Optimizing Exergy Efficiency of Flat Plate Solar Collectors Using SQP and Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

An increase in exergy efficiency of flat plate solar collector leads to a considerable improvement in collector’s performance. Different parameters influence the performance of collector. In this paper, Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) have been employed for optimizing exergy efficiency of the flat plate solar collector. Absorber plate area and mass flow rate of inlet water have been considered as optimization’s variables. The results show the possibility to reach higher exergy efficiency with lower absorber area and consequently lower price. Also it is obvious that SQP method performs optimization process with higher convergence speed but lower accuracy than GA.