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Heat Transfer Enhancement of Solar Air Heater Having Twisted V-Shaped Staggered Roughness Over Absorber Plate

  • Research Article-Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

The present experimental work is dedicated to establish the effect of novel twisted V-shaped staggered ribs provided on the absorber plate of solar air heater on the Nusselt number, friction factor and thermo-hydraulic performance parameter. The liquid crystal thermography technique is employed to measure the distribution of Nusselt number over the absorber plate. Experimentations have been done for all configurations of varied roughness parameters termed as relative roughness pitch ranging from 7 to 11, relative roughness length in the range of 4.39–10.26 and Reynolds number varying from 3000 to 21,000. The Nusselt number and friction factor of the roughened plate are compared with the smooth absorber plate under similar flow conditions. The optimum roughness parameters based on thermo-hydraulic performance parameter index are as relative roughness pitch of 9 and relative roughness length of 6.15. The maximum thermo-hydraulic performance parameter index obtained is 2.59.

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Abbreviations

m :

Mass flow rate, kg/s

υ :

Kinematic viscosity, m2/s

μ :

Dynamic viscosity, Ns/m2

∆P d :

Pressure drop through the duct, Pa

∆P o :

Pressure difference across the orifice plate, Pa

ρ w :

Water density, kg/m3

ρ a :

Air density, kg/m3

h o :

Manometric height of fluid, m

α :

Angle of attack, degree

ρ :

Density of flowing air, kg/m3

T TLC :

Temperature of TLC sheets, K

T i :

Inlet temperature, K

T o :

Outlet temperature, K

T mfl :

Mean temperature of fluid, K

Q conv :

Heat transfer due to convection, W

W :

Width of duct, m

D :

Elevation of duct, m

D h :

Hydraulic diameter of duct, m

d o :

Throat diameter of orifice plate, m

d p :

Diameter of pipe, m

V air :

Velocity of flowing air, m/s

C p- air :

Specific heat capacity of air, J/kg K

e :

Height of rib, m

P :

Pitch of the rib, m

S :

Length of the rib / roughness length, m

d :

Staggered distance in between the rib, m

L :

Length between the two pressure taps, m

y :

Twist length of rib, (m)

y/e :

Relative twist length

Pr:

Prandtl number

Re:

Reynold number

h :

Convective heat transfer coefficient, W/m2K

Nu or Nur :

Nusselt number for roughened plate

f r :

Friction Factor for roughened plate

SAH:

Solar air heater

Nu s :

Nusselt number for smooth plate

f s :

Friction factor for smooth plate

THP, ξ:

Thermo-hydraulic performance

P/e :

Relative roughness pitch

d/e :

Relative staggered distance

S/e :

Relative roughness length

H:

Hue value

Sa :

Saturation value

I:

Intensity value

R, G, B :

Red, Green, Blue

LCT:

Liquid crystal thermography

TLC:

Thermo-chromic liquid crystal

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by DST- SERB, File. no: EEQ/2018/001012, dated: 26/02/2019.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, Durgapur, West Bengal, 713209, India

    Dheeraj Kumar & Apurba Layek

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  1. Dheeraj Kumar
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Correspondence to Dheeraj Kumar.

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Kumar, D., Layek, A. Heat Transfer Enhancement of Solar Air Heater Having Twisted V-Shaped Staggered Roughness Over Absorber Plate. Arab J Sci Eng 48, 3931–3946 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-022-07319-x

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