Comparative analysis of modified and convectional dual purpose solar collector: Energy and exergy analysis

ABSTRACT

In this paper, an experimental analysis on modified and conventional dual-purpose solar collector (DPSC) using water/air as working fluid. In the conventional DPSC (Type 1), flat absorber plate, corrugated absorber plate was used in the modified DPSC (Type 2) and corrugated absorber plate with straight fins was used in modified DPSC (Type 3) and comparison among them. The comparative analysis of DPSC system based on energy and exergy analysis is presented. The working fluid as water and air has been used in this experimental system. The energy and exergy efficiencies were determined for different types of DPSC and comparisons were made among them. Experiments were performed for two water mass flow rates of 0.025 and 0.04167 kg/s, respectively, while the two air mass flow rates of 0.011 and 0.023 kg/s, respectively. The experiments were performed on the selected days in January 2019–April 2019 at the National Institute of Technology Patna, India. The results show that the highest efficiency was determined for the DPSC with Type 3, whereas the lowest values were obtained for the DPSC with flat plate (Type 1).

KEYWORDS:

• Dual-purpose solar collector
• energy efficiency
• exergy efficiency
• absorber plate
• force convection

Nomenclature

$T_a$	=	Ambient temperature
$T_{i,f}$	=	Inlet fluid temperature
$T_{o,f}$	=	Outlet fluid temperature
$T_{i,w}$	=	Inlet water temperature
$T_{o,w}$	=	Outlet water temperature
$T_p$	=	Absorber plate temperature
$T_{i,a}$	=	Air inlet temperature
$T_{o,a}$	=	Air outlet temperature
$I$	=	Solar radiation, w/m2
$A_c$	=	Collector area mm2
$\rho$	=	Density
$\tau \alpha$	=	Absorptance transmittance product
$m$a	=	Mass flow rate of air, kg/s
$m$w	=	Mass flow rate of water, kg/s
$Q_u$	=	Heat energy absorbed by the water, kJ
$C_p$	=	Specific heat of water, kJ/kg.K
$\eta$	=	Energy Efficiency of collector, %
E	=	Exergy Efficiency of collector, %
Uxi	=	Root sum square of scatter and measuring uncertainty of each measured parameter.
Uy	=	Total uncertainty of calculated parameters

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Piyush Kumar Pathak

Piyush Kumar Pathak graduated in Mechanical Engineering from M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology Bangalore, Karnataka, India (now Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore) in 2012. He obtained his M.Tech. in Thermal Turbo Machines from National Institute of Technology Patna, India in 2014. Presently he is a research scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Patna, India.

Prakash Chandra

Prakash Chandra is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in National Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar, India. Before that, he was in CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur, West Bengal from December 2004 to June 2011 as a Scientist. He was also working as a Lecturer in BITS Pilani, Goa. He did his B.E (Mechanical Engineering) from BIT Mesra,Jharkhand in the year of 1996. After that he did M. Tech. from RIT, Jamshedpur (now National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur) in 1999 and Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India in 2005.

Gaurav Raj

Gaurav Raj graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Krupajal Engineering College, Bhubaneswar, India in 2012. He obtained his M.Tech. in Thermal Turbo Machines from National Institute of Technology Patna, India in 2014. Presently he is a research scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Patna, India.