The Effectiveness of Solar Shield for Outdoor Equipment

The effect of solar shield on the maximum temperature of an active plate was investigated. The focus of this analysis was to determine conditions under which it was advantageous to have a solar shield around a heated plate. Heat transfer correlations for free convection around a vertical plate were used with some corrections for channel flow effects. Results obtained from these correlations were validated using CFD simulations. The results presented in this paper include the effects of some key parameters on the maximum temperature of the active plate, including the effects of heat fluxes from the active plate and solar shield, surface emissivity and sky temperature. The results suggest that there is a limit on the ratio of heat flux from the active plate to the solar heat flux beyond which it is not advantageous to have a solar shield. The results also show that the advantage of having a solar shield diminishes as the effective sky temperature decreases. Furthermore, the emissivity is an important factor and its value can determine whether a solar shield is necessary or not.