Advanced Study on Optimal Design & Analysis of Solar Water Heating System Using Solar Factors for Energy Efficiency & 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. Solar Water 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. By the current research, many efforts have been made to combine a
number of the most important factors (Solar Energy Factor, 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. The EF is not only the factor to decide the water heater model, it is also equal important to
consider the size and first hour rating, fuel type and overall cost of the system. The cost estimates are
varied depends upon the fuel rates and electricity tariffs.