Optimal design and analysis of solar water heating system using solar factors in the estimation of energy efficiency and thermal performance

Solar water heating systems usually cost more to purchase and install than conventional water heating systems. However, a solar water heater can usually save money in the long run.Many factors are involved for a detailed analysis of a solar flat plate collector (FPC). The important subsystems are: solar collectors, fluid transport and distribution systems, hot-water storage container, and its control systems. SolarWater Heating (SWH) System has the potential to reduce household energy consumption by more than 50%. SWH make use of freely available solar energy to preheat water before it enters in to a conventional water heaters (electric or gas); there by substantially reducing energy usage and expenditure. In this paper, many efforts have been made to combine a number of the most important factors (Solar EnergyFactor, Solar Fraction and Energy Factor) into a single equation for estimating the energy (thermal) efficiency and also analyzed the cost for various systems as compared with conventional systems. The process used is to rate solar water heating performance by the use of energy factors, the same efficiency rating used for electric and gas heaters.