A preliminary test of a flat-plate solar collector of hybrid solar water heater

A flat-plate type solar collector for hybrid solar water heater is preliminary tested by exposing to solar irradiation at Medan city of Indonesia. The flat plate collector is used to heat the water which is circulated by a pump. The pump is powered by electric power resulted from the photovoltaic. The collector area of the solar collector is 1.196 m × 0.541 m and the capacity of the Tank is 80 L. The results show that the total energy received by the solar collector during the experiment is 17.916 MJ and the total energy loss from the solar collector is 5.015 MJ. The useful energy is 12.396 MJ. Thus, the thermal efficiency of the system 69.1%. (paper)