Numerical and experimental approach for evaluation of thermal performances of a polymer solar collector

Petar Filipović, Damir Dović, Borjan Ranilović and Ivan Horvat

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2019, vol. 112, issue C, 127-139

Abstract: This paper presents a novel 2D numerical and experimental approach which can be used to assess the thermal performances of a polymer solar collector as a part of the design process. Numerical simulations are performed using software package FLUENT. To simulate radiative heat transfer, different radiation models that are available within FLUENT are applied including the discrete ordinates (DO) and surface-to-surface (S2S) model. Solar incident radiation is taken into account as an energy source computed analytically or via ray tracing software or as an external beam which is a part of boundary condition in semi-transparent DO model. Different combinations of longwave and shortwave radiation modeling are tested, first on a segment of a typical flat plate collector. In the second step, these models are applied to the test box at different boundary conditions and materials. Numerical models are then applied to the geometry of polymer solar collector prototype to assess its thermal efficiency. Combination of longwave radiation computed with DO and S2S sub-model and solar incident radiation modeled analytically or via ray tracing software yields sufficiently accurate results on the all tested computational domains, thus any of them can be used to compute thermal efficiency of a polymer solar collector. On the other hand, when applying semi-transparent DO model with the solar incident radiation modeled by the external beam, the obtained results are unphysical. Present approach is a part of the research aimed at the development of a thermally efficient low-cost polymer solar collector running in a drain back system. The prototype will be then experimentally tested.

Keywords: Solar energy; Polymer solar collector; Radiation modeling; FLUENT; Discrete ordinates (DO); Surface-to-surface (S2S) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032119303363
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:rensus:v:112:y:2019:i:c:p:127-139

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.05.023

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

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