Numerical Study of the Convective Heat Transfer From a Recessed Window Covered by a Top Down–Bottom Up Plane Blind

Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
Jane T. Paul
Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
J. T. Paul

Top Down – Bottom Up blinds have become quite popular in recent times. However the effects of such blind systems on the convective heat transfer from the window to the surrounding room have not been extensively studied and the effect of solar irradiation of the blind on the window heat transfer has not received significant attention. The purpose of the present work was therefore to numerically investigate the effect of solar irradiation of Top Down – Bottom Up slatted blinds on this convective heat transfer. An approximate model of the window-blind system has been adopted. The solar radiation falling on the blinds is assumed to produce a uniform rate of heat generation in the blind. The Boussinesq approximation has been used. Radiant heat transfer effects have been neglected. Conditions under which laminar, transitional and turbulent flows occur have been considered. The main emphasis is on the effect of the magnitude of the irradiation and of the size of the blind openings at the top and bottom of the window on the convective heat transfer rate from the window to the room.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
Neda Mansouri

The purpose of the present work was to investigate numerically the effect of the top and/or bottom blind openings on the convective heat transfer from a window fitted with a double-layered top down-bottom up honeycomb blind system. Top down-bottom up systems that utilize so-called honeycomb (or cellular) blinds can be opened at the top and/or the bottom. When a honeycomb blind is fully closed there are two or more vertical blind portions and a series of horizontal or nearly horizontal blind portions which join the vertical portions and form a column of cells. This gives the blind system its honeycomb or cellular structure. When opening a honeycomb blind the vertical portions of the blind bend or fold allowing the overall height of the blind to decrease. A double-layered honeycomb blind is constructed with three vertical blind portions and two columns of cells. A recessed window has been considered in the present study and only the convective heat transfer from the window to the surrounding room has been investigated. The surfaces of the blind are assumed to offer no resistance to heat transfer. The commercial CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT© has been used to obtain the solution. Over the range of parameters considered in this study, both laminar and turbulent flow can occur. The k-ε turbulence model has been used in obtaining the solutions. The convective heat transfer rate from the inner surface of the window, expressed in terms of a mean Nusselt number based on the window height and the difference between the window and the air temperatures, will depend on the Rayleigh number, also based on the window height, and the difference between the window and the air temperatures, the dimensionless top and bottom blind openings, and the dimensionless window recess depth. Variations of the mean Nusselt number with Rayleigh number for various values of these other parameters have been obtained and the results used to study how these other parameters affect the window heat transfer rate.


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