Experimental investigation of the novel BIPV/T system employing micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 540-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhangyuan Wang ◽  
Zicong Huang ◽  
Fucheng Chen ◽  
Xudong Zhao ◽  
Peng Guo

In this paper, the micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes-based BIPV/T system has been proposed, which is expected to have the characteristics, e.g. reduced contact thermal resistance, enhanced heat transfer area, improved heat transfer efficiency and building integration. The proposed system was constructed at the laboratory of Guangdong University of Technology (China) to study its performance. The temperatures of the glass cover, PV panel, micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes, and tank water were measured, as well as the ambient temperature. The thermal and electrical efficiency was also calculated for the system operated under the conditions with different simulated radiations and water flow rates. It was found that the proposed system can achieve the maximum average overall efficiency of 50.4% (thermal efficiency of 45.9% and electrical efficiency of 4.5%) for the simulated radiation of 300 W/m2 and water flow rate of 600 L/h. By comparing the proposed system with the two previous systems employing the conventional heat pipes, the thermal efficiency of the proposed system was clearly improved. The research will develop an innovative BIPV/T technology possessing high thermal conduction capability and high thermal efficiency compared with the conventional BIPV/T system, and helps realise the global targets of reducing carbon emission and saving primary energy in buildings. Practical application: This novel BIPV/T employing micro-channel flat-plate heat pipes will be potentially used in buildings to provide amount of electricity and thermal energy. The generated electricity will be used by the residents for electrical devices, and the thermal energy can be used for hot water, even for space heating and cooling.

Author(s):  
Ping-Hei Chen ◽  
Hung-Hsia Chen ◽  
Bo-Rui Huang ◽  
Long-Sheng Kuo

Many studies have been performed on the flat-plate heat pipes with sintered wick. It was found that during the evaporation process, the heat transfer characteristics of hydrophilic surface performed better than hydrophobic surface. This work investigated the heat transfer characteristics of flat-plate heat pipes in which the bottom surface was modified with various gradient contact angles by a sol-gel method. This method was applied to create a gradient surface on copper-plate surface. The coated nanoparticles were immobilized on the surface after the surface was heated in a furnace at a working temperature of 120°C. The thermal resistance results of flat plate heat pipes with either homogeneous superhydrophilic surface or a gradient wettability are reported in this study. For the gradient wettability, the evaporation region was super-hydrophilic and the condense region was super-hydrophobic. The heat transfer ability was both increased in evaporation region and condense region. Furthermore, the reflux ability of the working fluid was performed better due to the unbalanced surface tension on the gradient surface and the impact of gravity force of inclination angle (α). By manipulating different surfaces with different contact angles (gradient surface, contact angle = 150 ° /110 ° /20 ° /10 ° and uniform surface, contact angle <10°) and different inclination angles (α = 0°, 10°), we managed to find the better combination to improve the thermal performance of flat-plate heat pipe. The results indicated that the thermal performance of flat plate heat pipe with a gradient wettability is better than homogeneous superhydrophilic surface. The evaporation resistance of gradient wettability surface (gradient & α = 10°) has achieved to 0.098 °C /W, and reduced 30% than homogenous superhydrophilic surface (CA <10° & α = 0°). The gradient wettability surface in this work performed as well as the traditional sintered wick flat-plate heat pipe.


2021 ◽  
Vol 945 (1) ◽  
pp. 012013
Author(s):  
J. Kubenthiran ◽  
S. Baljit ◽  
A. S. Tijani ◽  
Z. A. K. Baharin ◽  
M.F. Remeli ◽  
...  

Abstract In the present study, a numerical model of photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system using alumina (Al2O3) nanofluid, and pure water are used as working fluid. The proposed PV/T model consists of parallel riser tubes that are connected to two header tubes and it is attached to an absorber plate to simulate the conduction and convection heat transfer mechanism of a conventional PV/T system. The energy efficiency of the PV/T model is analyzed by varying the solar radiation (Heat Flux), inlet fluid velocity, and the volume percentage of the nanofluids. The numerical simulation is performed by using a conjugate heat transfer method with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. According to the simulation data, the energy efficiency and the heat transfer coefficient of the PV/T system increased by increasing the inlet fluid velocity. In comparison with water, alumina nanofluid showed better thermal and electrical efficiency due to its high thermal conductivity. The thermal efficiency increased by 5.55% for alumina, compared to pure water and the electrical efficiency increased by 0.15% for alumina. Moreover, the effect of inlet fluid velocity ranging from 0.04m/s to 0.2m/s was also evaluated, and the results showed that the increase in thermal efficiency for pure water and alumina are 18.15% and 25.77%, respectively. Subsequently, the electrical efficiency increased by 0.52% and 0.56% for pure water and alumina using the new parallel flow thermal absorber, respectively.


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

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
Abeth Novria Sonjaya ◽  
Marhaenanto Marhaenanto ◽  
Mokhamad Eka Faiq ◽  
La Ode M Firman

The processed wood industry urgently needs a dryer to improve the quality of its production. One of the important components in a dryer is a heat exchanger. To support a durable heat transfer process, a superior material is needed. The aim of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of the application of cross-flow flat plate heat exchangers to be used in wood dryers and compare the materials used and simulate heat transfer on cross-flow flat plate heat exchangers using Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations. The results showed that there was a variation in the temperature out of dry air and gas on the flat plate heat exchanger and copper material had a better heat delivery by reaching the temperature out of dry air and gas on the flat plate type heat exchanger of successive cross flow and.   overall heat transfer coefficient value and the effectiveness value of the heat exchanger of the heat transfer characteristics that occur with the cross-flow flat plate type heat exchanger in copper material of 251.74725 W/K and 0.25.


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