Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Hamidou Benzenine ^{1, 2}
• Said Abboudi ³

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of science and technology, University of BELHADJ Bouchaib, P.O. Box 284 RP, Ain Témouchent, 46000, Algeria‎

² Laboratory of Energetic and Applied Thermal (ETAP), Faculty of Technology, B.P 230, University of Tlemcen, 13000, Algeria

³ ICB, UMR 6303 CNRS, Department COMM UTBM, University of Bourgogne Franche-Comte, 90010 Belfort Cedex, France‎

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study of a solar air collector aiming at analyzing the influence of several geometrical parameters on the heat transfer mechanisms with minimum losses. The laminar airflow in the collector undergoes a sudden or gradual narrowing at the absorber in its path. The finite volume method is used to solve the conservative equations of the fluid flow in the system. The results for these two narrowing models, at different positions and heights, show an improvement in heat transfer and a reduction in friction, especially in the case of gradual narrowing. Both narrowing models reduce the recirculation zones and thus increase the fluid velocity (1.25 to 2.50 times the reference velocity), leading to a gain in pressure drop compared to the perpendicular shoulder case. This solution also increased system efficiency (22.41% to 50.12% for the inclined shoulder case, 21.83% to 48.86% for the perpendicular case, and 20.81% to 38.66% for the simple case). 

Keywords

• Forced convection
• laminar
• narrowing channel
• solar collector
• performance

Main Subjects

• Thermal Engineering

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