Improvement of the performance of solar water heater based on nanotechnology

Abstract

This paper reports on the performance improvement of the solar water heater (SWH) system through the incorporation of transparent nanomaterial called Flourine doped Tin Oxide (FTO). Two identical solar heaters were developed in order to study their performance. One system used normal glass while the other one used special glass. Thermocouples were installed in the inlet and the outlet for each system. The two thermocouples were to record the water temperature before entering the systen and the water temperature leaving the system. The temperature data for the two systems are comparatively studied. It was discovered that the system with special glass produce water with higher temperature than the system with normal glass. This suggests that the incorporation of special glass allows more heat to be gained by the system.