ABSTRACT

Solar energy is one of the best alternatives to fulfill the increasing energy

demand and to overcome the drawbacks of conventional sources like environment

pollution. Flat plate solar collector is the device used to convert solar energy into heat

energy. Flat plate liquid solar collectors are the most commonly used collectors today

all over the world in commercial and domestic water heating applications. However

researches are going on to make this collector useful for other applications like water

distillation, heat pump, solar cooling system, effluent evaporation system, solar

oven etc. A number of models are developed by different researchers to evaluate the

thermal performance of the system.

Solar water heater plays a vital role in energy conservation. Because of its

efficiency is more than the electric conversion. It has become the well proven and

established appliance for providing hot water requirements in thousands of families in

India. Solar water heating is a very simple and efficient way to grab energy from the sun

and use it. In spite of its low efficiency it occupies a respectful place among the energy

users. Therefore any improvement in the construction and operation of solar water

heating system would definitely result in saving conventional fuel and cost. The objective

of this project is to create uniform velocity in solar water system by using variable

header.

In this project work phase - 1, the thermal performance of different types of

FPLSC are studied based on the technical papers collected. Also the experimental

performance of the existing FPLSC and FPLSCIFT are studied. The overall thermal

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performance and efficiency is higher in finned tube collector due to more temperature

diffusion. As per the design specification of existing solar water heating system the

identical models are developed.

The existing experimental observations are transferred in CFD simulation with the

following parameters…….. Analyze the outlet temperature of the FPLSC and FPLCIFT

to justify the increasing efficiency in solar water heater. Analytical reports of plain and

finned tube collectors through CFD software are recorded. Also the observed values are

compared with the experimental values.

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