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Energy and exergy analysis of corrugated plate solar collector by forced convection using two different absorber plate material

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Abstract

In this paper, the experimental analysis of two types of corrugated plate solar collector (CPSC) using water as working fluid has been done. Two similar designs and dimensions of CPSC but different materials of absorber plates have been investigated, the collector1 is copper and collector 2 is aluminium. The performance of energy, exergy and total heat loss coefficient of CPSC were analysed and compared. Thermal performance of CPSC depends on many parameters such as outlet collector temperature, absorber plate temperature, temperature difference, inlet collector temperature, atmospheric temperature, mass flow rate (MFR), solar radiation, wind speed and absorber plate material. The three MFR values of 0.0167 kg/s, 0.025 kg/s and 0.033 kg/s were considered in this experimental setup. The thermal performances of these two types of solar collectors were investigated. Also, a comparison between the performance of these two types of solar collector at various MFR was done. Experimental results show that the use of copper-based CPSC could improve the thermal efficiency compared to the use of aluminium based CPSC. The maximum energy and exergy of copper and aluminium based CPSC was found at MFR 0.033 kg/s. Results show that as the water MFR is increased from 0.0167 kg/s to 0.033 kg/s, the thermal efficiency of collector made of copper and aluminium increases.

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Abbreviations

T a :

Ambient temperature, oC

T i :

Inlet water temperature, oC

T o :

Outlet water temperature, oC

T p :

Absorber plate temperature, oC

I :

Solar radiation, w/m2

A c :

Collector area mm2

ρ :

Density, kg/m3

m :

Mass flow rate, kg/s

h b :

Convective heat transfer coefficient of the bottom surface, W.m−2 k−1

v w :

Wind speed, m/s

Q u :

Heat energy absorbed by the water, kJ

C p :

Specific heat of water, kJ/kg.K

η :

Energy Efficiency of collector, %

E :

Exergy Efficiency of collector, %

σ:

Stefan Boltzmann constant, W/(m2 *k4)

β:

Collector tilt angle

ϵ p :

Absorber plate emissivity

ϵ g :

Transparent glass cover emissivity

Ki :

Thermal Conductivity of the insulation material, W/(mk)

δ b :

Insulation thickness, m

h:

Specific energy of flow (summation of specific enthalpy, kinetic and potential energy)

Uy :

Total uncertainty of calculated parameters

Uxi :

Root sum square of scatter and measuring uncertainty of each measured parameter

R2 :

Regression coefficient

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology Patna, Patna, India

    Piyush Kumar Pathak, Prakash Chandra & Gaurav Raj

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  1. Piyush Kumar Pathak
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  2. Prakash Chandra
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  3. Gaurav Raj
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Correspondence to Piyush Kumar Pathak.

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Pathak, P.K., Chandra, P. & Raj, G. Energy and exergy analysis of corrugated plate solar collector by forced convection using two different absorber plate material. Heat Mass Transfer 57, 565–581 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02979-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02979-7

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