Three-dimensional thermal modelling and heat transfer analysis in the heat collector element of parabolic-trough solar collectors

Author(s):  
Antonio Sandá ◽  
Sara L. Moya ◽  
Loreto Valenzuela ◽  
Roger Cundapí
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Mahendra ◽  
Vikrant Khullar ◽  
Madhup Mittal

Flux distribution around the parabolic trough receiver being typically non-uniform, only a certain portion of the receiver circumference receives the concentrated solar irradiance. However, radiative and convective losses occur across the entire receiver circumference. This paper attempts to introduce the idea employing transparent heat mirror to effectively reduce the heat loss area and thus improve the thermal efficiency of the solar collector. Transparent heat mirror essentially has high transmissivity in the solar irradiance wavelength band and high reflectivity in the mid-infrared region thus it allows the solar irradiance to pass through but reflects the infrared radiation back to the solar selective metal tube. Practically, this could be realized if certain portion of the conventional low iron glass envelope is coated with Sn-In2O3 so that its acts as a heat mirror. In the present study, a parabolic receiver design employing the aforesaid concept has been proposed. Detailed heat transfer model has been formulated. The results of the model were compared with the experimental results of conventional concentrating parabolic trough solar collectors in the literature. It was observed that while maintaining the same external conditions (such as ambient/initial temperatures, wind speed, solar insolation, flow rate, concentration ratio etc.) the heat mirror-based parabolic trough concentrating solar collector has about 3–12% higher thermal efficiency as compared to the conventional parabolic solar collector. Furthermore, steady state heat transfer analysis reveals that depending on the solar flux distribution there is an optimum circumferential angle (θ = θoptimum, where θ is the heat mirror circumferential angle) up to which the glass envelope should be coated with Sn-In2O3. For angles higher than the optimum angle, the collector efficiency tends to decrease owing to increase in optical losses.


Author(s):  
Kimihide Odagiri ◽  
Kieran Wolk ◽  
Stefano Cappucci ◽  
Stefano Morellina ◽  
Scott Roberts ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karan Anand

This research provides a computational analysis of heat transfer due to micro jet-impingement inside a gas turbine vane. A preliminary-parametric analysis of axisymmetric single jet was reported to better understand micro jet-impingement. In general, it was seen that as the Reynolds number increased the Nusselt number values increased. The jet to target spacing had a considerably lower impact on the heat transfer rates. Around 30% improvement was seen by reducing the diameter to half while changing the shape to an ellipse saw 20.8% improvement in Nusselt value. The numerical investigation was then followed by studying the heat transfer characteristics in a three-dimensional, actual-shaped turbine vane. Effects of jet inclination showed enhanced mixing and secondary heat transfer peaks. The effect of reducing the diameter of the jets to 0.125 mm yielded 55% heat transfer improvements compared to 0.51 mm; the tapering effect also enhanced the local heat transfer values as local velocities at jet exit increased.


Author(s):  
Duccio Griffini ◽  
Massimiliano Insinna ◽  
Simone Salvadori ◽  
Francesco Martelli

A high-pressure vane equipped with a realistic film-cooling configuration has been studied. The vane is characterized by the presence of multiple rows of fan-shaped holes along pressure and suction side while the leading edge is protected by a showerhead system of cylindrical holes. Steady three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations have been performed. A preliminary grid sensitivity analysis with uniform inlet flow has been used to quantify the effect of spatial discretization. Turbulence model has been assessed in comparison with available experimental data. The effects of the relative alignment between combustion chamber and high-pressure vanes are then investigated considering realistic inflow conditions in terms of hot spot and swirl. The inlet profiles used are derived from the EU-funded project TATEF2. Two different clocking positions are considered: the first one where hot spot and swirl core are aligned with passage and the second one where they are aligned with the leading edge. Comparisons between metal temperature distributions obtained from conjugate heat transfer simulations are performed evidencing the role of swirl in determining both the hot streak trajectory within the passage and the coolant redistribution. The leading edge aligned configuration is resulted to be the most problematic in terms of thermal load, leading to increased average and local vane temperature peaks on both suction side and pressure side with respect to the passage aligned case. A strong sensitivity of both injected coolant mass flow and heat removed by heat sink effect has also been highlighted for the showerhead cooling system.


Author(s):  
Jinliang Yuan ◽  
Masoud Rokni ◽  
Bengt Sunde´n

In this study, a fully three-dimensional calculation method has been further developed to simulate and analyze various processes in a thick anode duct. The composite duct consists of a porous layer, the flow duct and solid current connector. The analysis takes the electrochemical reactions into account. Momentum and heat transport together with gas species equations have been solved by coupled source terms and variable thermo-physical properties (such as density, viscosity, specific heat, etc.) of the fuel gases mixture. The unique fuel cell conditions such as the combined thermal boundary conditions on solid walls, mass transfer (generation and consumption) associated with the electrochemical reaction and gas permeation to / from the porous electrode are applied in the analysis. Results from this study are presented for various governing parameters in order to identify the important factors on the fuel cell performance. It is found that gas species convection has a significant contribution to the gas species transport from / to the active reaction site; consequently characteristics of both gas flow and heat transfer vary widely due to big permeation to the porous layer in the entrance region and species mass concentration related diffusion after a certain distance downstream the inlet.


Author(s):  
V. P. Malapure ◽  
A. Bhattacharya ◽  
Sushanta K. Mitra

This paper presents a three-dimensional numerical analysis of flow and heat transfer over plate fins in a compact heat exchanger used as a radiator in the automotive industry. The aim of this study is to predict the heat transfer and pressure drop in the radiator. FLUENT 6.1 is used for simulation. Several cases are simulated in order to investigate the coolant temperature drop, heat transfer coefficient for the coolant and the air side along with the corresponding pressure drop. It is observed that the heat transfer and pressure drop fairly agree with experimental data. It is also found that the fin temperature depends on the frontal air velocity and the coolant side heat transfer coefficient is in good agreement with classical Dittus–Boelter correlation. It is also found that the specific dissipation increases with the coolant and the air flow rates. This work can further be extended to perform optimization study for radiator design.


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