Performance Analysis of a Flat Plate Solar Field for Process Heat

For a demonstration site realized within the European project InSun, we present the monitoring results of a solar thermal field providing process heat for a meat factory. The field uses flat plate collectors, with an overall gross area of 1070 m2. The generated heat is used to provide hot water at two temperature levels in the low-medium range (55–90°C). The paper focuses on the performance analysis of the solar field, by comparing the measured field efficiency with the nominal collector efficiency and pointing out transient effects. To this purpose, a bin method approach is applied to the detailed analysis of one month (July 2014). Finally, the medium-term performance is investigated analyzing data from three consecutive summers, showing a stable efficiency with no evidence of performance decay.