Determining the Effect of Inlet Flow Conditions on the Thermal Efficiency of a Flat Plate Solar Collector
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Model Description
2.1. Governing Equations
2.2. System Performance
2.3. Boundary Conditions
2.4. Geometry Description
3. Grid Independence
4. Model Validation
5. Results and Discussion
5.1. Effect of Flowrate on FPC Performance at High and Low Level of Inlet Temperature
5.2. Effect of Inlet Temperature on FPC Performance at High and Low Level of Flowrate:
5.3. Employing FPC Outlet Water Temperature for Solar Absorption Cooling System
5.4. Performance of FPC Versus Energy Loss Parameter
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Collector Type | Ac (m2) | Solar Collector Efficiency | Cooling Capacity(kW) | COP (Coefficient of Performance) | Method | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FPC (computational studies) | 5–220 | 0.27–0.50 | 2.7–3 (m2/kWc) | 0.1–0.82 | TRANSYS | [10] |
37.5 | 4.5 | TRANSYS | [6] | |||
38.4 | 17.6 | TRANSYS | [11] | |||
100 | 2.6 | TRANSYS | [12] | |||
N/A | 10 | Analytical method | [7] | |||
25 | 10 | Transol | [13] | |||
38.4 | 17.6 | TRANSYS | [14] | |||
FPC (experimental studies) | 42.2 | 0.24–0.55 | 4.5 | 0.30–0.8 | Outdoor | [4] |
90 | 30 | Outdoor | [6] | |||
90 | 30 | Outdoor | [15] | |||
500 | 100 | Outdoor | [16] |
Boundary | Condition |
---|---|
Inlet temperature (Tin) | 298 K (If it is not mentioned) |
Outlet temperature (To) | Pressure outlet |
Maximum mass flowrate | 0.0225 kg/s |
Ambient temperature (Tamb) | 298 K |
Side walls | Adiabatic walls |
The absorber plate | Heat flux (q) = α·τ·G |
The bottom layer | h = 2.8 + 3Vw |
Wind speed | 1 m/s |
Material | Density (kg/m3) | Thermal Conductivity (W/(m K)) | Heat Capacity (J/(kg K)) |
---|---|---|---|
Glass | 2500 | 1.4 | 750 |
Absorber | 8954 | 386 | 385 |
Insulation | 200 | 0.044 | 840 |
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Alobaid, M.; Hughes, B.; Heyes, A.; O’Connor, D. Determining the Effect of Inlet Flow Conditions on the Thermal Efficiency of a Flat Plate Solar Collector. Fluids 2018, 3, 67. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids3030067
Alobaid M, Hughes B, Heyes A, O’Connor D. Determining the Effect of Inlet Flow Conditions on the Thermal Efficiency of a Flat Plate Solar Collector. Fluids. 2018; 3(3):67. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids3030067
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlobaid, Mohammad, Ben Hughes, Andrew Heyes, and Dominic O’Connor. 2018. "Determining the Effect of Inlet Flow Conditions on the Thermal Efficiency of a Flat Plate Solar Collector" Fluids 3, no. 3: 67. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids3030067