Efficiency Improvement of Solar Water Heater by Using PV-Powered Pump

The main objective of this research is to analyze the impact of using solar driven pump to circulate the liquid on the overall efficiency of flat plate collector. To achieve this goal, accurate and practical mathematical models for flat plate collectors, storage tank and PV-pump were selected. These models were analyzed by using Matlab software. SWHSs in Palestine are thermosyphon systems. This thesis suggests adding a solar driven pump to the systems to circulate the fluid in order to increase their efficiency and this is the main contribution of the study. The study concludes that adding the circulation pump to thermosyphon system raises the annual efficiency of collectors from 33% to 37%. The study also concludes that by adding a PV pump with two panel of flat plate collector, this gives the same annual energy by using three panels of flat plate collector. Adding a solar pump also increases the solar fraction from 76 % to 86 % particularly in winter and the absorbed energy from the sun which means less electrical energy consumption.