Abstract—Solar flat plate collectors are commonly used for domestic and industrial purposes and have the largest commercial application amongst the various solar collectors. This is mainly due to simple design as well as low maintenance cost. An attempt is being made in this paper to analyze the solar collector using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) so as to simulate the solar collector for better understanding of the heat transfer capabilities of the collector. In the present work, Fluid flow and heat transfer in the collector panel are studied by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The conjugate heat transfer phenomenon between collector and water is modeled using FLUENT CFD software. The solar radiation heat transfer is not modeled; however radiation effects are taken in to consideration while calculating the heat flux boundary conditions for the collector area. The geometric model and fluid domain for CFD analysis is generated using ANSYS Design Modeler software, Grid generation is accomplished by ANSYS Meshing Software. The numerical results obtained using the experimentally measured temperatures are compared to the temperatures determined by the CFD model and found to have a good similarity between the measured and calculated results.

Index Terms—Conjugate heat transfer, Solar radiation simulation, Solar collector, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Fluent CFD software, ANSYS design modeler software

Cite: Basavanna S and K S Shashishekar, "CFD Analysis of Triangular Absorber Tube of a Solar Flat Plate Collector," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol.2, No. 1, pp. 19-24, January 2013.