Thermal Analysis of Solar Collector with Modified Absorber Tube

Abstract

This study forces on conducting a thermal analysis of a parabolic trough solar collector with wire coil and twisted tape inserts. Specifically, the heat transfer, friction factor, and thermal performance characteristics of the collector equipped with twisted tape (TT) and wire coil inserts, with varying twist ratios and wire coil pitch ratios, are investigated. The analysis is carried out under turbulent flow conditions, using water as the test fluid and varying the volume flow rate between 1 and 10 liters per minute. Thermal equations and correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor are utilized to perform the analysis. The results indicate that the twisted tape with a twist ratio of 1 exhibit superior Nusselt enhancement but also results in higher pressure drop. The thickness of the tape also has a notable influence on thermal performance. Similarly, the wire coil demonstrates better heat transfer enhancement compared to a smooth tube. The objective of this paper is to investigate the thermal performance of the parabolic trough solar collector and make a comprehensive comparison among a smooth tube, wire coil, and twisted tape in terms of thermal enhancement. Among the three options, the twisted tape proves to be the most effective, achieving a higher heat transfer coefficient under the same parametric conditions. The dimensionless parameters for comparison are for the twisted tape,-Nu / Nup ranges from 4 to 5, while f / fp ranges from 3.2 to 3.8 and for the wire coil, Nu / Nup falls between 3 and 4, while f / fp ranges from 1.1 to 1.8.

Cite as:

Pooja Ghodasara, Nirav Meghpara, & Sanket Pandya. (2024). Thermal Analysis of Solar Collector with Modified Absorber Tube. Research and Applications of Thermal Engineering, 7(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10965923