Abstract
The present work aimed to improve the thermo-hydraulic performance of a solar air collector (SAC) by installing pentagonal ribs (as roughness elements) on its absorber surface. Such ribs were not investigated yet hence this study is innovative. A 2D computational analysis was performed using ANSYS Fluent (v 15). The rib roughness height (e) was kept at 10 mm. The Reynolds number, Re (4000–22000), and rib pitch, P (25–200 mm) were the input variables. Nusselt number (Nu), friction factor (f), and thermo-hydraulic parameter (pth ) were the output parameters. RNG k-ε model was picked for turbulence. The peak Nu ratio obtained was 2.49 and it proved that pentagonal ribs enhanced the heat transfer characteristics 2.49 times than the smooth plate. Also, a 60–149% improvement in Nu was noticed with corrugated SAC compared to that of smooth SAC. For a given P, The f value decreased with a rise in the Re value. The maximum pth range (1.533–1.828) was obtained at P/e = 2.5 (continuous pitch). Hence, the optimum P is 25 mm (P/e = 2.5). The numerical results of the pentagonal corrugated absorber plate were compared with the existing literature and were found to be acceptable.
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