Experimental and numerical investigation on the performance characteristics of flat coil tube water solar collector

الملخص EN

Experimental and numerical investigation of using flat coiled tube as a receiver in a tilted Flat Coil Solar Collector (FCSC) for heating water is presented in the present work.

The test rig is designed, constructed, and tested with stationary north-south direction tracking system.

All experimental tests are done outdoor conditions at AL-Mussaib-Babylon Iraq (Latitude of 32.5° North and Longitude of 44.3° East) at a tilt angle of 32.5° with horizontal for a period of March and April 2015.

Variable water volume flow rates are used through the receiver for 11 clear and partly cloudy days on March 2015, then replication on April 2015.

The numerical investigation involves a numerical solution of two models for flat coiled tube by a commercial package ANSYS FLUENT 15.0.

Boundary conditions of each model that solved are taken from experimental tests.

The experimental results gained of experimental tests indicated that a maximum temperatures difference between outlet and inlet of receiver and the maximum useful heat gain are 4º C, 1300 W, respectively.

The maximum water temperature at receiver outlet is 72 ºC.

It showed that the maximum temperature in the storage tank is 71 ºC for clear day.

The maximum collector efficiency is 81.6 %.

The numerical results obtained by solution of models obtainable the static temperature and pressure contours, also it showed the temperature difference between outlet and inlet of receiver and the collector thermal efficiency are agreement with experimental results.

The present experimental results compared with available previous studies for flat plate solar collector and gave best results for the present work; represented by 12.3 % enchainment in the storage water temperature.