Influence of Rectangular Ribs on Exergetic Performance in a Triangular Duct Solar Air Heater

Author(s):  
Kottayat Nidhul ◽  
Sachin Kumar ◽  
Ajay Kumar Yadav ◽  
S. Anish

Abstract Several artificial roughness (ribs) configurations have been used in flat plate solar air heaters (SAH) in recent years to improve their overall performance. In the present work, energy and exergy analyses of rectangular ribs in a triangular duct SAH for varying relative rib heights (e/D = 0.02–0.04), relative rib pitches (P/e = 5–15), and rib aspect ratios (e/w = 0.5–4) are evaluated and compared with smooth SAH. The analysis reveals that the entropy generated due to heat transfer is lower for the ribbed triangular duct compared to the smooth duct. It is also observed that the width of the rib plays a crucial role in minimizing heat losses to the environment. A maximum reduction of 43% and 62% in exergy losses to the environment and exergy losses due to heat transfer to the fluid is achieved, respectively, with a rib aspect ratio (e/w) of 4 compared to the smooth plate. It is found that in contrast to the smooth plate, ribs beneath the absorber plate effectively improves thermal and exergetic efficiency. Maximum enhancement of 36% and 17% is obtained in exergetic efficiency (ηex) and thermal efficiency (ηth), respectively, for e/w = 4, P/e = 10 and e/D = 0.04. Results also show the superiority of the ribbed triangular duct over the ribbed rectangular duct for an application requiring compact SAH with a higher flowrate.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (24) ◽  
pp. 8593
Author(s):  
Muneerah Al Nuwairan ◽  
Basma Souayeh

This numerical investigation presents the effects of the position of baffles in the shape of a circle’s segment placed inside a circular channel to improve the thermal and flow performance of a solar air heater. Three different baffles’ positions with Reynolds number varying between 10,000 to 50,000 were investigated computationally. The k-omega SST model was used for solving the governing equations. Air was taken as the working fluid. Three pitch ratios (Y = 3, 4, and 5) were considered, while the height of the baffles remained fixed. The result showed an enhancement in Nusselt number, friction factor, j-factor, and thermal performance factor. Staggered exit-length baffles showed maximum enhancement in heat transfer and pressure drop, while inline inlet-length baffles showed the least enhancement. For a pitch ratio of Y = 3.0, the enhancement in all parameters was the highest, while for Y = 5.0, the enhancement in all parameters was the least. The highest thermal performance factor of 1.6 was found for SEL at Y = 3.0.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adem Acır ◽  
N.A. �° ◽  
smail Ata ◽  
N.A. �° ◽  
zzet Şahin

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gholampour ◽  
M. Ameri

Unglazed transpired collector (UTC) is a kind of solar air heater is used for different applications such as air ventilation, preheating, and crop drying. Passing air through the perforated plate, which acts as an absorber, is the main mechanism of heat transfer and air preheating in UTCs. In order to design UTCs and determine the effective parameters, energy and exergy analyses are performed. A mathematical model which is solved using an iterative method by a computer code has been developed. In order to validate the present model, this solution is compared with numerical and experimental results available in the literature, where a good agreement is obtained. After verifying the model, the code has been used to study the influence of the effective parameters on the performance of the system. The results show that the exergetic analysis is very important to design.


Author(s):  
Sumer Singh Patel ◽  
Atul Lanjewar

Abstract The present experimental study is concerned with heat transfer analysis of air flowing in solar air heater duct with a gap in V-rib with symmetrical gap and staggered ribs geometry. The investigated parameters are Reynolds number (Re) of 4000–14,000, relative roughness pitch (p/e) of 12, relative roughness height (e/Dh) of 0.043, angle of attack (α) of 60 deg, relative staggered rib pitch (p′/p) of 0.65, relative gap size (g/e) of 4, relative staggered rib size (r/e) of 4, relative gap position of additional gap in each symmetrical rib elements (d/w) of 0.65, relative gap size of additional gap in each symmetrical rib elements (g′/e) of 1, number of main gaps (Ng) of 1, 2, 3, 4, and number of additional gap (ng) varying from 1 to 5. Fourteen roughened absorber plates were tested. The maximum enhancement in Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f) was 2.34 and 2.79 times that of smooth surface corresponding to the number of main gaps (Ng) of 4 with the number of additional gaps (ng) of 4. The performance of the gap in V-rib with symmetrical gap and staggered rib geometry has been compared with the existing latest V-rib geometry and smooth surface. The proposed gap in V-rib with symmetrical gap and staggered ribs geometry has a better performance than the existing latest V-rib geometry. The following correlations have been developed for heat transfer and friction factor in terms of roughness and operating parameters. Heat transfer:Nur=0.0073(Re)0.9788(Ng)0.2790(ng)0.0184exp[−0.1678(ln(Ng))2]exp[−0.0129(ln(ng))2] Friction factor:fr=0.0477(Re)−0.0678(Ng)0.5919(ng)−0.0562exp[−0.4922(ln(Ng))2]exp[−0.0487(ln(ng))2]


2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Raam Dheep ◽  
A. Sreekumar

Solar air heaters (SAHs) are the simplest form of nonconcentrating thermal collectors. SAHs utilize solar thermal energy to increase the temperature of air for thermal applications of less than 80 °C. The energy efficiency of SAHs is significantly low due to poor convective heat transfer between the absorber and the air medium. In this present study, it is aimed to increase the convective heat transfer by modifying the absorber and the type of air flow inside the duct. Experimental studies were performed to study about the energy and exergy efficiencies of SAH with the absorber of longitudinal circular fins. The thermal analysis of the SAH is evaluated for five mass flow rates of 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 kg/h m2 flowing inside the duct of thickness 100 mm. The impact of the flow rate on the absorber and air temperature, temperature difference (ΔT), energy and exergy efficiencies, irreversibility, improvement potential, sustainability, and CO2 reduction potential is studied. The experimental results show that the first and second laws of thermodynamic efficiency increase from 44.13% to 56.98% and from 24.98% to 36.62% by increasing the flow rate from 30 to 90 kg/h m2. The results conclude that the air flow duration inside the duct plays an important role in efficiency of the solar air heater. Therefore, lower flow rate is preferred to achieve maximum outlet air temperature and temperature difference.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Imtiaz Hussain ◽  
Jun-Tae Kim

The focus of this paper is to predict the transient response of a nanoengineered photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system in view of energy and exergy analyses. Instead of a circular-shaped receiver, a trapezoidal-shaped receiver is employed to increase heat transfer surface area with photovoltaic (PV) cells for improvement of heat extraction and thus achievement of a higher PV/T system efficiency. The dynamic mathematical model is developed using MATLAB® software by considering real-time heat transfer coefficients. The proposed model is validated with experimental data from a previous study. Negligible discrepancies were found between measured and predicted data. The validated model was further investigated in detail using different nanofluids by dispersing copper oxide (CuO) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) in pure water. The overall performance of the nanoengineered PV/T system was compared to that of a PV/T system using water only, and optimal operating conditions were determined for maximum useful energy and exergy rates. The results indicated that the CuO/water nanofluid has a notable impact on the energy and exergy efficiencies of the PV/T system compared to that of Al2O3/water nanofluid and water only cases.


Author(s):  
Sheetal Kumar Jain ◽  
Ghanshyam Das Agrawal ◽  
Rohit Misra

Abstract In the present research, the thermohydraulic performance of a solar air heater having artificial roughness in the form of arc-shaped ribs with multiple gaps has been investigated experimentally and compared with that of a solar air heater having smooth absorber plate. The performance has been investigated in terms of enhancement in the Nusselt number and friction factor. Results of the present work have also been compared with previously published work. Reynolds number and arc angle (α) were varied from 3000 to 18,000 and 30 deg to 75 deg, respectively. Present roughness results in a higher rate of heat transfer from the absorber surface to air, but it also imposes a penalty in terms of the increased friction factor. Maximum enhancement in Nusselt number, friction factor, and thermohydraulic performance parameter for the roughened absorber surface is found to be 3.74, 2.69, and 2.75 times that of the smooth plate, respectively. Correlations of heat transfer and friction factor for proposed roughness have also been developed.


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