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An experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study is carried out to investigate the impact of secondary flow strengthening the thermo-hydraulic performance of discrete multiple inclined baffles in a flat plate solar air heater (SAH) with semi-cylindrical sidewalls. Initially, for a fixed relative baffle height (R h = 0.1), the relative baffle pitch (R p) for continuous baffles is varied in the range of 0.6–1 to obtain the optimum baffle pitch for 6000 < Re < 14000. The impact of gaps at leading, trailing, and both leading and trailing apices are studied as three different configurations with the optimum R p. A maximum thermo-hydraulic performance of 2.69 is obtained for the gap at the trailing apex. The proposed design has a higher collector efficiency, 55–70%, compared to the ribbed rectangular SAH design exhibiting 30–55%. With lower exergy losses, the present SAH design has higher exergetic efficiency (1.5%–2.2%)than ribbed rectangular SAH (0.9%–1.7%) for the range of Re studied. Further, at low Re , the present SAH design has a higher coefficient of performance, indicating that it is cost-effective than ribbed rectangular SAH designs. • Experimental and computational study of the cost-effective solar air heater. • The impact of secondary flow strength on energy and exergetic efficiency is studied. • A maximum overall performance of 2.69 is obtained with gap at the trailing apex. • The present design exhibits higher collector and exergetic efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ribbed triangular duct is proposed for an indirect type solar dryer (ITSD). • The new design has 28.78% higher effectiveness compared to ribbed rectangular duct SAH. • It exhibits a 60% reduction in moisture ratio for food samples. • The average diffusivity coefficient of food samples is enhanced by 93%. • For ITSD, ribbed triangular duct SAH exhibits superior performance. Triangular duct cross-section is introduced for solar air heater (SAH) of an indirect type of solar dryer (ITSD). Using computational study, the thermo-hydraulic performance of triangular duct SAH with inclined ribs for varying rib inclination (30° < α < 75°) in the turbulent flow regime (5000 < Re < 17500) is studied. With the rib configuration providing maximum thermos-hydraulic performance, a ribbed rectangular duct SAH is designed, and the performance of the same is compared to the former for similar heat input. Results show that the ribbed (α = 45°) triangular duct has 17% higher effectiveness compared to the latter and 79% when compared to smooth SAH. Ribs in triangular duct solar air heater facilitate the increase in temperature even in the core of the duct, delivering the air at 6 K additional temperature relative to a rectangular ribbed duct for same heat input and flow Re. The superiority of the ribbed triangular SAH is further confirmed by studying the drying characteristics of Okra and two variants of banana, namely Nendran and Robusta for the maximum temperature obtained at the outlet of the respective SAH. Various thin layer drying models available in the literature were analyzed, and Modified page model represented the drying behaviour with R2 = 0.99. For ITSD, ribbed triangular duct SAH exhibits a maximum of 60.3% reduction in moisture ratio with a maximum increase of 97.9% increase in average values of diffusivity coefficient confirming that it is an energy-efficient design for an ITSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CFD and exergy analysis of a solar air heater with semi-cylindrical sidewalls is proposed. • Semi-cylindrical sidewalls enhance the strength of secondary flow in a ribbed SAH. • A significant enhancement in the effectiveness parameter of 2.27 is obtained. • Lower exergy destruction leads to an enhancement of 95% in exergetic efficiency. • The proposed design outperforms ribbed rectangular SAHs for a wide range of Reynolds number. Solar air heater (SAH) with semi-cylindrical sidewalls and W-baffles is analyzed for energy and exergy efficiency in the turbulent flow regime. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is carried out for a fixed baffle inclination (β) and varying the relative baffle height (R h = e/D) and relative baffle pitch (R p = P/D) in the range 0.046–0.115 and 0.46–1.15, respectively. For Reynolds number (5000 < Re < 17,500), the numerical methodology is substantiated using experimental and theoretical correlations obtained from the literature. Smaller vortices near the sharp corners are removed by rounding the sharp edges, allowing the flow of fluid from inside and horizontal walls of the duct towards the semi-cylindrical sidewalls. This increases the overall turbulent kinetic energy. A peak augmentation of 3.24 and 4.03 times is obtained for Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f), respectively, in contrast to conventional SAH. With a maximum enhancement of 127% in the effectiveness parameter relative to smooth SAH, this novel SAH design is evidently energy efficient. Based on CFD results, new correlations are developed in terms of R h and R p , which predicts the values with an absolute deviation of 4% and 7.4%, respectively. With lower exergy destruction, maximum enhancement in thermal and exergetic efficiency is obtained as 40.7% and 95.4%, respectively, for the proposed SAH relative to conventional SAH. Upon comparison with ribbed rectangular duct SAH configurations, the present design with semi-cylindrical side walls outperforms at all flow Re. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low heat transfer rate in a flat plate solar air heater (SAH) is due to the development of a laminar sub-layer near the heated absorber plate. Owing to this, the plate temperature rises substantially, instigating losses and thus reducing the efficiency. Extensive research has been carried out to mitigate this problem, of which passive technique emerged to be a promising solution. The passive method involves the application of fins/turbulators/ribs on the surface where the boundary layer develops so that it breaks the same. Various profiles and configurations of the ribs ranging from transverse to inclined and continuous to discrete have been presented concisely. Correlations on Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f) for different rib configurations have been summarized in order so that it can be accessed for future research. 3-D CFD analysis is carried out to gain insight into the flow pattern of various V-ribbed SAH, and with the help of streamlines and contours, the findings are established. Furthermore, various exergy destruction has been studied in detail for different V-rib configurations, namely– V-rib, multiple V-rib, and multiple V-rib with the gap, and analyzed in detail for prospective studies. Exergetic performance study of these rib configurations indicates that the multiple ribs and the multiple rib-gap combinations enhance exergetic efficiency (η ex) by 12% and 31.6%, respectively, in comparison to V-rib SAH. • A critical review of ribbed solar air heaters (SAHs) is presented. • 3-D CFD analysis is carried out to study the impact of the rib gap on performance. • Energy and exergy analysis of SAH with various V-rib configurations are presented. • Multiple V-ribs with gap shows 31.6% higher exergetic efficiency compared to V-rib. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and exergy analysis are conducted to investigate the impact of secondary flow produced by V-ribs on the overall performance of a triangular solar air heater (SAH) duct. For a fixed relative rib pitch (R p = 10) and relative rib height (R h = 0.05), the effect of rib inclination (α) is studied using CFD technique for varying Reynolds number (5000 ≤ Re ≤ 20000). Based on the CFD simulation results, empirical correlations capable of predicting Nu and f with an absolute variance of 8.7%, and 4.7%, respectively, are developed. Employing these correlations, exergetic performance analysis is carried out. Maximum effectiveness parameter (ε) of 2.01 is obtained for α = 45° at Re = 7500. The exergy analysis reveals that the entropy generated is lower for the ribbed triangular duct compared to the smooth duct with maximum enhancement in exergetic efficiency (η ex) as 23% for α = 45°. The study is extended for the rectangular duct to compare the performance with the ribbed triangular duct SAH (α = 45°). Results show that ribbed triangular duct SAH (α = 45°) is superior over various configurations of the ribbed rectangular duct SAH at higher mass flow rates. • CFD and exergy analysis of a triangular duct solar air heater with V-rib is proposed. • Secondary flow in triangular duct significantly enhances the Nusselt number. • A significant enhancement in the effectiveness parameter of 2.01 is obtained. • Empirical correlations are developed for Nusselt number and friction factor. • The proposed design exhibits superior performance at high mass flow rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]