SUMMARY
The object of research is the thermal efficiency of solar collectors based on aluminum structural heat pipes. Solar collectors with heat pipes have a structurally similar design. The heat-absorbing panel secures the heat pipes to the evaporation zone, and the condensation zones are located in the battery tank. The differences are only in the designs of the absorption panels, the areas of the condensation zones and the heat carriers of the heat pipes. One of the most problematic places of research is the justification and development of a new design of a heat-absorbing solar collector panel based on heat pipes.A review of the publications showed that a solar collector based on aluminum structural heat pipes operating in the two-phase thermosyphon mode has a heat loss when transmitting radiation heat exchange in the long-wavelength range between the absorbing flat panel and the heat pipe. The project of a solar collector with a new, absorbing solar rays panel is proposed. To analyze the efficiency of the solar collector based on aluminum structural heat pipes with a new absorption panel, two models of solar collectors were created – with a flat absorber panel and a cylindrical absorber panel.The models of solar collectors based on one aluminum structural heat pipe fixed on aluminum flat and aluminum cylindrical absorption surfaces are investigated by the method of thermophysical experiment.The results of studies of the efficiency of solar collector models are presented. The thermal efficiency of a new solar collector based on an aluminum structural heat pipe with a cylindrical absorbing panel in the initial period of heating water is up to 1 5 % higher than that of a solar collector with a flat absorbing panel, and at the end of heating up to 4 %. The cylindrical surface of the panel plays the role of a concentrator of the reflected part of the radiation and the own radiation of the panel in the region of the heat pipe.Further studies are planned to be conducted in the direction of optimization of the geometric parameters of the heat-absorbing surfaces of solar collectors.