Determination of the optimal inclination angle for solar collectors using the Box - Behnken design in the Peruvian highlands

The solar resource is important for sustainable energy development, which can be applied to different thermal systems to heat water and photovoltaic systems to generate electricity and use it at any time. The objective of the research was to determine the optimal inclination angle for vacuum tube solar collectors using the Box - Behnken design in the Peruvian highlands. This work used the response surface model (quadratic regression) design of Box - Behnken, to determine the optimal angle of inclination of the vacuum tubes of the solar collector, which can capture the maximum solar radiation. The results show that the optimal tilt angle of the solar collector was 11.62°, close to the latitude of the Peruvian highlands, oriented north on sunny days. Therefore, the response surface model optimized the studied factors, to make the most of the solar resource in thermal systems.