Analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer in a rib grit roughened surface solar air heater using CFD

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Solar Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SOLENER.2009.12.011· OSTI ID:21305693

Karmare, S V ^[1]; Tikekar, A N ^[2]

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1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College Engineering, Karad 415 124, Maharashtra (India)
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli (India)

This paper presents the study of fluid flow and heat transfer in a solar air heater by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) which reduces time and cost. Lower side of collector plate is made rough with metal ribs of circular, square and triangular cross-section, having 60 inclinations to the air flow. The grit rib elements are fixed on the surface in staggered manner to form defined grid. The system and operating parameters studied are: e/D{sub h} = 0.044, p/e = 17.5 and l/s = 1.72, for the Reynolds number range 3600-17,000. To validate CFD results, experimental investigations were carried out in the laboratory. It is found that experimental and CFD analysis results give the good agreement. The optimization of rib geometry and its angle of attack is also done. The square cross-section ribs with 58 angle of attack give maximum heat transfer. The percentage enhancement in the heat transfer for square plate over smooth surface is 30%. (author)

• OSTI ID: 21305693
• Journal Information: Solar Energy, Journal Name: Solar Energy Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 84; ISSN 0038-092X; ISSN SRENA4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
AIR FLOW
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CONFIGURATION
FLUID MECHANICS
HEAT TRANSFER
Metal rib grit
OPTIMIZATION
PLATES
REYNOLDS NUMBER
ROUGHNESS
SOLAR AIR HEATERS
SURFACES