Numerical study of heat transfer in a flat plat thermal solar collector with partitions attached to its glazing

Abstract

Heat transfer in the air-gap of a horizontal flat plat thermal solar collector contain partitions attached to its glazing has been studied numerically. The absorber and the glazing are kept at constant and different temperatures, while the vertical walls (insulation) were kept adiabatically. A conjugate formulation was used for mathematical formulation of the problem and a computer program based on the control volume approach and the SIMPLER algorithm was used. The main aim of the current paper is to study numerically the effects of number of fins and their length on the air pattern and heat transfer. It was observed that the heat transfer rate through the air-gap is affected greatly and hence can be controlled by the number of attached fins to the glazing of the solar collector as well as the fin lengths, and the addition of partitions reduces the heat losses by convection by 90%.

Effect of Absorber Design on Convective Heat Transfer in a Flat Plate Solar Collector: A CFD Modeling

“…The results found show that the pressure drop in the air duct also strongly depends on the volume flow, on the other hand, the number of fins has a remarkable effect on the pressure drop. Laaraba (2019) has numerically studied heat transfer in a flat solar thermal collector with partitions attached to its glazing. Here, the author analyzed the effects of the number and length of fins on the air configuration and heat transfer.…”

Performance analysis of solar assisted multigenerational system using therminol VP1 based nanofluids: A comparative study

“…They concluded that outlet temperature of water increased by 0.44% using nanofluid as a cooling medium. Laaraba [11] studied numerically the performance of flat plate solar thermal collector by adding partitions to the glazing wall. It was found that this addition reduced the thermal losses to the surroundings because of the decrease in Nusselt number.…”