A Numerical Investigation into the Thermohydraulic Performance of a Spiral Triangle Solar Air Heater

Öz

In the present study, the thermohydraulic performance of the solar air heater with a triangular absorber plate is numerically investigated. Five various configurations of the absorber plate depend on the number of passageways that were conducted to find the optimum number of passageways. The mass flow rate was chosen between 0.0078 kg/s and 0.0758 kg/s, with an interval of 0.0068 kg/s. The surface area of the collector and bed height were 1 m² and 0.08 m, respectively. The distances between the passageways were chosen as 0.21 m, 0.15 m, 0.11 m, 0.084 m, and 0.073 m, respectively, at two, three, four, five, and six passageways. The numerical analysis was carried out using the ANSYS-FLUENT 2024 R2 solver. The highest effective efficiency, thermal efficiency, and outlet temperature were calculated under different operating conditions. The maximum effective efficiency of 75.4% was achieved at a middle of the range of passageway and mass flow rate, respectively, of three and 0.0418 kg/s. The thermal efficiency reached a peak value of 94.2% at the highest mass flow rate of 0.0758 kg/s with five passageways, however, the effective efficiency reduced to 0% because of the significant growth in pressure drop. Therefore, for arrangements with more than four passageways, mass flow rates beyond 0.0350 kg/s are not suggested.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Air passageways
• CFD
• Effective efficiency
• Solar air heater
• Thermal efficiency

Kaynakça

1. [1]. Chaurasia S, Goel V, Debbarma A. Impact of hybrid roughness geometry on heat transfer augmentation in solar air heater: A review. Solar Energy. 2023;255(November 2022):435–59. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2023.02.052.
2. [2]. Yadav AS, Shrivastava V, Sharma A, Dwivedi MK. Numerical simulation and CFD-based correlations for artificially roughened solar air heater. Materials Today: Proceedings. 2021;47(xxxx):2685–93. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.02.759.
3. [3]. Kabeel AE, Hamed MH, Omara ZM, Kandeal AW. Solar air heaters: Design configurations, improvement methods and applications – A detailed review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2017;70(November):1189–206.
4. [4]. Soliman AS, Cheng P, Sultan AA, Abdelrehim O, Sultan MA. A new design of a bifacial solar air heater with PCM. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress. 2025;59(February):103380. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsep.2025.103380.
5. [5]. Promvonge P, Skullong S. Thermal characteristics in solar air duct with V-shaped flapped-baffles and chamfered-grooves. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2021;172:121220. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.121220.
6. [6]. Ammari HD. A mathematical model of thermal performance of a solar air heater with slats. Renewable Energy. 2003;28(10):1597–615.
7. [7]. Boulemtafes-Boukadoum A, Benzaoui A. CFD based analysis of heat transfer enhancement in solar air heater provided with transverse rectangular ribs. Energy Procedia. 2014;50:761–72. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.06.094.
8. [8]. Jin D, Zhang M, Wang P, Xu S. Numerical investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow in a solar air heater duct with multi V-shaped ribs on the absorber plate. Energy. 2015;89:178–90. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.07.069.

9. [9]. Chamoli S, Chauhan R, Thakur NS, Saini JS. A review of the performance of double pass solar air heater. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2012;16(1):481–92. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2011.08.012.
10. [10]. Kumar A, Akshayveer, Singh AP, Singh OP. Efficient designs of double-pass curved solar air heaters. Renewable Energy [Internet]. 2020;160:1105–18. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.06.115.
11. [11]. Raj AK, Kunal G, Srinivas M, Jayaraj S. Performance analysis of a double-pass solar air heater system with asymmetric channel flow passages. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry [Internet]. 2019;136(1):21–38. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7762-1.
12. [12]. Heydari A, Mesgarpour M. Experimental analysis and numerical modeling of solar air heater with helical flow path. Solar Energy. 2018;162(January):278–88. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.01.030.
13. [13]. Ameri, Mehran, Reza Sardari, and Hadi Farzan. "Thermal performance of a V-Corrugated serpentine solar air heater with integrated PCM: A comparative experimental study." Renewable Energy 171 (2021): 391-400.
14. [14]. Jia B, Liu F, Wang D. Experimental study on the performance of spiral solar air heater. Solar Energy. 2019;182(September 2018):16–21. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.02.033.
15. [15]. Jia, Binguang, et al. "Influence on thermal performance of spiral solar air heater with longitudinal baffles." Solar Energy 225 (2021): 969-977.
16. [16]. Jia, Binguang, et al. "Optimizing structure of baffles on thermal performance of spiral solar air heaters." Solar Energy 224 (2021): 757-764.
17. [17]. Cortés A, Piacentini R. Improvement of the efficiency of a bare solar collector by means of turbulence promoters. Applied Energy. 1990;36(4):253–61.