scholarly journals Thermohydraulic Performance and Entropy Generation of a Triple-Pass Solar Air Heater with Three Inlets

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 6399
Author(s):  
Nguyen Minh Phu ◽  
Ngo Thien Tu ◽  
Nguyen Van Hap

In this paper, a triple-pass solar air heater with three inlets is analytically investigated. The effects of airflow ratios of the second and third passes (ranging from 0 to 0.4), and the Reynolds number of the third pass (ranging from 8000 to 18,000) on the thermohydraulic efficiency and entropy generation are assessed. An absorber plate equipped with rectangular fins on both sides is used to enhance heat transfer. The air temperature change in the passes is represented by ordinary differential equations and solved by numerical integration. The results demonstrate that the effect of the third pass airflow ratio on the thermohydraulic efficiency and entropy generation is more significant than that of the second pass airflow ratio. The difference in air temperature through the collector shows an insignificant reduction, but the air pressure loss is only 50% compared with that of a traditional triple-pass solar air heater. Increasing the air flow ratios dramatically reduces entropy generation. Multi-objective optimization found a Reynolds number of 11,156 for both the airflow ratio of the second pass of 0.258 and airflow ratio of the third pass of 0.036 to be the an optimal value to achieve maximum thermohydraulic efficiency and minimum entropy generation.

Author(s):  
Farid Bahiraee ◽  
Aidin Salehzadeh ◽  
Rahim Khoshbakhti Saray

An inevitable problem challenges heat exchanger designers is that the heat transfer augmentation in a thermal system is always achieved at the expense of an increase in pressure loss. Thus, the optimal trade-off by choosing the most proper configuration and best flow condition has become the critical problem for design work. The brief survey on literature shows that optimal Reynolds number (i.e. the Reynolds number which corresponds to minimum entropy generation) of laminar forced convection in a helical tube, was specified based on minimum entropy generation. Therefore, the present study analyzes the thermodynamic potential of improvement for steady, laminar, fully developed, forced convection in a helical coiled tube subjected to uniform wall temperature based on the concept of avoidable and unavoidable exergy destruction. The influence of coil curvature ratio, dimensionless inlet temperature difference, dimensionless passage length of the coil, and fluid properties on avoidable exergy destruction have been investigated for water as working fluid. Results show considerable potential of thermodynamic optimization of helical coil tubes. Also, in the range of present study a relation for determining the amount of optimum Dean number is proposed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 324-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. Khan ◽  
J. R. Culham ◽  
M. M. Yovanovich

The following study will examine the effect on overall thermal/fluid performance associated with different fin geometries, including, rectangular plate fins as well as square, circular, and elliptical pin fins. The use of entropy generation minimization, EGM, allows the combined effect of thermal resistance and pressure drop to be assessed through the simultaneous interaction with the heat sink. A general dimensionless expression for the entropy generation rate is obtained by considering a control volume around the pin fin including base plate and applying the conservations equations for mass and energy with the entropy balance. The formulation for the dimensionless entropy generation rate is developed in terms of dimensionless variables, including the aspect ratio, Reynolds number, Nusselt number, and the drag coefficient. Selected fin geometries are examined for the heat transfer, fluid friction, and the minimum entropy generation rate corresponding to different parameters including axis ratio, aspect ratio, and Reynolds number. The results clearly indicate that the preferred fin profile is very dependent on these parameters.


1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 797-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. W. Lin ◽  
D. J. Lee

Second-law analysis on the herringbone wavy plate fin-and-tube heat exchanger was conducted on the basis of correlations of Nusselt number and friction factor proposed by Kim et al. (1997), from which the entropy generation rate was evaluated. Optimum Reynolds number and minimum entropy generation rate were found over different operating conditions. At a fixed heat duty, the in-line layout with a large tube spacing along streamwise direction was recommended. Furthermore, within the valid range of Kim et al.’s correlation, effects of the fin spacing and the tube spacing along spanwise direction on the second-law performance are insignificant.


AIChE Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul G. Ghougassian ◽  
Vasilios Manousiouthakis

Entropy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 895
Author(s):  
Mohammad Abdollahzadeh Jamalabadi

The excellent thermal characteristics of nanoparticles have increased their application in the field of heat transfer. In this paper, a thermophysical and geometrical parameter study is performed to minimize the total entropy generation of the viscoelastic flow of nanofluid. Entropy generation with respect to volume fraction (<0.04), the Reynolds number (20,000–100,000), and the diameter of the microchannel (20–20,000 μm) with the circular cross-section under constant flux are calculated. As is shown, most of the entropy generation owes to heat transfer and by increasing the diameter of the channel, the Bejan number increases. The contribution of heat entropy generation in the microchannel is very poor and the major influence of entropy generation is attributable to friction. The maximum quantity of in-channel entropy generation happens in nanofluids with TiO2, CuO, Cu, and Ag nanoparticles, in turn, despite the fact in the microchannel this behavior is inverted, the minimum entropy generation occurs in nanofluids with CuO, Cu, Ag, and TiO2 nanoparticles, in turn. In the channel and microchannel for all nanofluids except water-TiO2, increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles decreases entropy generation. In the channel and microchannel the total entropy generation increases by augmentation the Reynolds number.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Digpal Kumar ◽  
B. Premachandran

Abstract In this work, the effect of flow resistance due to the presence of porous medium representing agricultural products at the exit of free convection-based solar air heater is studied experimentally and numerically. An air heater, along with the drying chamber, is designed as an inclined channel to conduct the experiments. Constant heat flux condition is provided by electrical heating on the top absorber plate of the channel. Experiments are conducted for heat flux ranging from 250 to 750 W/m2 for the channel inclination angle of 30 deg. Porous material bed height is also varied in the drying chamber, while porosity is set at 0.36. The surface-to-surface radiation model is considered for modeling of heat transfer within the flow. For all the heat flux values considered in the experiments, numerical simulations are performed at three different angles of inclinations of 15 deg, 30 deg, and 45 deg. In this analysis, the temperature distribution in the channel wall, the flow pattern, the difference in the mass flowrate, and temperature of the outlet air are investigated with different heights of the porous medium.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raheleh Nowzari ◽  
Hasan Saygin ◽  
L.B.Y. Aldabbagh

Abstract An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the thermal efficiency of a modified solar air heater. In the current design, air enters the collector through holes in front glass, passes through mesh layers, and exits at the backside of the air heater. A centrifugal fan was used to circulate air through the system. The design offers low construction costs and less solar radiation reflected from the collector. The modified collector was examined with various bed heights (30, 50, and 70 mm) and different mass flowrates of air varying from 0.011 kg/(s m2) to 0.043 kg/(s m2). The results showed that a counter flow collector with pierced cover had 5.6–9.7% higher efficiency than the single-pass one. The average efficiencies of the current design collector were found to be 55.2%, 44.6%, and 39.7% for the single-pass and 60.8%, 50.9% and 45.4% for the double-pass collector at 30, 50, and 70 mm bed heights and airflow rate of 0.043 kg/(s m2), respectively. The thermohydraulic efficiency, temperature difference, and perforated cover surface temperature were analyzed at each test and their effects on the system performance were evaluated. The highest amount of pressure drop through the collector was measured in the collector with a 70-mm bed height and a maximum air flowrate.


Green ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil K. Patil ◽  
J. S. Saini ◽  
K. Kumar

AbstractApplication of artificial roughness on underside of absorber surface has been found to be effective technique to improve thermo hydraulic performance of solar air heaters. In progression to the previous researches, the present study discloses the effect of broken V-rib roughness combined with staggered ribs on heat transfer and friction in a flow through artificially roughened solar air heater duct. The experimentations were performed to collect the data on heat transfer and friction by varying the Reynolds number (Re) between 3000 and 17,000, relative gap position (


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