Behavior of a solar collector loop during stagnation

A mathematical model simulating the emptying behavior of a pressurized solar collector loop with solar collectors with a good emptying behavior is developed and validated with measured data. The calculated results are in good agreement with the measured results. The developed simulation model is therefore suitable to determine the behavior of a solar collector loop during stagnation.

A volume ratio R, which is the ratio of the volume of the vapour in the upper pipes of the solar collector loop during stagnation and the fluid content of solar collectors, is introduced to determine the mass of the collector fluid pushed into the expansion vessel during stagnation, Min. A correlation function for the mass Min and the volume ratio R for solar collector loops is obtained.

The function can be used to determine a suitable size of expansion vessels for solar collector loops.