CFD Analysis of Solar Air Heater Using V-Shaped Artificial Roughness to Attain Heat Transfer Enhancement

Abstract

The solar air heaters are generally used in food drying applications or air heating applications. The solar air heater encompasses the collector body, duct, absorber glass surface, air inlet, and air outlet tube. In the present research, the solar collector model is designed in Creo parametric design software and imported into ANSYS design modeler. The thermal analysis of the solar air dryer is conducted in the ANSYS CFX simulation package at different Reynolds numbers. To attain heat transfer enhancement, V-shaped artificial roughness is incorporated on the upper absorber plate. The V-shaped artificial roughness considered for the analysis are 60°, 90°, and 120° angles. From the thermal analysis, heat transfer coefficient (HTC) value, pressure drop, and thermos hydraulic performance parameter are determined for different V-shaped artificial roughness profiles. The CFD simulation results have shown that including ribs in the design of the solar collector enhances its heat transfer rate and THPF (thermos-hydraulic performance factor). The V-shaped ribs with a rib angle of 60° have shown superior thermal-hydraulic performance in comparison to rib angles of 90° and 120°, across all Reynolds numbers.