Inducing swirl flow inside the pipes of flat-plate solar collector by using multiple nozzles for enhancing thermal performance

Yan Cao, Hamdi Ayed, Mehran Hashemian, Alibek Issakhov, Fahd Jarad and Makatar Wae-hayee

Renewable Energy, 2021, vol. 180, issue C, 1344-1357

Abstract: In this numerical study, an attempt has been made to improve the thermal performance of the flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) by inducing the swirl flow inside the tube by the considered nozzles. To this end, the effect of the number of circumferential nozzles and their inclination angles was taken into the account. The considered number of nozzles was "single", ''dual'', ''triple'', and ''quad''. For each of the said cases, the inclination angle of nozzles was taken 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° (A30, A45, A60, A90). Moreover, the mass flow rate of single-nozzle pipe was considered 0.2 kg/s, 1 kg/s, and 2 kg/s. To analyze all of the cases under identical conditions, the said mass flow rates were distributed equally among all of the nozzles (for ''dual'', ''triple'', and ''quad''). All of the characteristics were defined in a form of "A…-D…-N…-M…'' where ''A…'', "D…", "N…", and "M…" stand for angle of injection, diameter of pipe, nozzle cross-section edge, and mass flow rate, respectively. Numerical simulation (3-dimensional) of the system was performed by Finite Volume Method (FVM). The turbulence nature of flow was simulated by the k-omega SST (shear stress transport) turbulent model. Results showed that the "single-nozzle'' swirl generator had the highest thermal performance factor (TPF) so that for all cases its values were greater than unit. Mass flow rate growth increases Nu, heat extraction rate, and kinetic energy rate (KER) while drops friction factor and outlet temperature. Increment of injection angle increases outlet temperature and friction factor and reduces KER. The maximum and minimum values of TPF are 4.19 and 0.44 which belong to "single; A30-D50-N12.5-M0.2" and "quad; A90-D50-N12.5-M0.5", respectively.

Keywords: Flat plate solar collector; Nozzle; Thermal performance; Finite Volume method (FVM) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148121013161
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:180:y:2021:i:c:p:1344-1357

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.09.018

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().