Numerical investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow characteristic of V-corrugated plate solar air collector with prismatic fin as an extended surface

Abstract

As the time goes by, fossil energy consumption is increasing. Absolutely, It will cause the decreasing on fossil energy. Because of that it is essential to look for renewable energy, for example is solar energy. Solar energy can be implicated on solar air collector. Solar air collector consists of absorber plate, ducting channel, cover glass, and blower.A numerical investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in v-corrugated plate solar air collector having prismatic fin on the absorber plate is presented in this study. Three-dimensional simulations are conducted using FLUENT 6.3.26 and SST-Kω turbulence model. The computations are performed for different fin dimension with a varying thickness and spacing of fin. Simulations were used to find the optimal thickness of the 3mm, 4mm, and 5mm fin with 0.25ℓ, 0.50 ℓ, and 0.75 ℓ spacing between the obstacle on each thickness variation. The effects of the fin dimension and spacing on pressure drop and pressure difference are obtained and analyzed. As the result, using fin on the plate absorber enhanced the heat transfer. The maximum value of the thermal performance parameter was found in 3 mm fin thickness and 0.50ℓ spacing with ΔP/ΔT 37.0672 compared to solar air collector without fin. Presence of prism fin generate turbulence in the flow that obviously increase the heat transfer, but it also gives effect on the pressure drop along the ducting channel.