PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT OF SOLAR

AIR HEATERS USING CFD

Thesis submitted
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF ENGINEERING
In
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

With specialization in
THERMAL ENGINEERING

By
PARIMI KRISHNA BHARATHI
Reg No:
Under the esteemed guidance of
Prof. S. K. BHATTI

Department of Mechanical Engineering

College of Engineering
Andhra University
Visakhapatnam – 530003
Andhra Pradesh
2014
 CERITIFICATE

This is to certify that it is a bonafied work done by Ms. PARIMI KRISHNA

BHARATHI during 2012-2014 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of

degree of MASTER OF ENGINEERING with specialization in THERMAL

ENGINEERING submitted to the Department Of Mechanical Engineering, College of

Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. This work is not submitted to any

university for award of any degree.

Signature of Guide Signature of H.O.D

(Prof. S.K.Bhatti) (Prof. M.Prameela Devi)
Mechanical Engineering Department, Head of Department,
Andhra University, Mechanical Engineering,
Visakhapatnam. Andhra University.

ii
 EVALUATION SHEET

1). Name of the Candidate : PARIMI KRISHNA BHARATHI

2). Title of the Project : “PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT OF

SOLAR AIR HEATERS USING CFD”.

3). Specialization of M.E : THERMAL ENGINEERING

4). Date of Examination/ viva voce :

This dissertation is approved by the following Board of Examiners.

Chairman, Board of Examinations : ____________________________________

Chairman, Board of Studies : _____________________________________

Head of the Department : _____________________________________

External Examiner : _____________________________________

Internal Examiner : ____________________________________

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I express my immense pleasure and deep sense of gratitude to my guide and solicitor
Prof.S.K.BHATTI, Research Director for introducing me to this interesting arena of
“PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT OF SOLAR AIR HEATERS USING (CFD) ” and
supervising throughout the investigation. I am deeply indebted to her for infusing
confidence and providing constant encouragement to me for successful completion of
this work.
I take this opportunity to proffer my sincere gratitude of Prof. M. Prameela
Devi, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Prof. K. Venkata
Subbaiah, Chairman Board of Studies, Department of Mechanical Engineering., A.U.,
for providing all the necessary facilities to carryout my thesis work in the department..

It gives me pleasure to record my appreciation to all the faculty members of

Mechanical Department particularly faculty of Heat Transfer for their support extended
during my course of study.

Finally I would like to thank my parents,sisters, friends and those who had
involved directly or indirectly in bring out this dissertation.

PARIMI KRISHNA BHARATHI

iv
ABSTRACT
 ABSTRACT

Solar Air-Heaters are used for heating air directly. A conventional solar air heater
generally consists of an absorber plate with a parallel plate below forming a passage of
high aspect ratio through which the air to be heated flows. A transparent cover system is
provided above the absorber plate, while a sheet metal container filled with insulation is
provided on the bottom and sides. The performance of solar air heater depends on the
Solar Insolation, inlet velocity, plate geometry and collector efficiency factor which
measures the forced convection heat transfer coefficient between the absorber plate and
the flowing air and the losses from the collector surfaces. The losses through the bottom
and sides of the heater may be reduced or almost eliminated by using adequate insulation.

The present work studies the performance of solar air heaters with flow below the
flat and tilted v-grooved absorber plate. The Tilted v-groove absorber was found to be
more efficient than the flat v-grooved absorber collector. Theoretical results from the
existing correlations are compared with CFD simulation used for estimating the thermal
performance enhancement of solar air heaters with reasonable accuracy.
 vii

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I
ABSTRACT II
CONTENTS III
NOMENCLATURE IV-V

CHAPTER 1: Introduction 1-10

CHAPTER 2: Literature Review 11

CHAPTER 3: Thermal Analysis

CHAPTER 4: Calculations 12-21

4.1 Flat absorber plate.

4.2 V-grooved absorber plate

CHAPTER 5: Introduction to CFD 22-42

CHAPTER 6: Simulation 43-56

5.1 Flat absorber plate solar air heater

5.2 V-grooved absorber solar air heater

CHAPTER7: Results and Discussion 57-64

CHAPTER8: Conclusion 65

REFERENCES 66-67
 viii

NOMENCLATURE:

A area of collector that absorbs solar radiation (m2)

Af fluid area (m2)
C 520 X (1 - 0.000051 β2)
Cp specific heat of working fluid (J/kg K)
Dh hydraulic diameter (m)
e 0.43 X [1 - (100/Tpm)]
f (1 + 0.089hw - 0.1166hw εp) (1 + 0.07866N)
FR heat removal factor
F0 collector efficiency factor
h fluid heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
hr radiation heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
hw wind convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
H collector height (m)
Hv V-groove height
I solar radiation (W/m2)
k fluid thermal conductivity (W/m K)
kb back insulation conductivity (W/m K)
ke edge insulation conductivity (W/m K)
L collector length (m)
m collector flow rate, kg/s
N number of glass covers
Nu Nusselt number
Pr Prandtl number
Qu rate of useful energy gain (W)
Re Reynolds number
Ta ambient air temperature (K)
Tc cover temperature (K)
Tfm mean fluid temperature (K)
Ti fluid inlet temperature (K)
Tpm mean absorber plate surface temperature (K)
U overall heat loss coefficient (W/m2 K)
Ub back loss coefficient (W/m2 K)
Ue edge loss coefficient (W/m2 K)
Ut top loss coefficient (W/m2 K)
W collector width (m)
xb back insulation thickness (m)
xe edge insulation thickness (m)

Greek Symbols:

α solar absorptance of the collector plate

β collector tilt angle (deg)
εc emittance of the glass cover
εp emittance of the absorber plate
μ dynamic viscosity (Pa s)
σ Stefan–Boltzmann constant
τ solar transmittance of the glazing
Φ V-groove angle (deg)

Subscripts

a ambient
b back
c cover
e edge
f fluid
h hydraulic
m mean
p plate
u useful

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70

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