CFD Analysis of Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Flat-Plate Solar Collector/Evaporator with Different Geometric Variations in the Cross Section

William Quitiaquez (), José Estupiñán-Campos, César Nieto-Londoño () and Patricio Quitiaquez
Additional contact information
William Quitiaquez: Productivity and Industrial Simulation Research Group (GIIPSI), Department of Master’s Degree in Production and Industrial Operations, Engineering, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Quito EC170525, Ecuador
José Estupiñán-Campos: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Quito EC170525, Ecuador
César Nieto-Londoño: Escuela de Ingenierías, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín CO050031, Colombia
Patricio Quitiaquez: Productivity and Industrial Simulation Research Group (GIIPSI), Department of Master’s Degree in Production and Industrial Operations, Engineering, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Quito EC170525, Ecuador

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: There is a growing demand from the industrial sector and the population to cover the need for water temperature increases that can be covered with systems such as heat pumps. The present research aims to increase the heat transfer to the working fluid in a collector/evaporator, part of a solar-assisted direct expansion heat pump. This research was developed using a numerical analysis and by applying computational fluid dynamics; different simulations were performed to compare the performances of collector/evaporators with models exhibiting variations in the cross-section profile under similar conditions. An average incident solar radiation of 464.1 W·m −2 was considered during the analysis. For the comparison, profiles with hexagon-, four-leaf clover-, and circular-shaped sections with floral shapes, among others, were analysed, resulting in a temperature increase at the outlet of the working fluid of 1.3 °C. In comparison, the collector/evaporator surface temperature varied between 4 and 13.8 °C, while the internal temperature of the fluid reached 11.21 °C. Finally, it is indicated that the best results were presented by analysing the profile corresponding to the circular section with the flower shape.

Keywords: heat pump; heat transfer; hydrocarbon; cross-section profile; solar-assisted heat pump (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/15/5755/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/15/5755/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:15:p:5755-:d:1208645

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().