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Effect of argon concentration on thermal efficiency of gas-filled insulating glass flat-plate collectors

  • Insulating glass flat-plate collectors can save cost by being produced quickly and automatically in insulated glass production facilities, and they can be filled with argon to reduce heat loss. During its lifetime, the collector is likely to lose argon because of gradual material degradation of the sealing. However, information on the influence of the argon concentration on the collector efficiency is limited. Therefore, the objective of this research work was to analyse this effect. A theoretical material property calculation of argon-air mixtures was carried out to determine the convective losses with variable argon concentrations. Thermal collector performance was measured experimentally using an outdoor solar tracker test rig. The results strongly suggest, that the influence of argon concentration on both the convective losses and the thermal efficiency is non-linear. The measurements revealed that an argon concentration of 90 % can increase average thermal performance by 6.7 ± 4.8 percentage points. An increase in argonInsulating glass flat-plate collectors can save cost by being produced quickly and automatically in insulated glass production facilities, and they can be filled with argon to reduce heat loss. During its lifetime, the collector is likely to lose argon because of gradual material degradation of the sealing. However, information on the influence of the argon concentration on the collector efficiency is limited. Therefore, the objective of this research work was to analyse this effect. A theoretical material property calculation of argon-air mixtures was carried out to determine the convective losses with variable argon concentrations. Thermal collector performance was measured experimentally using an outdoor solar tracker test rig. The results strongly suggest, that the influence of argon concentration on both the convective losses and the thermal efficiency is non-linear. The measurements revealed that an argon concentration of 90 % can increase average thermal performance by 6.7 ± 4.8 percentage points. An increase in argon concentration from 0 % to 50 % has almost twice the effect on average thermal efficiency as an increase from 50 % to 90 %. Concluding from these results, an argon leakage threshold of 2.5 percentage points per year is proposed to avoid disproportionate loss of efficiency over time.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Thorsten SummORCiD, Mathias EhrenwirthORCiD, Christoph TrinklORCiD, Wilfried Zörner, Kaj Pischow, Richard GreenoughORCiD, Muyiwa OyinlolaORCiD
Language:English
Document Type:Article
Year of first Publication:2023
published in (English):Applied Thermal Engineering
Publisher:Elsevier
Place of publication:Amsterdam
ISSN:1873-5606
ISSN:1359-4311
Volume:2023
Issue:230, Part A
Pages:10
Article Number:120657
Review:peer-review
Open Access:ja
Version:published
Tag:Argon; Convective heat transfer; Efficiency measurement; Flat-plate collector; Gas concentration; Insulating glass
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:573-37875
Related Identifier:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2023.120657
Faculties / Institutes / Organizations:Fakultät Maschinenbau
Institut für neue Energie-Systeme (InES)
Licence (German):License Logo Creative Commons BY 4.0
Release Date:2023/07/14