Experimental and CFD analyses of corrugated-plate solar collector by force convection

ABSTRACT

Solar energy is the best among all renewable energy sources owing to its low effective cost and eco-friendly character. In this study, the header and riser pipe design is studied using an absorber plate and the outlet water temperature of a corrugated-plate solar collector (CPSC). The CPSC is affected by different working parameters, such as atmospheric temperature, inlet and outlet water temperatures, solar radiation, and wind speed. Two mass flow rates (0.0167 kg/s and 0.025 kg/s) have been used in this paper. Outlet water temperatures of up to 56° and 48.5° could be easily obtained by the CPSC for mass flow rates of 0.0167 kg/s and 0.025 kg/s, respectively. The heat transfer and fluid flow analyses in a CPSC using experimental and CFD ANSYS 17.2 models have been presented in this work. It is established that experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results give good agreement.

KEYWORDS:

• Solar collector
• experimental
• CFD
• absorber plate temperature
• outlet temperature

Nomenclature

$T_a$	=	Ambient temperature
$T_i$	=	Inlet water temperature
$T_o$	=	Outlet water temperature
$T_p$	=	Absorber plate temperature
$G_T$	=	Direct normal radiation, w/m2
$A_c$	=	Collector area, mm2
$\rho$	=	Density
$m$	=	Mass flow rate, kg/s
$h_b$	=	Convective heat transfer coefficient of the bottom surface, W.m−2k−1
$v_w$	=	Wind speed, m/s
$Q_u$	=	Heat energy absorbed by water, kJ
$C_p$	=	Specific heat of water, kJ/kg.K
$\eta$	=	Energy efficiency of the collector, %