Effect of solar heat flux and thermal loading on the flow distribution within the riser pipes of a closed-loop solar thermo-syphon hot water system.

Freegah, Basim; Asim, Taimoor; Mishra, Rakesh

Abstract

Solar energy is one of the main sources of renewable energy that is abundantly available throughout the world. Solar energy can be used for useful purposes through a number of mechanical artefacts. One such artefact is known as Thermo-syphon, which typically contains water as its working fluid. One of the major applications of Thermo-syphon is within the residential and industrial units, where a constant supply of hot water is required. The use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based solvers has recently been proven capable of predicting the flow behaviour within thermo-syphons with reasonable accuracy. Hence, the present study focuses on using a commercial CFD based solver to predict the flow behaviour within the riser pipes of a thermo-syphon with varying solar heat flux and thermal loading conditions. In order to qualitatively and quantitatively analyse the flow structure within the riser pipes of the thermo-syphon, velocity magnitude and static temperature distributions within these pipes is analysed in detail. The results depict that the solar heat flux has a significant impact on the velocity magnitude and static temperature profiles within the riser pipes. Furthermore, it has been observed that the thermal loading has negligible effects on the velocity magnitude and static temperature profiles within the riser pipes. The data has also been used to develop novel design correlations.

Citation

FREEGAH, B., ASIM, T. and MISHRA, R. 2015. Effect of solar heat flux and thermal loading on the flow distribution within the riser pipes of a closed-loop solar thermo-syphon hot water system. In Proceedings of 28th Condition monitoring and diagnostic engineering management international congress 2015 (COMADEM 2015), co-located with 10th regional Congress on non-destructive and structural testing (X CORENDE), 1-4 December 2015, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Birmingham: COMADEM International, pages 398-405.

• Conference Name: 28th Condition monitoring and diagnostic engineering management international congress 2015 (COMADEM 2015), co-located with 10th regional Congress on non-destructive and structural testing (X CORENDE)
• Conference Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Start Date: Dec 1, 2015
• End Date: Dec 4, 2015
• Acceptance Date: Dec 4, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Dec 4, 2015
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jul 2, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 2, 2021
• Publisher: COMADEM International
• Book Title: Proceedings of 28th Condition monitoring and diagnostic engineering management international congress 2015 (COMADEM 2015), co-located with 10th regional Congress on non-destructive and structural testing (X CORENDE)
• ISBN: 9781510868427
• Keywords: Velocity magnitude; Static temperature; Computation fluid dynamics (CFD); Closed-loop thermo-syphon; Solar energy
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/872566