Numerical modeling and experimental cross-validation of a solar thermal collector through an innovative hybrid CFD model

Arman Nokhosteen and Sarvenaz Sobhansarbandi

Renewable Energy, 2021, vol. 172, issue C, 918-928

Abstract: Heat pipe evacuated tube solar collectors are widely used in solar water heating systems. Due to the complex heat transfer processes taking place in the collector, performing direct numerical simulations will be computationally intensive. Hence, this study presents a novel hybrid computational method in order to simulate the collectors’ thermal behaviour during day/night time operation. This method is comprised of a previously developed resistance network based proper orthogonal decomposition method for simulation during operation hours where solar irradiation values are greater than zero. Afterwards, when irradiance is zero a Lattice Boltzmann method has been utilized for simulation. The novelties of this proposed method include reducing simulation time, accounting for the ambient working conditions of the collector and therefore, providing an accurate assessment of the temperature distribution inside the collector during the entirety of its operation in a full working cycle. Furthermore, the results obtained for full cycle operation have been compared to existing experimental data and it was found that the results were in good agreement, with an average error of 5.16%. Also it has been shown that the hybrid model is several orders of magnitude faster than traditional direct numerical simulation methods.

Keywords: Evacuated tube solar collector; Thermal behaviour; Hybrid numerical method; Lattice Boltzmann method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:172:y:2021:i:c:p:918-928

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.03.070

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