3D NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE EFFECT OF TRIANGULAR ABSORBER TUBE IN A FLAT PLATE SOLAR COLLECTOR

Esmaeel Fatahian¹ Hossein Fatahian²

1) Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nour Branch, Islamic Azad University, Nour, Iran
2) Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nour Branch, Islamic Azad University, Nour, Iran

Publication : 2nd. International Congress on science & Engineering - paris(parisconf.com)
Abstract :
Flat plate solar collector is an essential device, which facilitates the direct application of solar energy for water heating in the household and industrial sector. In the present study, a 3D numerical simulation of heat transfer of a solar flat plate collector with a triangular absorber tube is carried out using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The flow is considered as three dimensional, laminar and incompressible. In order to consider the effect of thickness of the absorber plate, three different thicknesses of 0.005, 0.01, and 0.015 m are considered. In order to validate the numerical results, the temperature variations at different times of day are compared with the available experimental results and good agreement is achieved. The results show that the absorber plate has a favorable thickness (t) of 0.01 m. Moreover, the collector efficiency is increased by about 17% at 14 hr for 0.01 m thickness compared to 0.015 m thickness and is increased by about 30% compared to 0.005 m thickness.
Keywords : Solar collector Triangular absorber tube Computational Fluid Dynamics Heat transfer.