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Experimental studies on booster lens thermosyphon solar water heating system

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Abstract

Experimental studies on real conventional and modified thermosyphon (booster lens) solar flat plate collectors have been carried out from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm in open atmosphere. The mass flow rate, instantaneous heat gain and efficiency increase gradually from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm and decreases from 1.30 pm to 4.00 pm. The average mass flow rate obtained by booster lens collector is compared to conventional and is 18.1%. The highest heat gain noticed at 1.30 pm is 375.51 J s−1 and 439.97 J s−1 for real conventional and modified thermosyphon collector, respectively. Experimental outcome exposed that the average heat intensification and thermal performance for modified thermosyphon collector have 24.25% and 25.1% higher than the real conventional one. The experimental nusselt number and friction factor compared with Sieder-Tate and fanning equation and deviation falls with in 7.41% and 14% respectively.

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Abbreviations

A c :

Collector aperture area (m2)

A i :

Inside surface area of the riser tube (m2)

A o :

Outside surface area of the riser tube (m2)

D i :

Inside diameter of riser tube (m)

D o :

Outside diameter of riser tube (m)

f t :

Friction factor

H t :

Total solar radiation (W m−2)

h i :

Average convective heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 oC−1)

L :

Length of the riser tube (m)

m :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

Nu:

Nusselt number

Q :

Heat transfer rate (W)

Re:

Reynolds number

T a :

Ambient temperature (oC)

T m :

Bulk mean temperature of fluid in the riser tube (oC)

T in :

Average inlet temperature of water (oC)

T out :

Average outlet temperature of water (oC)

T wo :

Average outside wall surface temperature of riser tube (oC)

ΔP :

Pressure drop (N m−2)

η :

Collector efficiency

BLC:

Booster lens collector

CON:

Conventional collector

PCM:

Phase change material

CPC:

Compound parabolic collector

ρ :

Density of water (kg m−3)

μ :

Dynamic viscosity of water at bulk mean temperature (Ns m−2)

μ w :

Dynamic viscosity at wall temperature (Ns m−2)

ΔP :

Pressure drop of water (N m−2)

τα :

Transmittance–absorptance product (dimensionless)

η :

Collector efficiency (%)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Star Lion College of Engineering and Technology, Thanjavur, 614 206, India

    S. Jaisankar

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College of Engineering- Anna University, BIT Campus, Trichy, 620 024, India

    T. SenthilKumar & R. Karthik

  3. Department of Petrochemical Engineering, University College of Engineering- Anna University, BIT Campus, Trichy, 620 024, India

    M. Arulmozhi

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  1. S. Jaisankar
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  2. T. SenthilKumar
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  3. M. Arulmozhi
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  4. R. Karthik
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Contributions

SJ conducts the experimentation and analyze the literature and draft the article. TS conducts the experimentation and carried out the computation. MA conduct the experimentation and draw graphs and carried out the instrumental error. RK helps to formulate the paper and include the nomenclature.

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Correspondence to S. Jaisankar.

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Jaisankar, S., SenthilKumar, T., Arulmozhi, M. et al. Experimental studies on booster lens thermosyphon solar water heating system. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 11289–11299 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-022-11260-4

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