CFD analysis of the thermal losses on the upper part of a flat solar collector

Abstract

AbstractTo investigate the reduction of heat losses on the upper part of a flat solar collector, a two‐dimensional study was carried out by CFD analysis using Fluent. For this purpose, the heat transfer behavior in the air gap over a wide range of thicknesses of the latter (1‐20 mm) and the addition of a second glass cover fixed at midheight of the air gap spacing have been investigated. For small thicknesses of the air gap (1‐8 mm), the heat transfer is essentially conductive. An increase in the thickness leads to the intensification of the natural convection which induces high thermal losses. The simulation results have shown that the addition of a second cover glazing leads to the weakening of the natural convection and thus to an average enhancement of the solar collector temperature over the range of thicknesses studied of approximately 17%. The overall thermal losses coefficient is then reduced by an average of 26% compared with the single‐glazed solar collector. They have also shown that the thickness of the air gaps resulting in the minimum overall heat losses is 8 mm and that the thickness of the second glass cover has no significant effect on these results. In addition, this study has highlighted the importance of taking into account the radiation heat transfer in establishing the thermal balance of a flat solar collector. Indeed, this consideration leads to an average decrease of the absorber temperature of about 30%.