In this work, a flat-plate solar air heater (FSAH) and a tubular solar air heater (TSAH) were designed and tested numerically. The work investigates the effect of increasing the contact area between the flowing air and the absorber surface of each heater and predicts the expected results before the fabrication of the experimental rig. Three-dimensional two models were designed and simulated by the ANSYS-FLUENT 16 Program. The solar irradiation and ambient air temperature were measured experimentally on December 1st 2022, at the weather conditions of Baghdad City- Iraq, at three air mass flow rates, 0.012 kg/s, 0.032 kg/s, and 0.052 kg/s. The numerical results showed the advantage in the thermal performance of the TSAH in comparison to the FSAH, represented by better air temperature difference, better heat transfer from the absorber to air, and better thermal efficiency. The TSAH has a higher thermal efficiency than the FSAH by 7 %, 19 % °C, and 22 % at 0.012 kg/s, 0.032 kg/s, and 0.052 kg/s, respectively. The improvement of the thermal characteristics of the TSAH can be referred to as the increment in the heat transfer contact area between the absorber and the flowing air.
Solar collectors, in general, are utilized to convert the solar energy into heat energy, where it is employed to generate electricity. The non-concentrating solar collector with a circular shape was adopted in the present study. Ambient air is heated under a translucent roof where buoyant air is drawn from outside periphery towards the collector center (tower base). The present study is aimed to predict and visualize the thermal-hydrodynamic behavior for airflow under inclined roof of the solar air collector, SAC. Three-dimensional of the SAC model using the re-normalization group, RNG, k−ε turbulence viscus model is simulated. The simulation was carried out by using ANSYS-FLUENT 14.5. The simulation
... Show MoreIn Iraq most of the small buildings deployed a conventional air conditioning technology which typically uses electrically driven compressor systems which exhibits several clear disadvantages such as high energy consumption, high electricity at peak loads. In this work a thermal performance of air conditioning system combined with a solar collector is investigated theoretically. The hybrid air conditioner consists of a semi hermetic compressor, water cooled shell and tube condenser, thermal expansion valve and coil with tank evaporator. The theoretical analysis included a simulation for the solar assisted air-conditioning system using EES software to analyze the effect of different parameters on the power consumption of c
... Show MoreIn this paper, thermal performance of a zig-zig solar air heater (ZZSAH) with and without using steel wire mesh on the absorber plate of the collector is experimentally investigated. The experimental work includes four inclination angles of the collector 20o, 30o, 45o, and 60o and four air mass flow rates of 0.03, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08 kg/s under varieties of operating conditions of a geographic location of Baghdad. New correlation equations of Nusselt number are obtained from experimental results for both types of collectors where the effect of varying of the inclination angle of collector taken into consideration in the experiment. The correlations show good agreement wi
... Show MoreCarbon nanoparticles are prepared by sonication using carbon black powder. The surface morphology of carbon black (CB) and carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) is investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The particles size ranges from 100 nm to 400 nm for CB and from 10 nm to 100 nm for CNPs. CNPs and CB are mixed with silicon glue of different ratios of 0.025, 0.2, 0.05, and 0.1 to synthesis films. The optical properties of the prepared films are investigated through reflectance and absorbance analyses. The ratio of 0.05 for CNPs and CB is the best for solar paint because of its higher solar water heater efficiency and is then added to the silicon glue . Temperature of cold water and temperature of hot water in storage tank were ta
... Show MoreSloped solar chimney system is a solar chimney power plant with a sloped collector. Practically, the sloped collector can function as a chimney, then the chimney height can be reduced and the construction cost would be reduced.The continuity, Naver-stockes, energy and radiation transfer equations have been solved and carried out by Fluent software. The governing equations are solved for incompressible, 3-D, steady, turbulent standard model with Boussiuesq approximation to develop for the sloped solar chimney system in this study and evaluate the performance of solar chimney power plant in Baghdad city of Iraq numerically by Fluent (14) software with orking conditions such as solar radiation intensity (30
... Show MoreArtificial roughness on the absorber plate of a Solar Air Heater (SAH) is a popular technique for increasing its effective efficiency. The study investigated the effect of geometrical parameters of discrete multi-arc ribs (DMAR) installed below the SAH absorber plate on the effective efficiency. The effects of major roughness factors, such as number of gaps (Ng = 1-4), rib pitch (p/e = 4-16), rib height (e/D = 0.018-0.045), gab width (wg/e = 0.5-2), angle of attack ( = 30-75), and Reynolds number (Re= 2000-20000) on the performance of a SAH are studied. The performance of the SAH is evaluated using a top-down iterative technique. The results show that as Re rises, SAH-effective DMAR's efficiency first ascends to a specified value o
... Show MoreIn this paper, an experimental study was conducted to enhance the thermal performance of a double-pass solar air heater (SAH) using phase change material (PCM) for thermal storage at climatic conditions of Baghdad city - Iraq. The double-pass solar air heater integrated with thermal storage system was manufactured and tested to ensure that the air heating reserved after the absence of the sun. The rectangular cavity filled with paraffin wax was used as a latent heat storage and incorporated into the lower channel of solar air heater. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the charging and discharging characteristics of two similar designed solar air collectors with and without using phase change material at a constant
... Show MoreIn the hybrid coolingsolar systems , a solar collectoris used to convertsolar energy intoheat sourcein order to super heat therefrigerant leave thecompressor,andthisprocess helpsin the transformation ofrefrigerant state from gaseous statetothe liquid statein upper two-thirdsof thecondenserinstead of the lower two-thirdssuchas in thetraditional air-conditioning systems and this willreduce theenergyneeded torun the process ofcooling.In this research two hybrid air-conditioning system with an evacuated tube solar collector were used, therefrigerant was R22 and the capacity was 2 tons each.The tilt angle of the evacuated tube solar collector was changed and the solar collector fluid was replaced into oil instead of water.A comparison wasi
... Show MoreThe sun which is all energy sources, in today's society, hot water is used for various purposes starting from household to power production. People are adopting various ways to accomplish these goals, such as firewood heat and electrical power, so solar energy is an alternative to the dwindling resources of fossil fuels. Conversion of solar radiation into heat is one of the simplest and most direct applications of this energy, it can be used to heat water systems. A widely used flat-plate solar collector. In this study we have come to heat water using solar energy. This research presents the design and experimental analysis for using Spiral Flow Solar Water Heater (SFSWH) to enhance the thermal efficiency of a flat plate solar collector.
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