design optimization and experimental validation of low-cost ‎flat plate collector under central qasssim climate

In saudi arabia, hot water for domestic uses consumes a great portion of home electricity. thus, solar collectors can be considered as an important alternative to reduce the amount of consumed electricity. therefore, in recent researches, a great attention was given to develop flat plate collector (fpc) with optimal performance. in this paper, a multiobjective modified imperialist competitive algorithm (momica) was employed for optimizing the performance of a fpc. the optimization results showed a capability to reach higher fpc efficiency with a relatively small collector area and hence lower price. it has also been proved that the change of the insulator depth from 0.02 to 0.05 m has a strong influence on the system’s efficiency.