Experimental investigation of ceramic coatings on solar collectors for improvement of their performance and thermal conductivity.

Conventional energy sources are typically expensive and insufficient to provide a wide range of energy demands, owing to rising manufacturing and household usage. The ceramic materials employed in this study to improve thermal conductivity performance include graphite and copper powder because the carbon covering has a larger absorptivity; it traps a wider range of light wavelengths and reduces reflectivity. The results showing from thermal conductivity test for samples coated with graphite coating increased about 60% while the sample that be coated with ratios of copper powder and graphite material the thermal conductivity increase about 80% from bare aluminum plate. Spray air brush coating was employed in this project, and the absorber plate was made of aluminum alloy. X-ray diffraction X-R-D, scanning electron microscope SEM, atomic force microscope AFM, thermal conductivity TC, adhesion strength, density, coating thickness and ultraviolet UV are the tests used to investigate and guarantee the findings. The goal of this project is to demonstrate how to improve the efficiency of a solar flat plate collector by coating the absorber plate with ceramic coating materials to increase thermal conductivity on the side that faces to the sun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]