Numeric simulation and experimental validation for a Novel Trapezoidal Solar Collector

SALVO, AIEN WENI; DELLICOMPAGNI, PABLO; FRANCO, JUDITH; SARMIENTO, NILSA

ACI Avances en Ciencias e Ingenierías

USFQ PRESS

Lugar: Quito; Año: 2024 vol. 16 p. 1 - 25

1390-5384

In a global warming context, the diversification of the energy matrix is essential formitigation. Solar devices have begun to play an important role in this sense, flat-platesolar collectors being the most practical device. On the other hand, numerical modelingand experimental validation are important tools for improving the performance ofthese technologies. In this work, a trapezoidal solar air heating collector for food dryingprocesses was modeled by using the Simusol open-access software, and experimentalvalidation was performed. This particular shape presents a geometrical novelty since noother similar designs were found in the available literature, even in such an applicationas food drying. Key parameters, such as air temperature, global efficiency, air mass flow,global heat loss coefficient, and useful heat, are determined and discussed. The proposedair collector numerically behaves as expected. The output air temperature reachesabout 100 °C, while the peak heat gain is about 900 W, which makes the air heatingcollector suitable for drying applications. Due to natural convection being the mainheat transferring mechanism, low air mass flows were obtained. For the case analyzedhere, this last parameter ranges from 0.012–0.016 kg/s for the optimal thermal behavior.The numerical model developed is a reliable tool for designing thermal technologieswithout extra capital cost; the increase of collecting area leads to a considerable increasein the thermal power output and improves the psychrometric conditions of heated air.