DESCRIPTION

Technical Description

Solar thermal systems convert solar energy into usable thermal energy. ET 202 allows you to demonstrate solar thermal heating of domestic water in an illustrative manner. 

A lighting unit simulates natural solar radiation and allows a range of experiments to be carried out in the laboratory. The light is converted into heat in an absorber and transferred to a heat transfer fluid. A pump conveys the heat transfer fluid through a hot water tank. The heat is released to the water by an integrated heat exchanger in the tank. 

ET 202 can be used to study a variety of angles of incidence and different illuminance. The pre-installed absorber with selective coating can be replaced for a more simple blackened absorber, so as to obtain comparative measurements of collector losses. External heat consumers can be attached to the tank via two connectors. 

The trainer is fitted with sensors to detect the relevant temperatures (collector inlet, collector outlet, ambient air and tank) and the illuminance. 

The measured values are displayed on the device and can simultaneously be transferred to a PC via USB. Using the PC, the data can be clearly displayed in the software provided and analysed further.

The well-structured instructional material sets out the basic principles and provides a step-by-step guide through the experiments.

Learning Objectives / Experiments

- design and operation of a simple solar thermal system
- determining the net power
- energy balance on the solar collector
- influence of illuminance, angle of incidence and flow rate
- determining efficiency curves
- influence of various absorbing surfaces