Design and Development of Innovative Solar Water Heater

• Main Author: Mohd Norhafiz Bin Othman, Mohd Norhafiz
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2010
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/1420/1/Mohd_Norhafiz_Bin_Othman.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/1420/

Solar collectors are mechanical systems that collect solar energy to heat water for daily usage, whereas the solar water heater can collect heat and store hot water for later use. The main objective of the project is to design and develop an improved solar water heater that can be used to heat the water during the day time using solar energy and at the same time, the collector would be reducing the heat losses from the collector at off-solar times. The innovation that is implied in the project is the concept of reducing heat loss during the night which we concern as no solar energy radiate through the atmosphere. This project is focused on the usage of water by a common family that consists of 2 adults and 2 children. The challenge in this project is to find an appropriate way to insulate the water tank at night to reduce heat loss to the surrounding. Heat can be transferred by three methods which are radiation, conduction and convection. In this project, a method will be developed to prevent heat loss not only by conduction and convection but also by radiation. This report will mainly reflect background, problem statement, objectives, literature review and design of the prototype, experiment result and improvement that can be made at the future.