Dust Effect on Thermal Performance Many standards such as ISO 9806-1, EN 12975-2, and ASHRAE
93-2003 offered the steady state method. Perers proposed a quasi-
of Flat Plate Solar Collectors
Zhao Jing
School of Material Science and Engineering,
Lanzhou University of Technology,
Lanzhou 730050, China
e-mail: Zhaojing274704@126.com
Wang Zhiping1
School of Material Science and Engineering,
Lanzhou University of Technology,
Lanzhou 730050, China
e-mail: solar_energy8@126.com
Wang Kezhen
Renewable Energy Laboratory,
Lanzhou University of Technology,
Lanzhou 730050, China
e-mail: 838300835@qq.com
Liu Jianbo
School of Material Science and Engineering,
Lanzhou University of Technology,
Lanzhou 730050, China
e-mail: Liujianbo01@126.com
The solar collectors were exposed to the ambient conditions and
left without cleaning for three months in winter in Lanzhou. In
this paper, the effect of dust accumulation on the instantaneous
efficiency, stagnation temperature and temperature rise of flat
plate solar collectors is analyzed. The efficiency of solar collec-
tors with and without dust in steady-state condition is measured
following the Chinese National Standard GB/T 4271. Beside this,
the stagnation test is carried out. The results show that the optical
efficiency decrease of 9.7% and the stagnation temperature
decrease of 0.3  C–7.2  C over time in a solar collector exposed
for three months without cleaning. Furthermore, daily test is con-
ducted. The efficiency, dust shading coefficient, and temperature
rise of solar collectors are calculated by using experimental data.
In this experiment, the dust shading coefficient changes between
0.83 and 0.94 during the whole day, and it is lower at noon than
in the morning and evening hours. The efficiency difference and
the temperature rise difference between the solar collectors with
and without dust also vary with the dust shading coefficient, the
optical efficiency, total solar irradiance, and mass flow rate dur-
ing the whole day. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4028364]
Keywords: dust, flat plate solar collectors, stagnation temperature,
efficiency, temperature rise
1 Introduction
At present, a large number of solar heating plants have been
built and many are under construction. At the same time, the solar
fraction requirement of the plants is higher and higher. For opti-
mizing solar heating plants, we must make accurate energy output
prediction of the solar collector under real working condition.
1
Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of ASME for publication in the
JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING: INCLUDING WIND ENERGY AND BUILDING
ENERGY CONSERVATION. Manuscript received September 11, 2013; final manuscript
received August 6, 2014; published online September 3, 2014. Assoc. Editor:
Werner Platzer.
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C 2015 by ASME
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dynamic test method which is adopted by EN 12975 standard for
characterizing the thermal performance of solar collectors [1].
Hou et al. [2] and Kong et al. [3] proposed and perfected a two
node dynamic test method named the transfer function method for
solar collector testing [4].
There are many methods for solar collector testing, however,
under real working conditions many other factors need to be con-
sidered, especially dust accumulation on the solar collector.
El-Nashar showed a 70% reduction in the performance of
evacuated-tube flat-plate type collector when the collector was
left without cleaning for a whole year in the United Arab Emirates
[5]. Said reported that the average degradation rate of the effi-
ciency was 7% per month for the photovoltaic panel for maritime-
desert-subzone type of environment. [6]. Hegazy researched that
dust accumulation effects on solar transmittance through glass
plates with different tilt angles and different exposure periods, and
developed an empirical correlation between dust factor correlate,
tilt angle, and the number of exposure days since last cleaning
under the climate conditions of Minia region, middle of Egypt [7].
Elminir comprised 100 glass plates with different tilt and azimuth
angles over a seven month period in Cairo, Egypt. The study
revealed that, as the dust deposition density goes from 15.84 (for
a 0 deg tilt) to 4.48 g/m2 (for a 90 deg tilt), the corresponding
transmittance diminishes by 52.54–12.38%, respectively [8]. El-
Shobokshy and Hussein analyzed the impact of five kinds of dust
(with different physical properties) on the performance of photo-
voltaic panels. The results indicated that fine particulate dust sig-
nificantly deteriorates the performance of photovoltaic panels,
more than coarser particles [9].
The above literature surveys and other studies are mainly
focused on the daily or monthly average efficiency and glass nor-
mal transmittance. The efficiency and glass transmittance strongly
depend on the dust deposition density and the dust characteristics
in conjunction with plate tilt angle, the orientation of the surface,
local climate environment, and dust accumulating time. However,
because of the changes in solar incident angle, total solar irradi-
ance and diffuse solar irradiance, and so on, the influence of dust
accumulation to the performance of solar collector changes from
moment to moment. Thus, more data are required for analyzing
the influence of dust accumulation on the instantaneous perform-
ance of solar collector.
Dust accumulation not only affects heat-collecting capacity, but
heat-collecting temperature. This paper studies the effect of dust
accumulation on the instantaneous efficiency, temperature rise,
and stagnation temperature of flat plate solar collectors in Lanz-
hou. For this purpose, first, the steady-state tests on the thermal
performance of flat plate solar collectors with and without dust
had been performed according to the Chinese National Standard
GB/T 4271. Second, under stagnation conditions, the stagnation
temperature with the change of solar radiation for the collectors
with and without dust was tested. Finally, daily tests of the solar
collectors with and without dust are implemented at the same
operating conditions for the whole day.
2 Experimental Setup
The experimental apparatus is located in Lanzhou University of
Technology where less rain is in winter. The solar collectors were
exposed to the ambient conditions and left without cleaning for
three months. The clean flat plate solar collectors and the collec-
tors with dust accumulation are installed in the same way. The
solar collectors are fixed facing south at 36 deg tilt from the
horizontal.
A schematic view of the test loop is shown in Fig. 1. The
hydraulic loop is divided into two lines: the first one goes to the
clean solar collector and the second one goes to the solar collector
with dust accumulation. Two pumps are used to circulate the liq-
uid. Experimental measurements on the solar collectors with and
FEBRUARY 2015, Vol. 137 / 014502-1
 Fig. 1 Schematic view of the experimental test rig

without dust have been taken at the same time. We have measured
ambient temperature, inlet temperature, outlet temperature,
volume flow rate, total and diffuse solar irradiance. The tempera-
ture is measured by Pt resistance temperature sensors. Two black
thermopile based pyranometers which were calibrated in Beijing
by HUATRON are used. One measures the total solar irradiance,
and the other shaded against the direct solar radiation measures
the diffuse solar irradiance on the plane of flat plate solar collec-
tors. The magnetic type flow meters are used to measure the fluid
volumetric flow rate. The computer records all data with a time
step of 10s by data acquisition instrument.
According to the Chinese National Standard GB/T 4271, the
steady-state test has been taken under the constant inlet tempera-
ture and constant volume flow rate. A very similar procedure to
GB/T 4271 is described in EN 12975. The main difference
between these is that, in GB/T 4271 the maximum inlet tempera-
ture should not exceed 70  C for flat plat solar collector test, how-
ever, in EN 12975 that shall be at least around 80  C. During daily
test, the volume flow rate is kept constant for the whole day. In
stagnation tests process, the flow of heat transfer fluid through the
collectors is interrupted. The flow of heat transfer fluid must circu-
late through the collectors 15 min before the test to make sure that
the solar collectors are in steady-state. Then, the valves at the inlet
and outlet of solar collectors are shut off, the valves at the over-
flow pipes are turned on. Then, the data starts to be reported.
gn ¼ 0:729  4:89  ðTin  Ta Þ=G (1)
gw ¼ 0:632  4:80  ðTin  Ta Þ=G (2)
From Fig. 2, Eqs. (1) and (2), it is found that the optical efficiency
decrease of 9.7% and the heat loss coefficient for linear regression
decrease of about 0.09 W/  C in a solar collector exposed for three
months without cleaning. So the efficiency equation for solar col-
lector with dust can be expressed as
gw ¼ FR ðsaÞe;n Fd1  FR UL;n Fd2  ðTin  Ta Þ=G (3)
Therefore
ðsaÞen;w ¼ ðsaÞe;n Fd1 ; UL;w ¼ UL;n Fd2
These results show that dust accumulation can greatly affect the
transmittance of glass cover. In this experiment, the optical effi-
ciency of clean solar collector FR ðsaÞe;n is equal to 0.729, how-
ever, the FR ðsaÞe;w of solar collectors with dust is 0.632. So the
dust shading coefficient Fd1 is equal to 0.867. In the same way,
the value of Fd2 is 0.98. The dust heat loss coefficient factor Fd2
has little effect on collector efficiency, generally less than 2%, so
Fd2 can be approximated as 1.0, that is UL,w equals UL,n.

3 Experimental Results and Analysis 3.2 Stagnation Tests. Stagnation temperature reflects the
highest collecting temperature that the solar collector reached
The effect of dust accumulation is analyzed by the steady-state under certain environment conditions. During stagnation
tests, stagnation tests, and daily tests. Two coefficients dust shad-
ing coefficient and dust heat loss coefficient factor are introduced
into the analysis. Dust shading coefficient is defined as the ration
of the optical efficiency with dust accumulation to it without dust
to reflect the impact of dust accumulation on the optical properties
of solar collector. Dust heat loss coefficient factor is defined as the
ration of the solar collector overall heat loss coefficient with dust
accumulation to it without dust to reflect the impact of dust accu-
mulation on the top heat loss coefficient of solar collector.

3.1 Steady-State Tests. As suggested by the standard, the liq-

uid mass flow rate has been set as 0.019 kg/s per square meter of
collector aperture area. Each experimental point is obtained by
setting a constant inlet temperature of the collector. Based on
experimental conditions, four data points are selected, the inlet
temperature of 25  C, 40  C, 55  C, and 70  C.
Experimental measurements for steady-state test for solar col-
lectors with and without dust are reported in Fig. 2, where the lin- Fig. 2 Efficiency curves obtained in steady-state test for both
ear fitting curves are also drawn. The efficiency expressions are solar collectors with and without dust

014502-2 / Vol. 137, FEBRUARY 2015 Transactions of the ASME

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 Fig. 3 Measured ambient temperature, total and diffuse solar
irradiance during stagnation test period
conditions the efficiency equals zero, and stagnation temperature
approximates the fluid inlet temperature, Ts  Tin, so the stagna-
tion temperature can be calculated from
Ts ¼ FR ðsaÞe G=ðFR UL Þ þ Ta (4)
If stagnation temperature, ambient temperature, total solar irradi-
ance, and heat loss coefficient have been known, FR ðsaÞe can be
calculated from
FR ðsaÞe ¼ FR UL ðTs  Ta Þ=G (5)
During stagnation test, the ambient temperature and total solar
irradiance is shown in Fig. 3. The test data is recorded with a time
step of 10s. In order to ensure the test point stability, total solar
irradiance is selected as the mean value over 10 min; however, the
matching stagnation temperature is selected as the last data within
10 min. The stagnation temperature of the solar collector with and
without dust is compared in Fig. 4. It can be found from Fig. 4,
dust accumulation has effect on the stagnation temperature, that
is, it influences the heat-collecting quality in certain environmen-
tal conditions. The stagnation temperature decrease of
0.3  C–7.2  C in a solar collector exposed for three months with-
out cleaning. The difference between the stagnation temperature
of collector with and without dust increases from 8:30 am to
10:30 am until water medium reaches its boiling point.
Based on the measured data of ambient temperature, stagnation
temperature and total solar irradiance, the optical efficiency with
Fig. 4 Experimental points in Ts–G diagram for the solar col-
lectors with and without dust
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Fig. 5 The optical efficiency FR ðsaÞe;n and FR ðsaÞe;w , and the
dust shading coefficient Fd1 versus time
and without dust are calculated by Eq. (5). The calculated
FR ðsaÞe;n and FR ðsaÞe;w points are shown in Fig. 5. Stagnation
temperature of solar collector without dust of the last two experi-
mental points, which reaches the water boiling point should not be
used for calculating FR ðsaÞe , so these two points do not show in
Fig. 5. In this graph, the dust shading coefficient which equals
FR ðsaÞe;w divided by FR ðsaÞe;n is also reported. The dust shading
factor is mainly affected by dust deposition density [6–8] and the
properties (optical, size, geometry, and chemical composition) of
dust [6,9]. However, when dust deposition density and the proper-
ties of dust are stable, the dust shading coefficient is still varying
in Fig. 5. It can be assumed that the dust shading coefficient
decreases with the decrease of solar incident angle and the diffuse
to total solar irradiance ratio. As the dust shading coefficient
decreases and the optical efficiency without dust increases over
time, the difference between the optical efficiency with and with-
out dust is increased over time.
The difference between the stagnation temperature of collector
with and without dust can be calculated from Eq. (4). Its expres-
sion is
Tsn  Tsw ¼ FR ðsaÞe;n ð1  Fd ÞG=ðFR UL Þ (6)
From Eq. (6), it can be seen that the difference between Tsn and
Tsw increases with the raise of total solar irradiance and optical
efficiency, and with the decrease of the dust shading coefficient
over time from 8:30 am to 10:30 am.
Fig. 6 Measurements during daily test: diffuse and total irradi-
ance, inlet, outlet, and ambient temperatures, and mass flow
rate
FEBRUARY 2015, Vol. 137 / 014502-3
 Fig. 7 Comparison between experimental average efficiency
of clean solar collectors and that of solar collectors with dust
accumulation
3.3 Daily Tests. Daily tests of the solar collectors with and
without dust are implemented at the same operating conditions
(fluid inlet temperature, mass flow rate, and ambient temperature).
Figure 6 shows the main parameters recorded during the daily
test. Flow rate is kept constant for the whole day. The test data is
recorded with a time step of 10s. The incident solar energy on the
collector area and the collector useful energy gain are calculated
over small time interval 5 min. For each time interval, the average
efficiency is determined by the equation, g ¼ cmDsDT=ðGAa DsÞ.
The measured average efficiency within 5 min during the whole
test day is reported in Fig. 7 for both of collectors with and with-
out dust. When the collector was left without cleaning for three
months, the reduction in the average efficiency varies between 3%
and 12%. By integrating cmDsDT and GAa Ds over the entire day,
the daily average efficiency can be calculated. The reduction in
the daily average efficiency is 9.8% for a solar collector exposed
for three months without cleaning.
By assuming the collectors operate constantly at steady-state
standard conditions, and the heat loss coefficient UL,n equals UL,w
with constant during the whole day, the optical efficiency and
temperature rise can be described separately by
FR ðsaÞe ¼ g þ FR UL ðTin  Ta Þ=G (7)
DT ¼ Tout  Tin ¼ Aa ðFR ðsaÞe G þ FR UL ðTin  Ta ÞÞ=cm (8)
Therefore, the efficiency difference and temperature rise differ-
ence for both collectors without dust and with dust can be calcu-
lated separately from
Fig. 8 The optical efficiency FR ðsaÞe;n and FR ðsaÞe;w , and the
dust shading coefficient Fd1 versus time
014502-4 / Vol. 137, FEBRUARY 2015
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Fig. 9 Comparison between the temperature rise of clean solar
collectors and that of solar collectors with dust accumulation
gn  gw ¼ FR ðsaÞe;n  FR ðsaÞe;w ¼ FR ðsaÞe;n ð1  Fd Þ (9)
DTn  DTw ¼ FR ðsaÞe;n ð1  Fd ÞGAa =cm (10)
Based on the measured data, the optical efficiency with and with-
out dust are calculated by Eq. (7). The calculated FR ðsaÞe;n and
FR ðsaÞe;w points are shown in Fig. 8. In this graph, the dust shad-
ing coefficient is also reported. From Fig. 8, when dust deposition
density and the properties of dust are stable, the dust shading coef-
ficient varies between 0.83 and 0.94 for a solar collector exposed
for three months without cleaning during the whole day. The dust
shading coefficient is lower at noon than that in the morning and
evening hours. The trend of the dust shading coefficient in Fig. 8
is similar to that in Fig. 5. Also, it can be assumed that the dust
shading coefficient decreases with the decrease of solar incident
angle and the diffuse to total solar irradiance ratio. From Eq. (9),
the trend of difference between FR ðsaÞe;n and FR ðsaÞe;w is similar
to that of difference between gn and gw, and they are not only
about the dust shading coefficient, but also about the optical effi-
ciency of the clean solar collector. So the difference between
FR ðsaÞe;n and FR ðsaÞe;w has the trend of increasing first and then
decrease during the whole day.
Figure 9 shows the temperature rise for both collectors with
and without dust during the whole test day. In this experiment,
the difference between the temperature rise of collectors with-
out dust and that of collectors with dust also varies between 0
and 1.0  C. From Eq. (10), it can be seen that, when the mass
flow rate is constant, the temperature rise difference for both
collectors without and with dust increases with the increase of
the optical efficiency, total solar irradiance, and aperture area
of solar collector, and with the decrease of the dust shading
coefficient. So the temperature rise difference for both collec-
tors with and without dust is the highest at noon during the
whole day.
4 Conclusions
(1) By the steady-state test, it can be seen that, when the solar
collector exposed for three months without cleaning, the
reduction in optical efficiency is 9.7% and the dust shading
coefficient is 0.867 in this experiment.
(2) Stagnation temperature has been measured under stagna-
tion condition. The stagnation temperature decrease of
0.3  C–7.2  C in a solar collector exposed for three months
without cleaning. That is to say, under certain environmen-
tal conditions, the heat-collecting temperature of the solar
Transactions of the ASME
 collectors without dust can reach temperature requirement, T¼ temperature ( C)
however, the heat-collecting temperature of the solar col- DT ¼ solar collector temperature rise ¼ Tout  Tin ( C)
lectors with dust may be lower than the temperature Ds ¼ time interval (min)
requirement rather than reach it. g¼ solar collector thermal efficiency
(3) Daily tests of the solar collectors with and without dust are
also performed at the same operating conditions. Although Subscripts
dust deposition density and the properties of dust are stable,
the dust shading coefficient varies between 0.83 and 0.94 in a¼ ambient
this experiment during the whole day. When the collector in ¼ inlet of solar collector
was left without cleaning for three months, the reduction in n¼ solar collector without dust
the temperature rise difference and the efficiency difference out ¼ outlet of solar collector
varies from 0  C to 1.0  C and 3% to 12% separately during s¼ stagnation
the whole day. w¼ solar collector with dust

References
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