photograph.

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Table 1
General specifications for the mathematical model validation
Tank specifications

Collector specifications

Cover specifications

Absorber plate
specifications

Height=1000 mm

Tilt angle 25

Emittance of the cover

(cover)=0.88
Index of refraction
(glass)=1.526
Thickness of one single
cover=3 mm
Extinction coefficient=4

Absorptance at normal
incidence (an)=0.9
Thermal conductivity
(copper)=385 W/m C
Plate thickness=0.1 mm

Diameter=446 mm

Back insulation
thickness=40 mm
Insulation thickness=15 Edge insulation
mm
thickness=30 mm
Insulation
Insulation thermal
conductivity=0.03 W/m conductivity=0.05 W/m
C
C
Volume=136 L;
Collector length=2.4 m No. of covers=1
Remittance of the tank
outer surface=0.9
Collector width=1.12 m
Collector height=80 mm
Flow rate=0.01 kg/s

Tube spacing=112 mm

Tube outer
diameter=12.5 mm

4. Model validation
The validation parameters such as collector area, storage volume, latitude and
collector tilt angle are illustrated in Table 1. Figs. 5 and 6 show the measured and
calculated tank temperature during winter and summer seasons respectively. It has
been found that good agreement occurs between the measured and calculated results,
which show the validity of the mathematical model.

Fig. 5.

Collector experimental validation in winter season.

S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

1335

Fig. 6. Collector experimental validation in summer season.

5. Model exploitation: collector design for the Riyahd region

A simulation model is designed for predicting the temperature of storage tanks
for different collectors. The simulation model requires hourly input of ambient temperature and daily total solar radiation which are taken from real data at a meteorological station in the Solar Village. The model exploitation input (meteorological
and flow value) data are chosen to be the winter validation input data.
The variable parameters are the glazing number, the intensity of the iron in the
glass and deposited material on the absorber. To study the effect of the variable
parameters, a combination of eight different collector designs are studied, for which
the Riyadh area was chosen. The state of each variable of feature in a particular
design is denoted using the shorthand notation as shown below in Table 2. The
temperature profiles associated with a particular combination of features are denoted
by an ordered triplet: the order being number of glazing, type of glass transmittance

Table 2
Shorthand of combination of design feature
Combinations

Shorthand

Single glazing, Low iron tempered glass, Selective coating

Double glazing, Low iron tempered glass, Selective coating
Single glazing, High iron glass, Selective coating
Double glazing, Low iron tempered glass, Ordinary paint
Single glazing, Low iron tempered glass, Ordinary paint
Single glazing, High iron glass, Ordinary paint
Double glazing, High iron glass, Selective coating
Double glazing, Low iron tempered glass, Ordinary paint

(SLC)
(DLC)
(SHC)
(DLO)
(SLO)
(SHO)
(DHC)
(DHO)

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S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

Table 3
Cost of different fixed and variable constituents of the collector

Fixed cost

Variable cost

Item

Cost SR

Box+insulation+gaskets+10% labour
Copper tubes=45 SR/6 m 8 m+110 SR/6 m
2 m+10%labour
Copper strip
Total cost=104+107+65
Black paint
Selective coating
High iron glass
Low iron glass

104 SR/m2
107 SR/m2
65 SR/m2
276 SR/m2
2 SR/m2
10 SR/m2
40 SR/m2
110 SR/m2

and absorber type of coating. The cost of different constituents of the collector are
illustrated in Table 3.
Fig. 7 indicates water tank temperature profiles for different combinations of
design feature of flat plate collector under winter climatic condition in Riyadh. The
water flow rate is selected as 0.048 kg/s as recommended by ASHRAE [3]. As it
can be observed from Fig. 7 that the initial temperature is chosen to be the average
daily ambient temperature for a January day where the daily temperature profile is
the average of the whole month and the month is the average of five January months
in five consecutive years, the temperature appeared to be 13.4 C. In addition, the
temperature profiles of all cases under study are influenced by sunrise and sunset in
which they start to differ from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm according to the design feature
of the collector. The temperature behaviors between 6.00 pm and 7.00 am next day
of all cases under study represent the storage tank heat loss.
The temperature difference between SLC case (highest temperature produced on

Fig. 7. Collector exploitation in winter season (collector tilt=40 and mass flow rate=0.048 kg/s).

S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

1337

peak time) and DHO case (lowest temperature produced on peak time) is 12.94 C.
The highest temperature for the SLC case as well as the DHO case occurs on hour
4.00 pm. In the case of high iron glazing, the increase in tank temperature from 3.00
pm to 4.00 pm is very small due to the fact that the higher the iron content, the
higher the solar radiation being blocked in the glazing.
In comparing the performances, the combination such as SLO produces a higher
temperature on the peak time than SHO as it contains low iron glass. In general,
the thermal performances for the four cases with low iron glass have a higher temperature than the high iron cases. As expected, high iron glass absorbs a big portion
of the infrared solar spectrum, and the low iron cover transmits most of the infrared
of the solar spectrum.
The design improvements depend on several variables as already discussed in the
simulation model, namely number of glazes, type of glass (amount of iron) and the
surface treatment of the absorber.
The effect of more than one glass cover plate is to reduce the optical efficiency
due to reflection and absorption of incident solar radiation, and to reduce the overall
heat transfer coefficient from the collector plate to the ambient. At moderate
operating temperatures, the reduction in heat loss tends to outweigh the loss in optical
efficiency, and a multi-glazed collector will tend to outperform a single glazed collector. The choice of the optimum number of glazing in any application depends on
the operating and ambient temperature as well as cost-effectiveness.
The selective surface can absorb the solar spectrum very well but is poor in radiating the far infrared. Such surfaces generally have lower radiate heat loss. The collector temperature can be increased considerably by using a selective coating on the
absorber than ordinary paint. It can be seen in Fig. 7 with all the combinations give
higher temperature, where as the collector with ordinary paint comes at the bottom
of the chart.
Finally, Fig. 8 illustrates that there is a significant improvement in performance
between the best and the worst cases in terms of the energy collected per m2, 79.2

Fig. 8. Collected energy and cost comparison between eight combinations of flat plate collector design
features.

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S.A. Al-Ajlan et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 13251339

kJ/kg and 59 kJ/kg respectively: the best case being SLC, single glass cover and
selective absorber with low iron glass. The worst case is DHO double glass cover
with high iron glass and ordinary paint. However, the decision to use any of the
combinations should actually be based on the cost benefit as well. In the case of
DLC it nearly gives high energy collected (75.7 kJ/kg/m2) but with the highest cost
(506 SR/m2) among the rest of the combinations under consideration, which might
not be needed in the Riyadh area as the ambient temperature does not drop below
zero. The best combination is SHO taking into consideration the cost (318 SR/m2).
However, Fig. 9 shows collected energy and cost percentages comparison between
SHO (as a reference) and the rest of the combinations under considerations where
in case of SHC, there is only 2.5% increase in cost with 14% increase in energy
collected. Then the justified combination is SHC which can be determined for the
Riyadh area.

6. Conclusion
A computer mathematical model is developed and validated by comparing simulation and experimental results. The mathematical model is used to optimize the solar
thermal flat-plate collector in the Riyadh region: The collector configuration SHC
(single glazing, high iron glass with selective coating) is the optimum design for a
flat-plate collector in Riyadh.

7. Future work
The same mathematical model will be applied to the other climatic regions in
Saudi Arabia to get the optimized design for flat plate collector in those regions.

Fig. 9. Collected energy and cost percentages comparison between SHO as a reference case and the rest
of the combination cases under study.

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1339

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the staff of the Energy Research Institute in
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology for their support and help. Special
thanks and appreciation are extended to Eng. Mahmood Al-Ajami and Mr. Kamal
Abduzzahair for their contribution in the experimental works.

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