Experimental Evaluation of Internal Finned Storage Tank of an Integrated Solar Water Heater with Corrugated Absorber Plate for Domestic Usage

Integrated storage solar water heaters (ICS-SWH) are among the simplest and lowest-cost technologies for collecting and storing heat in a single vessel. In the present work, the impact of adding fins within the corrugated storage tank, between the absorber's lower surface and the tank bottom, was experimentally investigated. To increase the heat transfer between the water and the ICS-SWH absorber, an insulated reflective cover was installed on the top of the ICS-SWH to reflect sunlight towards the absorber during the day. At night, it was used as a cover to insulate the glass. The thermal performance of the ICS-SWH was studied under load and without load. The results showed that the highest recorded temperature of the stored water was 67 °C. In contrast, the system's thermal efficiency was 78.5% and 89%, respectively. This result is higher than previous works. A comparison between the present tank (12 cm depth) and the previous work (14 cm) regarding stored water temperature was conducted. The comparison showed that a decrease in the depth of the storage tank by 2 cm led to a 25% increase in the temperature difference.