Numerical Investigation Thermal Performance of Solar Air Heater Using Different Angle V-Grooved of Corrugated Absorber Plate

Solar energy, a renewable resource, can be harnessed instead of fossil fuels to generate power and heat. One effective method for converting solar energy into heat is through a solar air heating (SAH) system. The theoretical investigation focused on the thermal performance of various V-groove angles on a corrugated absorber plate. The researchers maintained the exterior dimensions and constraints of the absorber plate while increasing its surface area by using a corrugated absorber surface. For the simulation, three different V-groove angles were employed: 45°, 30°, and 15°. The temperature and air flow rate into the system had been set at 30°C and 0.15 m/s, respectively four various solar radiation intensities have been examined for each of the variables. The governing equations associated with the standard design, including the turbulent kinetic energy (k) and dissipation rates model (ε), were solved using the ANSYS 2020 R2 program. The results indicated that Utilizing corrugated absorber plates resulted in a rise in the Nusselt number., surpassing the performance of flat plate absorbers. Among the different configurations, the V-grooved 45° plate demonstrated the best results under the same conditions. Furthermore, it was observed that the efficiency values improved with increasing solar irradiance. The investigation also showed that the employing of V-grooved 45°, V-grooved 30°, and V-grooved 15° absorbers led to efficiency improvements of about 20.8%, 26.3%, and 36.14%, respectively, when compared to a flat plate at a solar irradiation of 900 W/m².