Heat transfer and fluid flow analysis of a solar air heater using conical jet impingement with sine-wave corrugation on absorber plate

In the pursuit of renewable energy solutions, solar air heaters emerge as a promising technology to efficiently harness solar thermal energy for diverse applications such as space heating, agricultural drying and industrial process heating. However, the system's efficiency is often limited by the low heat transfer capability of air and the formation of laminar sub-layer over the absorber plate. This study addresses the issue by investigating the innovative use of conical jet impingement combined with sine wave corrugations on the absorber plate to enhance heat transfer in solar air heaters. The design parameters include wave amplitude ratio (0.079-0.314), throat jet diameter ratio (0.063-0.141), base jet diameter ratio (0.126-0.251), and Reynolds number (3200-19200) as the operational parameter. The computational fluid dynamics simulations are employed to solve the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations coupled with RNG k-epsilon turbulence model to assess the heat transfer and frictional characteristics, followed by experimental validation. The findings demonstrate a significant improvement in the system's heat transfer rate with the Nusselt number increase by a factor of 6.71 times compared to a smooth solar air heater, while the friction factor increase by 13.87 times. Furthermore, the highest thermo-hydraulic performance parameter is found to be 2.79 corresponding to Reynolds number of 3200, wave amplitude ratio of 0.079, throat and base jet diameter ratios of 0.126 and 0.220, respectively. The proposed geometry will be helpful for academic researchers and can be adopted by the industries for various applications.