INVESTIGATION OF A VARIABLE TILT ANGLE AUSTRALIAN TYPE SOLAR COLLECTOR

An experimental set-up consisting of three solar collectors, two Australian type solar collectors and one conventional tube type solar collector was investigated. Each collector had an absorber area of 68 x 96 cm, and a storage tank capacity of 29.5 litres. Each tank was equipped with three thermocouples, placed at three different depths, to measure the average tank temperature. One Australian type collector had a tilting mechanism, while the other two collectors had a fixed tilt angle. The comparison between the efficiency of the three given collectors shows that the Australian type with the variable tilt angle was the most efficiency system during the day time, while the tube type was the best for storing heat over the night-time period.