IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v134y2019icp1344-1361.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental investigation and numerical modelling on the performance assessments of evacuated U – Tube solar collector systems

Author

Listed:
  • Naik, B. Kiran
  • Bhowmik, Mrinal
  • Muthukumar, P.

Abstract

In this paper, an experimental investigation for predicting the performance of evacuated U – tube solar collector is presented. A simplified numerical model is developed for predicting the working fluid outlet temperature of a single evacuated U – tube solar collector and also for the whole solar collector system. The model predictions are compared with the experimental data and noticed a good agreement exists between them. It is observed from the experimental and numerical analyses that evacuated U – tube solar collector manifolds connected in series provides higher temperature rise of working fluid at higher solar intensities and lower working fluid inlet temperatures and flow rates. The working fluid transition time in an evacuated U – tube solar collector is defined for analysing the time taken by a working fluid to attain a steady state condition. Based on experimental analysis, three empirical correlations for predicting working fluid transition time, energy efficiency and exergy efficiency are developed as the function of operating parameters and ambient temperature. Data predicted from these correlations match with the experimental data with maximum errors of ±12.7%, ±6.9% and ±7.8% for working fluid transition time, energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of an evacuated U – tube solar collector, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Naik, B. Kiran & Bhowmik, Mrinal & Muthukumar, P., 2019. "Experimental investigation and numerical modelling on the performance assessments of evacuated U – Tube solar collector systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 1344-1361.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:134:y:2019:i:c:p:1344-1361
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.09.066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148118311364
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2018.09.066?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jack P. C. Kleijnen, 2015. "Response Surface Methodology," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Michael C Fu (ed.), Handbook of Simulation Optimization, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 81-104, Springer.
    2. Kim, Hyeongmin & Ham, Jeonggyun & Park, Chasik & Cho, Honghyun, 2016. "Theoretical investigation of the efficiency of a U-tube solar collector using various nanofluids," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 497-507.
    3. Kaya, Hüseyin & Arslan, Kamil & Eltugral, Nurettin, 2018. "Experimental investigation of thermal performance of an evacuated U-Tube solar collector with ZnO/Etylene glycol-pure water nanofluids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 329-338.
    4. Kim, Hyeongmin & Kim, Jinhyun & Cho, Honghyun, 2017. "Experimental study on performance improvement of U-tube solar collector depending on nanoparticle size and concentration of Al2O3 nanofluid," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 1304-1312.
    5. Lamnatou, Chr. & Papanicolaou, E. & Belessiotis, V. & Kyriakis, N., 2012. "Experimental investigation and thermodynamic performance analysis of a solar dryer using an evacuated-tube air collector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 232-243.
    6. Nkwetta, Dan Nchelatebe & Smyth, Mervyn, 2012. "Performance analysis and comparison of concentrated evacuated tube heat pipe solar collectors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 22-32.
    7. Gautam, Abhishek & Chamoli, Sunil & Kumar, Alok & Singh, Satyendra, 2017. "A review on technical improvements, economic feasibility and world scenario of solar water heating system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 541-562.
    8. Shah, L. J. & Furbo, S., 2004. "Vertical evacuated tubular-collectors utilizing solar radiation from all directions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(4), pages 371-395, August.
    9. Tong, Yijie & Kim, Jinhyun & Cho, Honghyun, 2015. "Effects of thermal performance of enclosed-type evacuated U-tube solar collector with multi-walled carbon nanotube/water nanofluid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 463-473.
    10. Chen, Guansheng & Liu, Chongchong & Li, Nanshuo & Li, Feng, 2017. "A study on heat absorbing and vapor generating characteristics of H2O/LiBr mixture in an evacuated tube," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 294-299.
    11. Bahrehmand, D. & Ameri, M., 2015. "Energy and exergy analysis of different solar air collector systems with natural convection," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 357-368.
    12. Sabiha, M.A. & Saidur, R. & Mekhilef, Saad & Mahian, Omid, 2015. "Progress and latest developments of evacuated tube solar collectors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1038-1054.
    13. Bahrehmand, D. & Ameri, M. & Gholampour, M., 2015. "Energy and exergy analysis of different solar air collector systems with forced convection," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1119-1130.
    14. Kalogirou, Soteris A. & Karellas, Sotirios & Badescu, Viorel & Braimakis, Konstantinos, 2016. "Exergy analysis on solar thermal systems: A better understanding of their sustainability," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1328-1333.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chopra, K. & Tyagi, V.V. & Pandey, A.K. & Sharma, Ravi Kumar & Sari, Ahmet, 2020. "PCM integrated glass in glass tube solar collector for low and medium temperature applications: Thermodynamic & techno-economic approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    2. Arun Uniyal & Yogesh K. Prajapati & Lalit Ranakoti & Prabhakar Bhandari & Tej Singh & Brijesh Gangil & Shubham Sharma & Viyat Varun Upadhyay & Sayed M. Eldin, 2022. "Recent Advancements in Evacuated Tube Solar Water Heaters: A Critical Review of the Integration of Phase Change Materials and Nanofluids with ETCs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-25, November.
    3. Nokhosteen, Arman & Sobhansarbandi, Sarvenaz, 2021. "Numerical modeling and experimental cross-validation of a solar thermal collector through an innovative hybrid CFD model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 918-928.
    4. Zhang, Yiwei & Liu, Huizhen & Zhou, Xingfei & Hu, Ziyang & Wang, Han & Kuang, Min & Li, Jianming & Zhang, Houcheng, 2024. "A novel photo-thermal-electric hybrid system comprising evacuated U-tube solar collector and inhomogeneous thermoelectric generator toward efficient and stable operation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    5. Bhowmik, Mrinal & Muthukumar, P. & Anandalakshmi, R., 2019. "Experimental based multilayer perceptron approach for prediction of evacuated solar collector performance in humid subtropical regions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1566-1580.
    6. Essa, Mohamed A. & Asal, Manar & Saleh, Mohamed A. & Shaltout, R.E., 2021. "A comparative study of the performance of a novel helical direct flow U-Tube evacuated tube collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 2068-2080.
    7. Saini, Prashant & Singh, Jeeoot & Sarkar, Jahar, 2021. "Novel combined desalination, heating and power system: Energy, exergy, economic and environmental assessments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    8. Li, Qiong & Gao, Wenfeng & Lin, Wenxian & Liu, Tao & Zhang, Yougang & Ding, Xiang & Huang, Xiaoqiao & Liu, Wuming, 2020. "Experiment and simulation study on convective heat transfer of all-glass evacuated tube solar collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1129-1139.
    9. Sarafraz, M.M. & Safaei, M.R., 2019. "Diurnal thermal evaluation of an evacuated tube solar collector (ETSC) charged with graphene nanoplatelets-methanol nano-suspension," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 364-372.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chopra, K. & Tyagi, V.V. & Pandey, A.K. & Sari, Ahmet, 2018. "Global advancement on experimental and thermal analysis of evacuated tube collector with and without heat pipe systems and possible applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 351-389.
    2. Kaya, Hüseyin & Alkasem, Mohanad & Arslan, Kamil, 2020. "Effect of nanoparticle shape of Al2O3/Pure Water nanofluid on evacuated U-Tube solar collector efficiency," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 267-284.
    3. Shafieian, Abdellah & Khiadani, Mehdi & Nosrati, Ataollah, 2018. "A review of latest developments, progress, and applications of heat pipe solar collectors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 273-304.
    4. Tembhare, Saurabh P. & Barai, Divya P. & Bhanvase, Bharat A., 2022. "Performance evaluation of nanofluids in solar thermal and solar photovoltaic systems: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    5. Ataee, Sadegh & Ameri, Mehran & Askari, Ighball Baniasad & Keshtegar, Behrooz, 2024. "Evaluation and intelligent forecasting of energy and exergy efficiencies of a nanofluid-based filled-type U-pipe solar ETC using three machine learning approaches," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    6. Gong, Jing-hu & Zhang, Zhi-peng & Sun, Zhi-hao & Wang, Yu-guang & Wang, Jun & Lund, Peter D., 2023. "Thermal and thermo-mechanical analysis of a novel pass-through all-glass evacuated collector tube by combining experiment with numerical simulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    7. Sharafeldin, M.A. & Gróf, Gyula, 2019. "Efficiency of evacuated tube solar collector using WO3/Water nanofluid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 453-460.
    8. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2020. "Novel solar collector: Evaluating the impact of nanoparticles added to the collector’s working fluid, heat transfer fluid temperature and flow rate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 1165-1173.
    9. Sabiha, M.A. & Saidur, R. & Mekhilef, Saad & Mahian, Omid, 2015. "Progress and latest developments of evacuated tube solar collectors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1038-1054.
    10. Huang, Xiaona & Wang, Qiliang & Yang, Honglun & Zhong, Shuai & Jiao, Dongsheng & Zhang, Kaili & Li, Mujun & Pei, Gang, 2019. "Theoretical and experimental studies of impacts of heat shields on heat pipe evacuated tube solar collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 999-1009.
    11. Kareem, M.W. & Habib, Khairul & Sopian, K. & Ruslan, M.H., 2017. "Multi-pass solar air heating collector system for drying of screw-pine leaf (Pandanus tectorius)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 413-424.
    12. Yıldırım, Erdal & Yurddaş, Ali, 2021. "Assessments of thermal performance of hybrid and mono nanofluid U-tube solar collector system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 1079-1096.
    13. Gholipour, Shayan & Afrand, Masoud & Kalbasi, Rasool, 2020. "Improving the efficiency of vacuum tube collectors using new absorbent tubes arrangement: Introducing helical coil and spiral tube adsorbent tubes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 772-781.
    14. Mahbubul, I.M. & Khan, Mohammed Mumtaz A. & Ibrahim, Nasiru I. & Ali, Hafiz Muhammad & Al-Sulaiman, Fahad A. & Saidur, R., 2018. "Carbon nanotube nanofluid in enhancing the efficiency of evacuated tube solar collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 36-44.
    15. Mortazavi, Arsham & Ameri, Mehran, 2018. "Conventional and advanced exergy analysis of solar flat plate air collectors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 277-288.
    16. Wang, Chengbing & Li, Wei & Li, Zhengtong & Fang, Baizeng, 2020. "Solar thermal harvesting based on self-doped nanocermet: Structural merits, design strategies and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    17. Vishal Dabra & Avadhesh Yadav, 2020. "Performance analysis and comparison of glazed and unglazed solar air collector," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 863-881, February.
    18. Kaya, Hüseyin & Arslan, Kamil & Eltugral, Nurettin, 2018. "Experimental investigation of thermal performance of an evacuated U-Tube solar collector with ZnO/Etylene glycol-pure water nanofluids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 329-338.
    19. Baibhaw Kumar & Gábor Szepesi & Zoltán Szamosi & Gyula Krámer, 2023. "Analysis of a Combined Solar Drying System for Wood-Chips, Sawdust, and Pellets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, January.
    20. Kalogirou, Soteris A. & Karellas, Sotirios & Badescu, Viorel & Braimakis, Konstantinos, 2016. "Exergy analysis on solar thermal systems: A better understanding of their sustainability," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1328-1333.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:134:y:2019:i:c:p:1344-1361. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.