Given rapid depletion of conventional energy sources and environmental degradation caused by their over exploitation, the renewable energy sources are believed to be the future. Technologies utilizing renewable energy sources differ significantly from one another, not only with regard to technical and economic aspects but also in relation to their reliability, maturity, and operational experience in utility scale conditions. Technologies used to harness solar energy have emerged as the most promising and mature since solar energy is abundant, freely available, and it has commercial potential too. This paper presents a review of advancements made in the field of solar thermal technology with a focus on techniques employed for its performance enhancement. It also covers the description of different types of solar collectors to facilitate the systematic understanding of solar thermal technology and the novel modifications realized in each category of solar collectors have been highlighted to promote the use of solar energy in routine activities. Performance enhancement techniques such as geometrical modifications on the absorber plate, use of solar selective coatings and nanofluids have been given a special attention.

/pdf/performance-enhancement-of-solar-collectors-a-review-4ctcmd0q76.pdf

Performance enhancement of solar collectors—A review

A CFD based thermo-hydraulic performance analysis of an artificially roughened solar air heater having equilateral triangular sectioned rib roughness on the absorber plate

The objective of this article is to present a detailed review of the literature that deals with the application of CFD in the design of solar air heater. Solar air heater is one of the basic equipment through which solar energy is converted into thermal energy. CFD is a simulation tool which uses powerful computer and applied mathematics, to model fluid flow situations for the prediction of heat, mass and momentum transfer and optimal design in various heat transfer and fluid flow processes. The quality of the solutions obtained from CFD simulations are largely within the acceptable range proving that CFD is an effective tool for predicting the behavior and performance of a solar air heater. One of the great challenges in the design of a solar air heater using CFD approach is the selection of appropriate turbulence model. The decision about a suitable turbulence model chosen in a CFD computation is not easy. In this article a CFD investigation is also carried out to select best turbulence model for the design of a solar air heater. A modern CFD code ANSYS FLUENT v12.1 is used to simulate fluid flow through a conventional solar air heater. A two-dimensional flow is assumed. The influences of the five different turbulence models on the quality of the obtained results are tested. It appears from the performed calculations that the Renormalization-group k–e model yields the best results for two-dimensional flow through conventional solar air heaters.

Heat transfer and fluid flow analysis of solar air heater: A review of CFD approach

Solar air heaters (SAHs) form the foremost component of solar energy utilization system. These air heaters absorb the irradiance and convert it into thermal energy at the absorbing surface and then transfer this energy to a fluid flowing through the collector. SAHs are inexpensive and most used collection devices because of their inherent simplicity. SAHs are found in several solar energy applications, especially for space heating, timber seasoning and agriculture drying. It has been observed by studying the previous literature that all the elements of a solar air heater such as; an absorber tray, the ducts, glazing, insulation, extended surfaces, as well as the tilt angle, have a significant effect on the thermal performance of the system. This review article focus on the developments that has followed round the globe in various aspects of solar air heating systems since 1877 up to now, with a glimpse of some novel patents of SAHs. The various methods that are used to improve the thermal performance of SAHs such as; optimizing the dimensions of the air heater construction elements, use of extended surfaces with different shapes and dimensions, use of sensible or latent storage media, use of concentrators to augment the available solar radiation, integrating photovoltaic elements with the heaters, etc, are also reported. Besides this, some benefits by using the SAHs has been discussed.

A thermodynamic review of solar air heaters

A numerical investigation of square sectioned transverse rib roughened solar air heater

CFD based performance analysis of a solar air heater duct provided with artificial roughness

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CFD based performance analysis of a solar air heater duct provided with artificial roughness