A Numerical Study of the Effect of an Irradiated Slatted Top Down – Bottom Up Blind on the Convective Heat Transfer Rate From a Recessed Window to an Adjacent Room

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.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Avedissian

The free convective heat transfer in a double-glazed window with a between-pane Venetian blind has been studied numerically. The model geometry consists of a two-dimensional vertical cavity with a set of internal slats, centred between the glazings. Approximately 700 computational fluid dynamic solutions were conducted, including a grid sensitivity study. A wide set of geometrical and thermo-physical conditions was considered. Blind width to cavity width ratios of 0.5, 0.65, 0.8, and 0.9 were studied, along with three slat angles, 0º (fully open, +/- 45º (partially open), and 75º (closed). The blind to fluid thermal conductivity ratio was set to 15 and 4600. Cavity aspects of 20, 40, and 60, were examined over a Rayleigh number range of 10 to 10⁵, with the Prandtl number equal to 0.71. The resulting convective heat transfer data are presented in terms of average Nusselt numbers. Depending on the specific window/blind geometry, the solutions indicate that the blind can either reduce or enhance the convective heat transfer rate across the glazings. The present study does not consider radiation effects in the numerical solution. Therefore, a post-processing algorithm is presented that incorporates the convective and radiative influences, in order to determine the overall heat transfer rate across the window/blind system.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
David Naylor

The horizontal frame members that often protrude from the inner surface of a window can significantly effect the convective heat transfer rate from this inner surface to the room. The purpose of the present numerical study was to determine how the size of a pair of horizontal frame members effect this heat transfer rate. The flow has been assumed to be steady and conditions under which laminar, transitional, and turbulent flows occur are considered. Fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature that gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this being dealt with using the Boussinesq approach. The governing equations have been solved using the FLUENT commercial CFD code. The k-epsilon turbulence model with standard wall functions and with buoyancy force effects fully accounted for has been used. The solution has the following parameters: the Rayleigh number, the Prandtl number, the dimensionless window recess depth, and the dimensionless width and depth of the frame members. Results have been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
D. Naylor

The vertical and horizontal frame members that often protrude from the inner surface of a window can, in some situations, have a significant effect on the convective heat transfer rate from the inner (room-side) surface of the window to the room. The purpose of the present numerical study was to determine, in a basic way, how the relative size of a single horizontal frame member mounted in the center of the window affects this convective heat transfer rate. A recessed window has been considered. The flow has been assumed to be steady and both laminar and turbulent flows have been considered. Fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature that gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this being dealt with using the Boussinesq approach. The governing equations have been solved using the FLUENT commercial cfd code. The k-epsilon turbulence model with standard wall functions and with buoyancy force effects fully accounted for has been used in the calculations. The solution has the following parameters: the Rayleigh number, the Prandtl number, the dimensionless horizontal distance between the inner window surface and the inner surface of the wall in which the window is mounted (the dimensionless recess depth), and the dimensionless width and depth of the frame member. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74, which is effectively the value for air, and for single values of the dimensionless window recess depth and of the dimensionless frame height. The effects of the other dimensionless variables on the window Nusselt number have been numerically studied.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Avedissian

The free convective heat transfer in a double-glazed window with a between-pane Venetian blind has been studied numerically. The model geometry consists of a two-dimensional vertical cavity with a set of internal slats, centred between the glazings. Approximately 700 computational fluid dynamic solutions were conducted, including a grid sensitivity study. A wide set of geometrical and thermo-physical conditions was considered. Blind width to cavity width ratios of 0.5, 0.65, 0.8, and 0.9 were studied, along with three slat angles, 0º (fully open, +/- 45º (partially open), and 75º (closed). The blind to fluid thermal conductivity ratio was set to 15 and 4600. Cavity aspects of 20, 40, and 60, were examined over a Rayleigh number range of 10 to 10⁵, with the Prandtl number equal to 0.71. The resulting convective heat transfer data are presented in terms of average Nusselt numbers. Depending on the specific window/blind geometry, the solutions indicate that the blind can either reduce or enhance the convective heat transfer rate across the glazings. The present study does not consider radiation effects in the numerical solution. Therefore, a post-processing algorithm is presented that incorporates the convective and radiative influences, in order to determine the overall heat transfer rate across the window/blind system.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

In summer when the air-conditioning system is in use cool air from a floor-mounted vent located beneath a window often flows over the warm window. The presence of a blind system over the window will, in general, influence the effect of the vent flow on the convective heat transfer rate from the window. The effect of a Top-Down, Bottom-Up plane blind system and a cool air vent flow on the heat transfer rate from a recessed window has therefore been numerically studied here. The actual situation considered in this study is an approximate model of real situations. The window is represented by a plane isothermal section recessed into the wall, this window section being hotter than the room air far from the window. The floor-mounted vent is assumed to be located against the wall and to have a uniform discharge velocity which is normal to the vent surface. The flow has been assumed to be two-dimensional, i.e., the effect of the window and vent width has not been considered. The flow has been assumed to be steady and situations involving both laminar and turbulent flow have been considered. The fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature that gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this being dealt with using the Boussinesq approach. The governing equations have been solved using the commercial CFD code ANSYS FLUENT©, the k-epsilon turbulence model having been used. The solution has the following parameters: the Rayleigh number, the Reynolds number based on the vent discharge velocity, the dimensionless depth that the window is recessed, the Prandtl number, the dimensionless top and bottom blind opening, the dimensionless size of the air vent, and the dimensionless vent discharge temperature to undisturbed air temperature difference. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74 and for fixed values of the dimensionless depth that the window is recessed, the dimensionless size of the air vent, and the dimensionless vent discharge temperature difference. The effects of the other dimensionless variables on the window Nusselt number have been numerically studied.


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.


1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 749-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Nelson ◽  
E. J. Shaughnessy

The enhancement of convective heat transfer by an electric field is but one aspect of the complex thermoelectric phenomena which arise from the interaction of fluid dynamic and electric fields. Our current knowledge of this area is limited to a very few experimental studies. There has been no formal analysis of the basic coupling modes of the Navier–Stokes and Maxwell equations which are developed in the absence of any appreciable magnetic fields. Convective flows in enclosures are particularly sensitive because the limited fluid volumes, recirculation, and generally low velocities allow the relatively weak electric body force to exert a significant influence. In this work, the modes by which the Navier–Stokes equations are coupled to Maxwell’s equations of electrodynamics are reviewed. The conditions governing the most significant coupling modes (Coulombic forces, Joule heating, permittivity gradients) are then derived within the context of a first-order theory of electrohydrodynamics. Situations in which these couplings may have a profound effect on the convective heat transfer rate are postulated. The result is an organized framework for controlling the heat transfer rate in enclosures.


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