Experimental design and optimization of flat plate collector using taguchi method

solar thermal system were identified and further investigated. This paper used Taguchi method to investigate the optimum level of each of the factors (control parameters) identified. Twenty-seven number of experiments were conducted. The result from signal-to-noise ratio analysis shows that by using ethylene glycol solution as the heat transfer fluid, selective heat absorber plate as the heat absorber plate, receiving highest solar intensity, no preheating of water bath, highest possible volumetric flowrate and lowest fraction of cloud cover, the performance of the flat plate collector could be optimized. The ANOVA performed found that the utilization of different heat exchange plate, heat transfer fluid and the covering the flat plate collector (cloud cover) contributed the highest change in collector efficiency with the 48.1%, 30% and 15.4%, respectively. The contributions of other parameters produced insignificant effect. The parameters considered here can be a preliminary experimental investigation towards optimizing the efficiency of a small laboratory scale flat plate collector.