NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF EFFECT OF IMPINGING JET ON COOLING OF SOLAR AIR HEATER WITH LONGITUDINAL FINS

In this study, the effect of impinging jet cooling on solar air heater with and without longitudinal fins has been numerically investigated. The absorber plate surface of the solar air heater is modeled as a constant heat flux condition. Numerical analyses have been conducted on turbulent flow conditions (10,000 <= Re <= 50,000). The jet flow velocity has been taken constant. The effect of fin height and mass flow rate of working fluid on the thermal efficiency of the solar air heater has been analyzed in detail. Variation of the convection heat transfer coefficient as a function of Reynolds number has also been determined for finned and unfinned conditions. Temperature and local Nusselt number distributions on the absorber plate have been defined as contour graphs. It is found that the Nusselt number and thermal efficiency enhance by adding impingement jets and increasing the Reynolds number. Also, it is obtained from numerical analyses that the convection heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing the fins height. Finally, it is revealed that using impinging jets and fins enhances the efficiency and convection heat transfer up to 23.35% and 15%, respectively.