Heat Transfer Simulation in Flate-Plate Solar Collector

ABDUL SAMAD NASIR

Department of Mechanical Engineering, CEME, NUST, RAWALPINDI
ABSTRACT Heat transfer through convection and radiation is considered in the
flate-plate solar collector using finite element analysis in ANSYS Workbench
Simulation. Steady-state thermal analysis is performed and results are obtained.
Temperature profile is also plotted.
KEY WORDS: Steady-State, simulation, heat flux

INTRODUCTION
A typical flat plate solar collector is a metal box with a glass cover on top and a dark
coloured absorber plate(copper or aluminium) on the bottom. The sides and bottom of the
collector are usually insulated to minimise heat loss. Sunlight passes through the glass and
strikes the absorber plate, which heats up and thereby changing solar energy into heat energy
(though some part of the energy is lost by radiation and convection). The heat is transferred
to liquid passing through the pipes attached to the absorber plate.

APPLICATIONS
The main use of this technology is in residential buildings where the demand for hot water
has a large impact on energy bills. Commercial applications include car washes, military
laundry facilities and eating establishments. The technology can also be used for space
heating if the building located off-grid or if utility power is subject to frequent outages. Solar
collectors are cost-effective in sunny temperature areas.

MODELING
Using Solidworks software, flate-plate solar collector is modelled. The components parts are
drawn individually and then they are assembled in the assembly mode to give the final
product.
Appropriate materials are assigned to the part.
Physical Properties of Materials
Thermal Conductivity
(W/m C)
Copper
390
Glass
0.78
Polycarbonate High
0.19
Viscosity (Insulation)
Air
0.042
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Emmisivity
1
0.9
0.95

Exploded View of Assembly in SolidWorks

This assembly file is then exported to ANSYS Workbench Simulation via saving it as .stp
file.

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ANALYSIS
Now, the geometry is meshed in Ansys Workbench using the following settings:

Mesh Details

Meshed Geometry

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Now, new steady-state thermal analysis is run and thermal loads and boundary conditions
are applied to the model.

Thermal Loads
Now, the following thermal loads are applied to the different parts of the solar collector:
1) Constant Heat Flux of 1100W/m2 on the absorbed. This typically represents the
amount of incident sun rays onto the absorber.
2) A convective boundary condition on the glass plate with a heat transfer coefficient of
20W/m2 and an ambient temperature of 30 o C.
3) Radiation from the outside surface of glass to the space (ambient/space temperature
being 30 o C.
4) Adibiatic/ Perfectly Insulated wall condition on the insulation

Heat Flux on Absorber Plate

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All boundary Conditions

SOLUTION AND RESULTS

Now, the model is solved to obtain required results.
To obtain temperature profile, right-click solution and select temperature.

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Temperature Profile

CONCLUSION
The maximum temperature of the model is about 788 oC at the absorber plate. This is obvious
from the fact that the thermal conductivity of the absorber plate is very large compared to to
the other materials in the model.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wishes to thank his instructors Asstistant Porf. Mr. Raja Amer Azim and Lab
Engineer Mr. Usama , Department of Mechanical Engineering, for their personal assistance
and guidance throughout the course of the project without which it would have been
impossible to handle the complexities of this project and complete it in time.

REFERENCES
[1] Manoj Kumar Moningi, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Coondcution, Convection,
Radiation Processes of a Solar Collector Using FEA A Computational Model. Copyright ASME.
[2 ] http:// http://www.mece.ualberta.ca/tutorials/ansys/

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