Fabrication and Experimental Studies of a Hybrid Flat Plate Solar Collector for Heating Pool Water

Abstract

Warm water in swimming pool is more of a necessity than comfort in places where temperature drops down below 25°C during winter. So pool water heaters are used extensively at places like Hotels, Hospitals, and Clubs etc. to bring the water temperature to a comfort level. But conventional pool water heaters require a lot of energy (electrical/fossil fuel energy) to run. Laws have been enforced in many countries which restrict the use of direct electricity to heat pool water.
This project report gives a detailed outline of the fabrication procedure of a flat plate solar thermal collector, built out of locally available materials. The report also contains the experimentation work carried out with the Collector model to determine its efficiency and optimum parameters. A brief solar surveying work was carried out during the project which has been explained. Finally, a feasible and economic heating system design is proposed which takes into account the temperature data of the water and air collected from NIT Rourkela swimming pool and the qualitative aspects of the fabricated flat plate solar collector.