A numerical and experimental investigation for a triangular storage collector

Abstract

In this study, an experimental and numerical investigation was conducted for a new solar collector design suitable for domestic utilization. The study was carried out to evaluate the performance of triangular collectors that were fabricated by cutting a cubic tank at different cutting planes.Experiments were done at different conditions including during summer and winter with and without the removal of hot water outlet. A systematic investigation on the hourly performance parameters of the system was conducted in all test conditions, which included mean storage temperature, velocity distribution, total stored energy and the best location for inlet and outlet water flows. The results revealed that the triangular collector day-long collection efficiency under no load condition was found to be 48.7% during winter with 40.5 °C maximum mean storage temperature and 65 °C maximum temperature for the hot water from the collector tip. During summer, the day-long collection efficiency was found to be 62.2% with 57 °C maximum mean storage temperature and 70 °C maximum temperature for the hot water from the collector tip. At continuous loading of the triangular collector, the collection efficiency was 55.7% during winter and 65.1% during summer. At continuous loading condition test, the maximum temperature difference between the collector outlet and inlet water was found to be 12 °C at 2 PM and 9 °C at the end of the winter day.To verify the experimental test results, a numerical study was conducted using Fluent software. The numerical results showed a good agreement with the experimental data obtained from this study.