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Sustainability
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Thermal Performance Improvement of Solar Air Heater
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Thermal Performance Improvement of Solar Air Heater

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 14092

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Suvanjan Bhattacharyya

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Pilani Campus, Rajasthan 333 031, India
Interests: heat transfer enhancement; turbulence; renewable energy; heat exchanger; CFD
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Varun Goel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177005, India
Interests: heat transfer; renewable energy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Renewable energy plays an important role in the current continuous increasing energy demand and in attempts to mitigate issues around the many emissions and greenhouse problems. The use of renewable and alternative energy sources is a sustainable way to substitute fossil fuel with cheap and abundant energy sources. Solar energy utilization is a basic weapon for facing energy problems, giving efficient, clean, and financially viable solutions. However, for its sustainable development, there is a need to overcome a few technical obstacles such as low efficiency, instability in energy supply, and monetary impediment. Solar collectors are the devices which capture solar energy and transform it to useful heat, with satisfying efficiency. Performance improvement of solar devices can be achieved using diverse materials, various shapes, and different dimensions and layouts. The modifications to improve the heat-transfer coefficient between the absorber plate and air include the use of an absorber with fins attached, corrugated absorber, matrix type absorber, with packed bed, with baffles, and different configurations. Increasing the absorber plate surface area will increase the heat transfer to the flowing air, but on the other hand, it will also increase the pressure drop in the collector; this increases the required power consumption to pump the airflow crossing the collector, which is still a concern.

Therefore, this Special Issue (SI) aims to encourage researchers to share recent advances in the development and application of solar air heaters using experimental and computational techniques. An interesting route for enhancing the thermal efficiencies of solar systems is the installation of various inserts including baffles, wire coils, vortex generators, twisted tapes, etc. in these systems with minimum pressure penalty.

The current literature specifies that studies on the performance of solar air heaters are still limited. To seal this gap, researchers are invited to contribute their original research and review papers in the above mentioned topics. Both experimental and numerical studies are welcomed. However, it is broadly anticipated that the authorship and ultimate readership would come from the fields of mechanical, chemical, process and petroleum, energy, and also physics and mathematics—that is, everywhere where “thermal performance improvement of solar air heater” phenomena may play an important role or be a subject of worthy research pursuits. Cross-disciplinary research and development studies will also be most welcomed.

Dr. Suvanjan Bhattacharyya
Dr. Varun Goel
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar air heater
  • solar dryer
  • experimental analyses
  • CFD analysis
  • heat transfer augmentation
  • thermal entry length concepts
  • turbulence modeling
  • energetic and energetic efficiency
  • energy modeling and simulation
  • novel system design
  • economic analysis
  • vortex generators
  • laminar and transitional flow
  • ANN and machine learning techniques
  • optimization

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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16 pages, 4398 KiB  
Article
Numerical Simulation of Homogeneous–Heterogeneous Reactions through a Hybrid Nanofluid Flowing over a Rotating Disc for Solar Heating Applications
by Mir Waqas Alam, Syed Ghazanfar Hussain, Basma Souayeh, Muhammad Shuaib Khan and Mohd Farhan
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8289; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158289 - 24 Jul 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2419
Abstract
Several materials, such as aluminum and copper, exhibit non-Newtonian rheological behaviors. Aluminum and copper nanoparticles are ideal for wiring power grids, including overhead power transmission lines and local power distribution lines, because they provide a better conductivity-to-weight ratio than bulk copper; they are [...] Read more.
Several materials, such as aluminum and copper, exhibit non-Newtonian rheological behaviors. Aluminum and copper nanoparticles are ideal for wiring power grids, including overhead power transmission lines and local power distribution lines, because they provide a better conductivity-to-weight ratio than bulk copper; they are also some of the most common materials used in electrical applications. Therefore, the current investigation inspected the flow characteristics of homogeneous–heterogeneous reactions in a hybrid nanofluid flowing over a rotating disc. The velocity slip condition was examined. The energy equation was developed by employing the first law of thermodynamics. Mixed convection thermal radiation and the convective condition effect were addressed. The dimensionless governing models were solved to give the best possible investigative solution using the fourth- and fifth-order Runge–Kutta–Felhberg numerical method. The effects of different influential variables on the velocity and temperature were scrutinized graphically. The effects of the variation of various sundry parameters on the friction factor and Nusselt numbers were also analyzed. The results revealed that the velocity gradient increased significantly for augmented values of the mixed convection parameter. Here, the velocity gradient increased more rapidly for a hybrid nanoliquid than for a nanofluid. The thermal distribution was enhanced due to a significantly increased radiation parameter. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Performance Improvement of Solar Air Heater)
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19 pages, 3756 KiB  
Article
Application of New Artificial Neural Network to Predict Heat Transfer and Thermal Performance of a Solar Air-Heater Tube
by Suvanjan Bhattacharyya, Debraj Sarkar, Rahul Roy, Shramona Chakraborty, Varun Goel and Eydhah Almatrafi
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7477; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137477 - 5 Jul 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3967
Abstract
In the present study, the heat transfer and thermal performance of a helical corrugation with perforated circular disc solar air-heater tubes are predicted using a machine learning regression technique. This paper describes a statistical analysis of heat transfer by developing an artificial neural [...] Read more.
In the present study, the heat transfer and thermal performance of a helical corrugation with perforated circular disc solar air-heater tubes are predicted using a machine learning regression technique. This paper describes a statistical analysis of heat transfer by developing an artificial neural network-based machine learning model. The effects of variation in the corrugation angle (θ), perforation ratio (k), corrugation pitch ratio (y), perforated disc pitch ratio (s), and Reynolds number have been analyzed. An artificial neural network model is used for regression analysis to predict the heat transfer in terms of Nusselt number and thermohydraulic efficiency, and the results showed high prediction accuracies. The artificial neural network model is robust and precise, and can be used by thermal system design engineers for predicting output variables. Two different models are trained based on the features of experimental data, which provide an estimation of experimental output based on user-defined input parameters. The models are evaluated to have an accuracy of 97.00% on unknown test data. These models will help the researchers working in heat transfer enhancement-based experiments to understand and predict the output. As a result, the time and cost of the experiments will reduce. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Performance Improvement of Solar Air Heater)
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30 pages, 11840 KiB  
Article
Parametric CFD Thermal Performance Analysis of Full, Medium, Half and Short Length Dimple Solar Air Tube
by Mir Waqas Alam and Basma Souayeh
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6462; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116462 - 7 Jun 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2730
Abstract
In the present decade, research regarding solar thermal air heaters (SAHs) has noticed a continuous progression in thermo-hydraulic performance augmentation approaches. There now exists a wide variety of thermo-hydraulic performance augmentation approaches and researchers have designated various structures. Nevertheless, there seems to be [...] Read more.
In the present decade, research regarding solar thermal air heaters (SAHs) has noticed a continuous progression in thermo-hydraulic performance augmentation approaches. There now exists a wide variety of thermo-hydraulic performance augmentation approaches and researchers have designated various structures. Nevertheless, there seems to be no generalization to any of the approaches employed. The present numerical investigation reports on the thermo-hydraulic characteristics and thermal performance for flow through a varied length (full, medium, half, and short length) dimple solar air heater (SAH) tube. The study highlights recent developments on enhanced tubes to augment heat transfer in SAH. The influence of different length ratio, dimple height ratio (H), and pitch ratio (s) on thermo-hydraulic characteristics have been investigated in the Reynolds number (Re) range from 5000 to 25,000. Air is used as the working fluid. The commercial software ANSYS Fluent is used for simulation. The shear stress transport (SST) model is used as the turbulence model. Thermal energy transport coefficient is increased in the full-length dimple tube (FLDT), compared to the medium-length dimple tube (MLDT), half-length dimple tube (HLDT) and short-length dimple tube (SLDT). Similarly, the pitch ratio (s) has more influence on Nusselt number (Nu) compared to the dimple height ratio (H). The friction factor decreases with an increase in pitch ratio. Nu increases and f decreases with increasing Re for all combinations of H and s. Low s and higher H yields high enhancement of HT and PD. Integration of artificial roughness on the tube increases the values of Nu and f by 5.12 times and 77.23 times for H = 0.07, s = 1.0 at Re value of 5000 and 25,000, respectively, in regard to the plain tube. For all the tested cases, the thermo-hydraulic performances (η) are greater than unity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Performance Improvement of Solar Air Heater)
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2 pages, 201 KiB  
Reply
Reply to Awad, M.M. Comment on “Alam et al. Numerical Simulation of Homogeneous–Heterogeneous Reactions through a Hybrid Nanofluid Flowing over a Rotating Disc for Solar Heating Applications. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8289”
by Mir Waqas Alam, Syed Ghazanfar Hussain, Basma Souayeh, Muhammad Shuaib Khan and Mohd Farhan
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 512; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010512 - 4 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1664
Abstract
This write-up presents a closure to the comments of Awad, M.M. (2021) on the paper “Numerical Simulation of Homogeneous–Heterogeneous Reactions through a Hybrid Nanofluid Flowing over a Rotating Disc for Solar Heating Applications” (Alam et al., 2021). The authors have addressed each of [...] Read more.
This write-up presents a closure to the comments of Awad, M.M. (2021) on the paper “Numerical Simulation of Homogeneous–Heterogeneous Reactions through a Hybrid Nanofluid Flowing over a Rotating Disc for Solar Heating Applications” (Alam et al., 2021). The authors have addressed each of the comments in detail to uphold the correctness of the mathematical formulation together with the pertinent results presented in our published article. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Performance Improvement of Solar Air Heater)
2 pages, 206 KiB  
Comment
Comment on Alam et al. Numerical Simulation of Homogeneous–Heterogeneous Reactions through a Hybrid Nanofluid Flowing over a Rotating Disc for Solar Heating Applications. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8289
by Mohamed M. Awad
Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 14044; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132414044 - 20 Dec 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1275
Abstract
Alam et al. [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Performance Improvement of Solar Air Heater)
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