Experimental Investigation of Thermohydraulic Performance of the Solar Air Heater Having Arc-Shaped Ribs With Multiple Gaps

Author(s):  
Sheetal Kumar Jain ◽  
Ghanshyam Das Agrawal ◽  
Rohit Misra

Abstract In the present research, the thermohydraulic performance of a solar air heater having artificial roughness in the form of arc-shaped ribs with multiple gaps has been investigated experimentally and compared with that of a solar air heater having smooth absorber plate. The performance has been investigated in terms of enhancement in the Nusselt number and friction factor. Results of the present work have also been compared with previously published work. Reynolds number and arc angle (α) were varied from 3000 to 18,000 and 30 deg to 75 deg, respectively. Present roughness results in a higher rate of heat transfer from the absorber surface to air, but it also imposes a penalty in terms of the increased friction factor. Maximum enhancement in Nusselt number, friction factor, and thermohydraulic performance parameter for the roughened absorber surface is found to be 3.74, 2.69, and 2.75 times that of the smooth plate, respectively. Correlations of heat transfer and friction factor for proposed roughness have also been developed.

Author(s):  
AVDHESH SHARMA ◽  
VARUN VARUN ◽  
GAURAV BHARADWAJ

Double pass solar air heater (DPSAH) consisted of rectangular duct provided with artificial roughness on both side of the absorber plate has been experimentally investigated. Circular ribs of aluminium wire is used to provide roughness to increase heat transfer coefficient between absorber plate and air. Ribs are attached to absorber plate at four different angle of attackbetween 30° to 75° . Experiment is carried out over the range of Reynolds Number from 4900 to 12000, and relative roughness height (e/Dh) varies from 0.022 to 0.044. Experimentally different values of Nusselt number(Nu). and friction factor(fr) have been determined for various parameters. The enhance-ment in heat transfer and increment in the friction factor values of Nusselt number and friction factor have also been compared with the smooth one.


2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shantanu Purohit ◽  
N. Madhwesh ◽  
K. Vasudeva Karanth ◽  
N. Yagnesh Sharma

This study presents an innovative idea to augment heat transfer to an air heater using helicoidal finned arrangement. A parametric analysis of the helicoidal shaped fin geometry is considered with helicoidal pitch ratio of 0.1666–0.3, fin diameter ratio of 1.75–2. For the placement of the fin beneath the absorber plate, longitudinal pitch ratio ranging from 0.0416 to 0.1666 are used. The flow Reynolds number used for the study ranges from 4800 to 25,000. The effects of helicoidal pitch ratio, wire diameter ratio and longitudinal pitch ratio on Nusselt number and friction factor have been discussed. It is seen from the analysis that there is a significant improvement in Nusselt number for the case of helicoidal fin of wire diameter ratio of 1 when compared to base model as well as straight fin model for the operating range of Reynolds number. It is also observed from the analysis that for the helicoidal fin configuration of helicoidal pitch ratio of 0.2333, friction factor appears to be moderate. Flow and roughness parameters for roughened solar air heater have been optimized using thermal-hydraulic enhancement factor (THEF). The study reveals that by the use of helicoidal fins, maximum enhancement in the Nusselt number is found to be 2.21 times when compared to the base model for longitudinal pitch ratio of 0.0416, helicoidal pitch ratio of 0.166 for a fixed wire diameter. The improvement obtained in performance corresponding to increased Nusselt number establishes the efficacy the helicoidal fin design for the absorber plate.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vipin B. Gawande ◽  
A. S. Dhoble ◽  
D. B. Zodpe

CFD analysis of 2-dimensional artificially roughened solar air heater duct with additional circular vortex generator, inserted in inlet section is carried out. Circular transverse ribs on the absorber plate are placed as usual. The analysis is done to investigate the effect of inserting additional vortex generator on the heat transfer and flow friction characteristics inside the solar air heater duct. This investigation covers relative roughness pitch in the range of 10 ≤P/e≤ 25 and relevant Reynolds numbers in the range of 3800 ≤ Re ≤ 18000. Relative roughness height (e/D) is kept constant as 0.03 for analysis. The turbulence created due to additional circular vortex generator increases the heat transfer rate and at the same time there is also increase in friction factor values. For combined arrangement of ribs and vortex generator, maximum Nusselt number is found to be 2.05 times that of the smooth duct. The enhancement in Nusselt number with ribs and additional vortex generator is found to be 1.06 times that of duct using ribs alone. The maximum increase in friction factor with ribs and circular vortex generator is found to be 2.91 times that of the smooth duct. Friction factor in a combined arrangement is 1.114 times that in a duct with ribs alone on the absorber plate. The augmentation in Thermal Enhancement Factor (TEF) with vortex generator in inlet section is found to be 1.06 times more than with circular ribs alone on the absorber plate.


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Navneet Kumar Pandey ◽  
Vijay Kumar Bajpai

Thermal performance of solar air heater does not take into account the energy loss due to friction for propelling air through the duct. In this work, an experimental investigation has been carried out to study the effect of heat transfer and friction characteristics of turbulent flow of air passing through rectangular duct which is roughened by circular arcs having gaps of 2 mm in between arranged in angular fashion, and the roughened wall is uniformly heated. The thermal and friction characteristics are governed by duct aspect ratio (W/H), hydraulic diameter (D), and relative roughness pitch (P/e), angle of attack of angular arc (α), and Reynolds number (Re). Experiments encompassed the Reynolds number ranges from 3600 to 15,100, P/e ranges from 6 to 20, and angle of attack of angular arc of flow over the protrusions ranges from 15 deg to 75 deg. The results have also been compared to W-shaped roughness inclined at 45 deg. The maximum enhancement in heat transfer and friction factor is 3.15 and 3.93 times as compared with smooth duct. Arc with gaps have also been observed to be better than their W-shaped counterparts. These experimental results have been used to study their influence on Nusselt number and friction factor, and empirical relations have been derived using regression analysis.


Green ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil K. Patil ◽  
J. S. Saini ◽  
K. Kumar

AbstractApplication of artificial roughness on underside of absorber surface has been found to be effective technique to improve thermo hydraulic performance of solar air heaters. In progression to the previous researches, the present study discloses the effect of broken V-rib roughness combined with staggered ribs on heat transfer and friction in a flow through artificially roughened solar air heater duct. The experimentations were performed to collect the data on heat transfer and friction by varying the Reynolds number (Re) between 3000 and 17,000, relative gap position (


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