EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF USING SEMICIRCULAR ROTATING TURBULATORS FOR HEAT TRANSFER AUGMENTATION IN THE PARABOLIC TROUGH SOLAR COLLECTOR

Solar energy, which has the highest potential among renewable energy sources, can be evaluated as two dOoifferent means: thermal and electrical. In this study, experimental and numerical analyses were carried out in order to maintain the efficiency of parabolic trough solar collectors (PTC), which has an important place among the thermal applications of solar energy, at high levels. In the analyses, under average solar radiation in different geographical regions, an increase in the efficiency through the use of semicircular rotating (SCR) turbulators, having a unique design, in the absorber tube has been proven. The performances of SCR-50, SCR-100, and SCR-150 turbulators were investigated at the Reynolds number of 500, 1500, 2500, and 3500 and irradiation of 700 W/m(2), 800 W/m(2), 900 W/m(2), and 1000 W/m(2). According to the results, the highest thermal efficiency was calculated as 78.2% with SCR-50 turbulator at the Reynolds number equal to 3500 and irradiation of 1000 W/m(2). In the study, the exergy efficiency and the Nusselt number, under the same conditions, were calculated as 3.42% and 15.1, respectively.

Journal

HEAT TRANSFER RESEARCH

Year

2022

Volume

53

Issue

15

Pages

1-16

ISSN

1064-2285

eISSN

2162-6561

DOI

10.1615/HeatTransRes.2022043218

WoS UID

WOS:000862757800001