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Abstract
Although solar flat plate absorbers are mature technology, the research on rectangular multiduct solar flat plate absorber is hardly available in the literature. For overall improvement in thermal performance of such absorber, a complete thermo-fluidic performance investigation is needed that has been narrowly investigated in the literature. The objective of the present study is experimental investigation of the thermo-fluid characteristics of an unglazed rectangular multiduct solar flat plate absorber to evaluate its performance at different inlet mass flow rate conditions. The present flat plate absorber is constructed with four similar-sized rectangular ducts arranged side by side in the form of an array that are connected to a common header pipe at the top and bottom of the absorber. Experiments have been conducted at different inlet flow rates of 60, 65, 70 and 75 L per hour (lph), and corresponding flow properties are evaluated using tracer dye method. At each inlet flow rate, flow velocity and Reynolds number (Re) variations in the individual ducts are obtained from the experimental results. At maximum inlet mass flow of 75 lph, maximum Reynolds number variation within 12 ≤ Re≤244 has been obtained in the present design. Moreover, the variation in outlet temperature of the fluid and steady-state thermal efficiency of the absorber at different inlet mass flow rates is evaluated. From these results, a detailed thermo-fluidic performance of the absorber is analyzed to obtain an insight into overall performance of the present absorber design. In addition, Re of the flow through each duct is analyzed using computational fluid dynamics approach and the values are compared with the corresponding experimental results. The experimental results show that the present design of unglazed rectangular duct solar flat plate absorber exhibits higher Re variations with enhanced thermal efficiency of around 90.67% that signifies an improved thermo-fluidic performance of the present design.
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Schedule a callMore From: Journal of The Institution of Engineers (India): Series C
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