A

Project Report

On

Thermal Analysis of Solar Air Heater using CFD as a tool

Submitted by

Chandan Kumar Chhangani

(12EMTME027)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Maharishi Arvind
Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jaipur
Sector-7, Madhyam Marg, Mansarovar, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India-302020

Rajasthan Technical University, Kota

May 2016
Thermal Analysis of Solar Air Heater using CFD as a tool
A
Project Report
Submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the Degree of
Bachelor of Technology
In

Department Mechanical Engineering

Supervisor Submitted By:

Mr. Ankur Singh Chandan Kumar Chhangani
Asst. Professor (12EMTME027)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Maharishi Arvind
Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jaipur
Sector-7, Madhyam Marg, Mansarovar, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India-302020

Rajasthan Technical University, Kota

March 2016
 Candidate’s Declaration
I hereby declare that the work, which is being presented in the Major Project entitled
“Thermal Analysis of Solar Air Heater using CFD as a tool” in partial fulfilment for the
award of Degree of “Bachelor of Technology” in Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and
submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maharishi Arvind institute of
Engineering & Technology, Rajasthan Technical University is a record of my own
investigations carried under the Guidance of Mr. Ankur Singh., Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Maharishi Arvind institute of Engineering & Technology .

I have not submitted the matter presented in this report anywhere for the award of any other
Degree.

(Chandan kumar chhangani)

Roll No.: 12EMTME027

Maharishi Arvind institute of Engineering & Technology,

Counter Signed by
Supervisor
Ankur Singh
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Chandan Kumar Chhangani of VIII Semester, B.Tech (Mechanical
Engineering) 2015-16, has presented a major project titled “Thermal Analysis of Solar Air
Heater using CFD as a tool” in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree of Bachelor of
Technology under Rajasthan Technical University, Kota.

Date:

Ankur Singh Ankur Singh R.P. Choudhary

Project Coordinator Supervisor H.O.D
 ACKNOWLEDGMENET

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all those people who have been directly and
indirectly with me during the competition of this project.
I pay thank to Ankur Singh who has given guidance and a light to me during this major
project. His versatile knowledge about “Thermal Analysis of Solar Air Heater using CFD as
a tool” has eased me in the critical times during the span of this major project.
I acknowledge here out debt to those who contributed significantly to one or more steps. I
take full responsibility for any remaining sins of omission and commission.

Chandan Kumar Chhangani

B.Tech IV Year
(Mechanical Engineering)
 ABSTRACT
Solar air heating is a solar thermal technology in which the energy from the sun is captured
by an absorbing medium and used to heat air. Solar air heater including a housing having a
transparent front wall and an inlet and outlet for establishing a flow path for a gas such as
air to be heated. An attempt has been made to carry out CFD based analysis using FLUENT
to fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of solar air heater. 3D model of the Solar Air
heater involving air inlet, absorber plate, glass, modeled by ANSYS Workbench and the
unstructured grid was created in ANSYS. The results were obtained by using ANSYS
FLUENT software. This work is done by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool with
respect to flow and temperature distribution inside the solar air heater.
 CONTENTS
Certificate ..................................................................................................................................i
Acknowledgement.................................................................................................................... ii
Abstract.................................................................................................................................... iii
List of Figures …......................................................................................................................
List of Tables ….......................................................................................................................
Chapter 1: Introduction …........................................................................................................1
1.1 History of Solar heating ….................................................................................................1
1.2 Solar energy……………………………………………………………………………....2
1.3 Solar air heater……………………………………………………………………………5
1.4 Types of solar air heater…………………………………………………….………...….7
1.5 Thermal conditions used for solar air heater……………………………….………….....8
1.6 Work Objectives…………………………………………………………….…………....9
Chapter 2: Literature review………………………………………………………………....10
Chapter 3: Research methodology…………………………………………………………...18
Chapter 4: Materials and methodology……………………………………………………....22
4.1 Materials used for thermal analysis……………………………………………………...22
4.2 Modeling and designing tool…………………………………………………………….25
4.3 Discretization method……………………………………………………….…………...28
4.4 Thermal analysis tool……………………………………………………….…………....32
4.5 Components of solar air heater……………………………………………………….….35
Chapter 5: Analysis of solar air heater……………………………………………….……...36
5.1 Analysis tools…………………………………………………………………….……...36
5.2 Environmental conditions………………………………………………………………..44
5.3 Boundary conditions……………………………………………………………………..45
Chapter 6: Result…………………………………………………………………………….46
Chapter 7: Applications……………………………………………………………………...47
Chapter 8: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….49
Chapter 9: Future scope……………………………………………………………………...50
 LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1.1 Grid tied solar electric syatem………......................................................................................3

Fig. 1.2 Solar air heating…....................................................................................................................4

Fig. 1.3 Solar air heater ….....................................................................................................................6

Fig. 1.4 Transpired solar collector…………………………………………………………………….7

Fig. 3.1 Types of analysis……………………………………………………………………………..21

Fig. 4.1 Aluminum…………………………………………………………………………………….23

Fig. 4.2 Glass………………………………………………………………………………………….24

Fig. 4.3 Product designed in CREO…………………………………………………………………..26

Fig. 4.4 Structure designed in Autodesk inventor…………………………………………………….27

Fig. 4.5 Meshing………………………………………………………………………………………30

Fig. 4.6 FEM mesh refinement………………………………………………………………………..31

Fig. 4.7 CFD analysis…………………………………………………………………………………34

Fig. 5.1 Ansys…………………………………………………………………………………………36

Fig. 5.2 Complex model in Ansys….....................................................................................................37

Fig. 5.3 Design 1: Plain surface…........................................................................................................39

Fig. 5.4 Design 2: Normal zig zag surface……………………………………………………………39

Fig. 5.5 Design 3: Inclined zig zag surface…………………………………………………………...40

Fig. 5.6 Result 1: Plain surface……………………………………………………………………….42

Fig. 5.7 Result 2: Normal zig zag surface…………………………………………………………….42

Fig. 5.8 Result 3: Inclined zig zag surface……………………………………………………………43

Fig. 5.9 Radiation……………………………………………………………………………………..45

Fig. 6.1 Result………………………………………………………………………………………...46

Fig. 7.1 Solar air heating connected to the make-up air unit…………………………………………47

Fig. 7.2 Solar air heating in parallel with the make-up air unit………………………………………48

Fig. 7.3 Solar air heating within loop of roof-top unit………………………………………………..48

 LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Materials used …..................................................................................................................20

 Chapter 1
INTERODUCTION

Solar air heating is a solar thermal technology in which the energy from the sun, insolation, is
captured by an absorbing medium and used to heat air. Solar air heating is a renewable
energy heating technology used to heat or condition air for buildings or process heat
applications. It is typically the most cost-effective out of all the solar technologies, especially
in commercial and industrial applications, and it addresses the largest usage of building
energy in heating climates, which is space heating and industrial process heating.

1.1 History of Air Heating

For the first 100 years home heating was dominated by biomass (wood) and it was not until
1885 that the nation would burn more coal than wood. Prior to 1885 the majority of homes
were heated with wood burning brick fireplaces and derivatives of the cast iron Franklin
stove invented in 1742.

By the end of the 19th century the invention of low cost cast iron radiators would bring
central heating to homes with a coal fired boiler in the basement delivering hot water or
steam to radiators in every room. At about the same time, in 1885, Dave Lennox built and
marketing the industry’s first riveted-steel coal furnace. Without electricity and fans to move
air, these early furnaces transported heat by natural convection (warm heated air rising)
through ducts from the basement furnace to the rooms above. These two methods would
dominate home central heating until 1935, when the introduction of the first forced air
furnace using coal as a heat source used the power of an electric fan to distribute the heated
air through ductwork within the home.

Shortly thereafter, gas and oil fired versions of forced air furnaces would relieve the
homeowners from the chore of “stoking the coal fire” and relegate coal furnaces and cast iron
radiators to the dust bin of history. Fast forward to today and about 60% of our homes be
heated with gas fired forced air furnaces (FAU’s) and another 9% with oil fired FAU’s. In
warmer climates, a quarter of our homes would be heated by FAU’s using electric “heat
pumps” to supply heating energy.

Modern Beginnings: Chimneys and Stoves:-

The next important advance in heating was the invention of the chimney. The origins of the
chimney flue probably lie with the Normans, who used sidewall flue openings in place of the
previously used central roof vents. Many sidewall flues were constructed at an oblique angle
upward, thus beginning a transition to vertical chimney construction.

After the 14th century, chimneys appear in written literature. However, their use seems to
have spread very slowly. Chimneys were still rare enough 200 years later that one

1
Early chimneys were very large, so as to allow a chimney sweep to climb into them. But the
size precipitated such vicious drafts that room divider screens sometimes had to be used to
shield the occupants.

Stove heating soon advanced beyond the crude devices first used. The first freestanding
warm-air stove was probably the “Furnus Acapnos” or “smokeless stove” invented by
Dalesme in France in the late 1600s. Dalesme introduced fresh fuel in the same opening as
combustion air, directing all combustion products over already-burning fuel, a design that
ensured complete combustion.

Although the smokeless stove was a great advance, it and other heating innovations were
accepted slowly, for “…few housekeepers are philosophers enough to be willing to undertake
the management of a machine requiring especial mental effort, where the advantages are not
directly visible to the senses.”

The earliest stove in North America was probably a cast iron box stove invented by Dr. John
Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1652. This type of stove had originated in
Holland and was imported into England after 1600. By the mid-1700s, cast iron box stoves
were being manufactured by a number of eastern Colonial American foundries.

Stoves continued evolving throughout the 1800s. Notable improvements included the base
burner stove invented by Eliphalet Knott in 1833, and the airtight stove invented by Isaac Orr
in 1836.

A stove with thermostatic draft control was invented by F.P. Oliver in 1849.

By the time of the Civil War, cast iron stove manufacturing was a large and well-established
industry, particularly in the north-eastern U.S. By 1900, thousands of different designs (many
approaching pieces of art in their appearance) were produced by dozens of manufacturers.

1.2 Solar Energy

Solar energy is the most readily available source of energy. It does not belong to anybody and
is, therefore, free. It is also the most important of the non-conventional sources of energy
because it is non-polluting and, therefore, helps in lessening the greenhouse effect.

Solar energy has been used since prehistoric times, but in a most primitive manner. Before
1970, some research and development was carried out in a few countries to exploit solar
energy more efficiently, but most of this work remained mainly academic. After the dramatic
rise in oil prices in the 1970s, several countries began to formulate extensive research and
development programmes to exploit solar energy.

2
When we hang out our clothes to dry in the sun, we use the energy of the sun. In the same
way, solar panels absorb the energy of the sun to provide heat for cooking and for heating
water. Such systems are available in the market and are being used in homes and factories.

Fig. 1.1

In the next few years it is expected that millions of households in the world will be using
solar energy as the trends in USA and Japan show. In India too, the Indian Renewable Energy
Development Agency and the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources are formulating
a programme to have solar energy in more than a million households in the next few years.
However, the people’s initiative is essential if the programme is to be successful.

India is one of the few countries with long days and plenty of sunshine, especially in the Thar
Desert region. This zone, having abundant solar energy available, is suitable for harnessing
solar energy for a number of applications. In areas with similar intensity of solar radiation,
solar energy could be easily harnessed. Solar thermal energy is being used in India for
heating water for both industrial and domestic purposes. A 140 MW integrated solar power
plant is to be set up in Jodhpur but the initial expense incurred is still very high.

Solar energy can also be used to meet our electricity requirements. Through Solar
Photovoltaic (SPV) cells, solar radiation gets converted into DC electricity directly. This
electricity can either be used as it is or can be stored in the battery. This stored electrical
energy then can be used at night. SPV can be used for a number of applications such as:

a. Domestic lighting
b. street lighting
c. village electrification
d. water pumping
e. desalination of salty water

3
 f. powering of remote telecommunication repeater stations
g. Railway signals.

Fig. 1.2 Solar air heating

Challenges and opportunities

Land is a scarce resource in India and per capita land availability is low. Dedication of land
area for exclusive installation of solar arrays might have to compete with other necessities
that require land. The amount of land required for utility-scale solar power plants — currently
approximately 1 km2 (250 acres) for every 40–60 MW generated — may pose a strain on
India's available land resource. One alternative is to use the water surface area available on
canals, lakes, reservoirs and sea for locating large capacity solar power plants. These water
bodies can also provide the water needed for periodic cleaning of the solar panels. It is also
possible to use the high ways and rail tracks to avoid excessive cost of land nearer to load
centres and minimise transmission lines cost by installing solar power plants at nearly 10
meters height above the roads or rail tracks. It would also protect the high ways from damage
from rain & intense summer heat and offer additional comfort to the commuters. The
architecture more suitable for most of India would be a highly distributed set of individual
rooftop power generation systems, all connected via a local grid. However, erecting such an
infrastructure, which does not enjoy the economies of scale possible in mass, utility-scale,
solar panel deployment, needs the market price of solar technology deployment to
substantially decline, so that it attracts the individual and average family size household
consumer. That might be possible in the future, because PV is projected to continue its

4
current cost reductions and be able to compete with fossil fuel. In the year 2015, the levelized
tariff in US$ for solar electricity using thin film technology based solar PV modules has
fallen below 4 cents/kWh which is far cheaper than the electricity sale price from coal based
electricity generation plants in India. Indian government has recently reduced the solar power
purchase price from maximum allowed levelized tariff of 5.79 Rs/KWh to 4.43 Rs/KWh in
view of steep fall in the cost of the solar power generation equipment. The applicable tariff is
after allowing either viability gap funding (VGF) or accelerated depreciation (AD) incentives.

It is prudent to encourage solar power plants installation up to a threshold limit (say 7,000
MW) by giving direct or indirect incentives. Otherwise, dubious short sighted financial
operators from all over the world would take over the industry to encash the liberal Indian
bank loans offered by installing substandard and shorter life solar power plant equipment
with over rated nameplate capacity .The solar power purchaser (DisComs, etc.), solar power
transmission agency (TransCos) and the Indian financial institutions should insist for annual
penalty payment from IPPs for not meeting minimum guaranteed capacity utilisation and
long term performance guarantee for the equipment backed by insurance coverage to ensure
that the guarantee works even after the OEM becomes bankrupt.

1.3 Solar Air Heater

Solar air heaters are systems that collect solar energy and transfers the heat to passing air,
which is either stored or used for space heating. The collectors are often black to absorb more
of the sun's energy and a conductive material, often metal, acts as a heat exchanger. There are
many different designs and systems may include fans to increase the flow rate of air.
Alternatively, a passive collector can be built such that when the hot air rises it draws fresh
air through the bottom. Fans can often increase the performance of the system, but require
additional parts and adds complexity. Solar air heaters can compliment traditional indoor
heating systems by providing a free and clean source of heat (after initial costs). While clouds
effect the energy output of the system, the metal will store energy on a hot day and will
reduce the impact of momentary cloud cover. To achieve best results, the system should be
unshaded and facing the general direction of the sun (south for the northern hemisphere,
north for the southern hemisphere).
More than any other solar technology, solar heaters are DIY-friendly, since they require only
a basic knowledge of carpentry and electrical skills, can be made of easy-to-find materials,
and can be installed on a south-facing wall rather than on a potentially dangerous roof. Solar
air heaters are tolerant of less-than-exact construction details. A small air leak will only
reduce the heater’s overall efficiency, not leak fluid or potentially overheat or shock you if
installed improperly. While care should be taken with any project, the consequences of
potential mistakes are much less dire. For homeowners interested in the basics of renewable
energy, building a solar air heater can be a great project.

5
Solar Air Heater

Fig. 1.3

Considerations
Before beginning, it’s important to have access to the sun where and when you need it or all
of your hard work will be for naught. Make sure there is full sunlight on the south-facing wall
in the winter months from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The sun is at a low angle during the winter,
so the number of potential obstructions increases. If you can’t accurately assess the winter
solar window within a few weeks of the winter solstice, use a solar analysis instrument such
as a Solar Pathfinder or Sol metric’s Sun Eye.
DIY solar heaters should be installed on south-facing walls and never on roofs. Homemade
heaters tend to fare poorly in the extreme weather conditions that exist on roofs, and the
produced heat tends to stay at the ceiling level. Hot air is likely to stratify into layers and stay
stuck away from where residents want it—near the floor. Using a stronger blower might seem
like it would solve this problem and help circulate the air, but it risks moving the air through
the heater too quickly before it has time to heat up, and quickly moving air, regardless of
temperature, has the effect of cooling the skin and making a room feel draft.

Design Types
A solar air heater is basically a glazed, insulated black box with two vents. This simplicity
allows a great variety of potential designs. Primary concerns are the design’s efficiency,
construction ease, and cost—and there’s some trade-off between these goals. I decided on a
simple design that blows air between a black metal absorber plate and polycarbonate glazing.
A fan moves the air from the bottom of the collector to the top, transferring heat from the
absorber to the air.

Because this design uses a fan, it is an active solar air heater—there are moving parts that
require electricity. A passive solar air heater moves air by convection only—as the air inside
a passive heater warms, it expands and becomes lighter, moving upward until an unassisted
flow called a thermosiphon develops. Active heaters are roughly 200% more efficient than

6
passive heaters, but with additional complexity and cost. Passive heaters tend to become
overheated and reradiate much of the heat trapped in the collector back to the outside before
it warms the air flowing through into the building.
Besides the difference between active and passive, there are four heater design considerations
based on time, skill level, and available materials. The one we built is an empty box
collector—air is heated by passing through an empty glazed box facing the sun.

1.4 Types of Solar Air Heater

 Unglazed solar collectors, Transpired air systems:

Unglazed solar collectors are primarily used to ambient air and not building air. These
are low cost collectors and these require only one penetration into the building, or if
existing fan inlets are used, then no additional penetrations are necessary.
The transpired air collectors are generally wall mounted to capture the lower sun
angles in the winter months, additional sun reflection off the snow and they also
capture heat loss escaping from the building envelop which is collected in the solar
wall air cavity and drawn back in to the ventilation system.

Fig. 1.4 Transpired Solar Collector

 Glazed solar collectors:

Glazed solar collectors are designed primarily for space heating and they recirculate
building air through a solar air panel where the air is heated and then directed back
into the building. These solar space heating systems require at least two penetrations
into the building and only perform when the air in the solar collector is warmer than
the building room temperature. Most glazed collectors are used in the residential
sector and thus will be dealt with at a later time.
Glazed air collectors heat air through circulation. A fan moves cold air from the home
to the collector. After passing through the collector, the heated air is ducted back to

7
 the home. There are multiple system designs: Through pass, back, front and
combination passage.

 Hot Air Collectors

Hot Air solar collectors can be used to supplement the heating requirements of a
house in a cold climate. As long as the house is well insulated and one side of the
house has adequate sunlight exposure a homemade solar hot air heating system could
be a good investment. The price of oil will continue to rise, but the wise use of
sunlight energy may be used to reduce the consumption fossil fuel concentrates.
Hydronic solar collectors have the advantage of supplying heat and hot water all year
long, but the simplicity of hot air collectors has a special appeal to home owners with
limited time for projects. Hot air collectors do not require storage tanks to store heat
or radiant floors to distribute heat. Instead household furnishings and interior walls
are used to store daytime solar heat and release it gradually at night.

 Aluminium Flashing Collector

Aluminium flashing collector. Notice how the aluminium is bent like an accordion.
This is done to increase the surface area of the aluminium in contact with the air that's
blown through it. Aluminium soffits and aluminium screens may also be used to
transform light into heat.

1.5 Thermal Conditions Use for Solar Air Heater

The energy demand is growing continuously and rapidly, and it is impossible to meet the
future demand with the presently available exhaustible energy sources. So, the technology is
focusing on harnessing new and renewable sources of energy. Furthermore, the conventional
energy sources are causing an alarming health hazard to the planet life. The use of solar
energy is an intelligent option for the use of mankind which is available free of cost, in
abundant and is a clean source for various applications. The solar energy can be used directly
or indirectly by converting it into thermal energy. Instead of direct use of solar energy, it is
more useful when converted into thermal energy. Solar air heater is such a device, which
converts solar energy into thermal energy.

Solar energy collectors are a special kind of heat exchangers that transform solar radiation
energy to internal energy of the transport medium. The major component of any solar heating
system is the flat-plate solar collectors. This device absorbs the incoming solar radiation and
converts it into heat and also transfers this heat to a fluid flowing through the collector. These
conversions depend on the absolute performance of different materials such as glazing
materials, collector absorbing plates and flowing fluid. The basic parameter to consider is the
solar collector thermal efficiency. This is defined as the ratio of the useful energy delivered
and the energy incident on the collector aperture. The definitions of various relations that are

8
required in order to determine the useful energy collected and the interaction of the various
constructional parameters on the performance of a solar collector are fairly complex.
Therefore, this paper proposes to study the use of ANN model to study the performance of
SAH.

Solar air heaters (SAH) have low thermal efficiency because of low convective heat transfer
coefficient between the air and absorber plate which leads higher temperature to the absorber
plate causing maximum thermal losses to ambient. Artificial roughness or various
arrangements created in the flow duct created turbulence near the collector wall or broke the
boundary layer. Thus, the various arrangement in flow duct can be operated for the
enhancement of heat transfer coefficient between the absorber plate and air and thereby
improving the thermal performance of SAH. Increasing the area of the absorber plate and
varying the shape of the plate area will increase the heat transfer rate to the flowing air,
ultimately on the other hand, will increase the pressure drop in the collector. This increases
the required power consumption to pump the air flow crossing the collector. Several
configurations of SAHs have been developed in literature for various designs with different
shapes and dimensions of the air flow passage in plate type solar air collector were tested.
Suitable sizing of the component of a solar system is a complicated problem which includes
both predictable and unpredictable components. For estimation of the flow of energy and the
performance of system, analytic computer codes are often used. The softwares employed are
commonly complicated, involving the solution of complex differential equations. Instead of
complex rules and mathematical routines, artificial intelligent methods are used to learn the
key information pattern within a multidimensional information domain. From the last two
decades, the use of artificial neural network methods in mechanical engineering has been
increasing gradually. This is mainly because of the effectiveness of artificial intelligence
modelling systems improved to a great extent in the engineering area. Forecasting of
performance is important in many air-conditioning and solar applications. This paper
describes the applicability of ANN to predict the efficiency and temperature leaving the
collector unit of a SAH system with different thermal storage materials. For this purpose, an
experimental SAH system was set up and tested on bright as well as cloudy day conditions.
The data used were measured on an hourly basis using temperature sensor, which was located
in different location in the absorber plates, entry and exit of the SAH and are shown in the
Figure.

1.6 Work Objectives

 Design improvement

 Improve temperature of air

 Pollution free environment

 Improve efficiencies

 Eco-friendly

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 Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Samir A. Dhatkar et.al. [1999], Solar air heater is one of the valuable heat
sources with variety of applications such as space heating and cooling, industrial process
heating and drying of fruits and vegetables etc. The major heat losses from a normal solar
air collector are through the top cover which reduce the thermal efficiency also, the low
heat transfer coefficient between the air stream and the absorber plate is another reason of
low thermal efficiency in solar air heaters. Thermal efficiency of double pass solar air
heater with porous media is higher than single pass and double pass solar air heater
without porous media. Many experiments have been carried out on the performance
analysis of double pass solar air heater with porous media and solar air heater with
extended surfaces.

Effect of various parameters of porous media like pitch, number of layers , bed depth,
porosity, thermal conductivity, pitch to wire diameter ratio have been studied. Also these
studies includes the design of double pass solar air heater, heat transfer enhancement,
pressure drop, type of flow. It is found that more increase in thermal efficiency in
comparison with conventional solar air heater. Based on literature review, it is concluded
that most of the studies carried out on solar air heater with porous media and extended
surfaces. Few studies are carried out on corrugated absorber plate. Improvement of
thermal efficiency of solar air heater is to be obtained by enhancing the rate of heat
transfer.
2. Raheleh Nowzaria et.al. [2008], the double pass solar air heater is constructed
and tested for thermal efficiency at a geographic location of Cyprus in the city Famagusta.
The absorber plate was replaced by fourteen steel wire mesh layers, 0.2 × 0.2 cm in cross
section opening, and they were fixed in the duct parallel to the glazing. The distance
between each set of wire mesh layers is 0.5cm to reduce the pressure drop. The wire mesh
layers were painted with black before installing them into the collector. The obtained
results show that as the mass flow rate increases, the efficiency of the system also
increases. The temperature difference (ΔT) between the inlet and outlet air through the
system increases as the mass flow rate decreases. The maximum ΔT (53°C) is achieved at
the flow rate of 0.011 kg/s. The range of the mass flow rate used in this work is between
0.011 and 0.037 kg/s. It is also found that the average efficiency obtained for the double
pass air collector is 53.7% for the mass flow rate of 0.037 kg/s.

3. Anil Singh Yadav et.al. [2006], this paper presents the study of heat transfer
in a rectangular duct of a solar air heater having triangular rib roughness on the absorber
plate by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The effect of Reynolds number on
Nusselt number was investigated. The computations based on the finite volume method
with the SIMPLE algorithm have been conducted for the air flow in terms of Reynolds
numbers ranging from 3000-18000. A commercial finite volume package ANSYS
FLUENT 12.1 is used to analyse and visualize the nature of the flow across the duct of a

10
solar air heater. CFD simulation results were found to be in good agreement with
experimental results and with the standard theoretical approaches. It has been found that
the Nusselt number increases with increase in Reynolds number.

4. Hikmet Esen et.al. [1997], this paper presents an experimental energy and exergy
analysis for a novel flat plate solar air heater (SAH) with several obstacles and without
obstacles. For increasing the available heat-transfer area may be achieved if air is flowing
simultaneously and separately overland under the different obstacle absorbing plates,
instead of only flowing either over or under the different obstacle absorbing plates, leading
to improved collector efficiency. The measured parameters were the inlet and outlet
temperatures, the absorbing plate temperatures, the ambient temperature, and the solar
radiation. Further, the measurements were performed at different values of mass flow rate
of air and different levels of absorbing plates in flow channel duct. After the analysis of
the results, the optimal value of efficiency is middle level of absorbing plate in flow
channel duct for all operating conditions and the double-flow collector supplied with
obstacles appears significantly better than that without obstacles. At the end of this study,
the exergy relations are delivered for different SAHs. The results show that the largest
irreversibility is occurring at the flat plate (without obstacles) collector in which collector
efficiency is smallest

5. Gurpreet Singh et.al. [2000], An experimental investigation of the effect of

geometrical parameters of circular transverse ribs on heat transfer of rectangular duct with
heated plate having rib roughness on its underside have been reported. The range of
parameters for this study has been decided on the basis of practical considerations of the
system and operating conditions of solar air heaters. The experimental investigation
encompassed the Reynolds number (Re) range from 2564 to 6206; relative roughness
pitch (P/e) of 8, angle of attack (α) of 90° and relative roughness height (e/Dh) is0.047.
The thermal efficiency of roughened duct is observed to be 5%-9% more as compare to
the smooth duct. The thermal efficiency is increased with increasing the value of Reynolds
number

6. Dharam Singh et.al.[2005], Solar air heater is solar energy collection devices
and this collected solar energy is used for low temperature heating purpose, agriculture
drying purpose etc. The heat conversion rate of solar energy to heat energy is low in solar
air heater because air is flowing fluids and air has low heat transfer coefficient, which is
directly influence the rate of heat transfer from the absorber plate to air. This fluid
property heat transfer coefficient can be increase by creating turbulence in flow field and
the turbulence is created by providing different shape artificial roughness on absorber
plate. In this paper the study of heat transfer in a rectangular duct of a solar air heater
having trapezoidal rib roughness on the absorber plate is done by using Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The effect on Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient, velocity,
and temperature parameter are analysed .This CFD simulation is done by fluent 6.3
software using K-ε model

11
7. Mokalla Srinivas et.al. [1998], A solar hybrid energy system having photovoltaic
and thermal (PV/T) devices, which produces both thermal and electrical energies
simultaneously is considered for analysis. A double pass hybrid solar air (PV/T) heater
with slats is designed and fabricated to study its thermal and electrical performance. Air as
a heat removing fluid is made to flow through upper and lower channels of the collector.
The collector is designed in such way that the absorber plate is partially covered by solar
cells. The raise in temperature of the solar cell is expected to decrease its electrical
performance. Thin metallic strips called slats are attached longitudinally at the bottom side
of the absorber plate to improve the system performance by increasing the cooling rate of
the absorber plate. Thermal and electrical performances of the whole system at varying
cooling conditions are also presented.

8. Rewaram Verma et.al. [2004], Improvement in the thermo hydraulic

performance of a solar air heater can be done by enhancing the heat transfer. In general,
heat transfer enhancement techniques are divided into two groups: active and passive
techniques. Providing an artificial roughness on a heat transferring surface is an effective
passive heat transfer technique to enhance the rate of heat transfer to fluid flow. In this
paper, reviews of various artificial roughness elements used as passive heat transfer
techniques, in order to improve thermo hydraulic performance of a solar air heater, with
little penalty of friction and Correlations developed by various researchers with the help of
experimental results for heat transfer and friction factor for solar air heater ducts by taking
different roughened surfaces geometries are given in tabular form. These correlations are
used to predict the thermo hydraulic performance of solar air heaters having roughened
ducts. The objective is to provide a detailed review on heat transfer enhancement by using
an artificial roughness technique. This paper will be very helpful for the researchers who
are researching new artificial roughness for solar air heater ducts to enhance the heat
transfer rate and comparing with artificial roughness already studied by various
researchers.

9. Sanket Khamitkar et.al. [2003], the thermal efficiency of a solar air collector
called unglazed transpired collector (UTC) has been studied using CFD. Experimental
results were validated. The study was done to calculate efficiency of solar air heater under
hot climatic conditions with two different mass flow rates of air. A commercial finite
volume software (CFX) was used to model the heat transfer through the UTC. It was
found that temperature rise decreases with increasing air mass flow rate and the efficiency
increases with increasing air mass flow rate. Increasing the irradiation level seems to have
a very limited effect on the collector efficiency for both mass flow rates. Still, the results
show a small increase in efficiency as the irradiation intensity decreases for both mass
flow rates.

10. C.Elaya Perumal et.al. [1998], the electricity and heat produced simultaneously
in a Photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system from solar energy is about 60-70% efficient. The
traditional Photovoltaic (PV) system conversion of electricity from solar energy is only
about 6-15% efficient, where as 85% of the incoming solar energy is either reflected or

12
absorbed as heat energy, which are cooled by air coolant to utilize the all incoming solar
energy on system. The main novelty in this project work is combination two systems as
Photovoltaic Thermal and solar air heating system. The photovoltaic system wasted heat
energy is absorbed in cold air. The preheating air from Photovoltaic thermal system is
allowed to pass through the air heater, where the hot is much enhanced by the solar
radiation and improves the efficiency of air heating system. There are analyses to
configuration on with fins and baffles and with fins and without baffles to improve on
thermal efficiency was studied.

11. R S Gill et.al. [2006], In this paper, results of experiment all investigation on heat
transfer and friction in rectangular ducts roughened with broken arc-rib roughness
combined with staggered rib piece has been presented. The rib roughness has relative gap
position of 0.65, relative staggered rib position of 0.6, relative staggered rib size of 2.0, and
relative roughness pitch of 10, arc angle of 30° and relative roughness height of 0.043. The
relative gap size was varied from 0.5 to 2.5. The effects of gap size on Nusselt number,
friction factor and thermo-hydraulic performance parameter have been discussed and
results compared with smooth duct and continuous arc rib roughened duct under similar
conditions.

12. Njoroge G. Ndegwa et.al. [2001], experimental investigations on the

performance of a flat plate solar air heater (SAH) with brown sand as absorber and clear
HDPE paper as top cover was done. The efficiency, heat gain factor and heat loss
coefficient were determined for the collector. The effects of air mass flow rate and thermal
efficiency was also studied. The SAH model was placed outdoors and tests were conducted
in an open field between 0900 and 1500 Hrs. and parameters including solar radiation,
temperature and air mass flow rates were recorded after every 20 minutes for 100 hours.
Results show that, the efficiency increase with increasing air mass flow rate. The highest
efficiency obtained was 54% at air mass flow rate of 1.22xl0-5 Kg/s. The temperature
difference between the outlet flow and the ambient reduces as the air mass flow rate
increases with a maximum difference of 31°C at air mass flow rate of 6.83X10 -6 Kg/s
which occurred at 1240 Hrs

.13. Anand Patel et.al. [2000], the depletion of fuel sources leads to energy crisis is
serious and burning issue. The alternative energy is always better option and out of
available resources like solar energy, wind energy and biomass; but compare to wind
energy and bio mass solar energy is always better option because solar energy is the easiest
source to extract useful energy in terms of availability in ample amount. The objective of
present work is to develop spiral solar air heater and performance will be check using K
type thermocouple.

14. S. S. Pawar et.al. [1998], Solar air heater is used to heat air but it has low thermal
efficiency because of low thermal conductivity between air and absorber plate. Thermal
efficiency of solar air heater can be improved by creating artificial roughness on absorber
plate which causes higher temperature to absorber plate and hence maximum thermal losses

13
occurs to atmosphere. There are number of parameters which enhances the thermal
conductivity such as relative roughness height (e/Dh), relative roughness pitch (P/e),
Reynolds number (Re), and angle of attack (α).Experimental investigations were carried
out to study heat transfer enhancement using diamond shape rib on absorber plate of solar
air heater. Absorber plate is heated with the solar radiation in outdoor experiment whereas
electric heater is used for indoor experiment. Setup is isolated from the three sides with
thermocol. The relative roughness pitch (P/E) varies from 10 to 25 mm. The roughened
wall has relative roughness height (e/Dh) of 0.023mm and 0.028mm, angle of attack (α) is
0° degree, rib height (e) is 1 mm and 1.25 mm. Duct aspect ratio (W/H=8), rate of air flow
corresponds to Reynolds no. (Re) ranging from 3000-14000.

15. L.B.Y. Aldabbagh et.al. [2010],The thermal performances of single and double
pass solar air heaters with steel wire mesh layers are used instead of a flat absorber plate
are investigated experimentally. The effects of mass flow rate of air on the outlet
temperature and thermal efficiency were studied. The results indicate that the efficiency
increases with increasing the mass flow rate for the range of the flow rate used in this work
between 0.012 and 0.038 kg/s. For the same flow rate, the efficiency of the double pass is
found to be higher than the single pass by 34e45%. Moreover, the maximum efficiencies
obtained for the single and the double pass air collectors are 45.93 and 83.65% respectively
for the mass flow rate of 0.038 kg/s. Comparison of the results of a packed bed collector
with those of a conventional collector shows a substantial enhancement in the thermal
efficiency.

16. Pushkar Dwivedi et.al. [2007], The term solar air heating is a technology in
which the radiant energy emitted by the sun is captured in an absorber and is used for space
heating. Needless to say it is a renewable and pollution free method to produce space
heating and when is used in commercial buildings or industries could be very cost
effective. Improvement in the thermo hydraulic performance of a solar air heater can be
done by enhancing the heat transfer. In general, heat transfer enhancement techniques are
divided into two groups: active and passive techniques. Providing an artificial roughness on
a heat transferring surface is an effective passive heat transfer technique to enhance the rate
of heat transfer to fluid flow. In this paper, reviews of various artificial roughness elements
used as passive heat transfer techniques, in order to improve thermo hydraulic performance
of a solar air heater, is done. The objective of this paper is to review various studies, in
which different artificial roughness elements are used to enhance the heat transfer rate with
little penalty of friction. In this review paper, solar air heaters are discussed along with the
problems associated, when use on large scale. Improvement in present technologies which
are used for the manufacture of solar air heaters is the main area of focus in this paper and
recent progress in enhancing the design of solar air duct are reported.

17. Bhupendra Gupta et.al. [1999], an experimental investigation was carried out to
study the effect of porous media (Glass wool and Steel wool) on double pass solar air
heater. The aim is to analyse the thermal efficiency of double pass solar air heater using
different type of porous media. The measured parameters were temperature difference, air

14
velocity, pressure difference, mass flow rate of the air. Porous media provide large area for
the heat transfer have high heat transfer coefficient. This increases the thermal efficiency of
the double pass solar air heater with porous media (glass and steel wool) to non- porous
media. In this investigation, thermal efficiency of the double pass solar air heater with
porous media is more efficient than the single pass solar air heater with porous media

18. Veena Pal et.al. [2006], in the present work an attempt has been made to
experimentally investigate the performance of a flat plate solar air heater. Experiments
were performed to find the energy and exergy efficiency at different mass flow rate of air.
It is observed that for a 16% increase in mass flow rate of air, energy efficiency increases
by 20%, whereas exergy efficiency increases by 36%.

19. Manash Dey et.al. [2003], it is well known, that, the heat transfer coefficient
between the absorber plate and working fluid of solar air heater is low. It is attributed to the
formation of a very thin boundary layer at the absorber plate surface commonly known as
viscous sub-layer The heat transfer coefficient of a solar air heater duct can be increased by
providing artificial roughness on the heated wall (i.e. the absorber plate) The use of
artificial roughness on the underside of the absorber plate disturbs the viscous sub-layer of
the flowing medium. It is well known that in a turbulent flow a sub-layer exists in the flow
in addition to the turbulent core. The purpose of the artificial roughness is to make the flow
turbulent adjacent to the wall in the sub-layer region. Experiments were performed to
collect heat transfer and friction data for forced convection flow of air in solar air heater
rectangular duct with one broad wall roughened by discrete v –groove & v- shape ribs. The
range of parameters used in this experiment has been decided on the basis of practical
considerations of the system and operating conditions. The range of Reynolds number of
3000-14000, Relative Roughness Height ( eh/D ) of height 0.030 to 0.035, Rib angle of
attack 600, heat flux 720 W/m2 and pitch of relative roughness pitch 10 the Result has been
compared with smooth duct under similar flow and boundary condition It is found from the
investigation that on increasing the roughness of a roughened plate the friction factor
andheat transfer performance of solar air heater increase and the rate of increase of heat
transfer performance of solar air heater get reduced as the roughness of plate increases.

20. Jitendra Kumar Waiker et.al. [2005], this paper involves an experimental
study to investigate the effect of mass flow of Air on thermal performance and pressure
drop through the collector. The aim is to analyze thermal efficiency of flat plate solar air
heater .The measured parameters were the inlet and outlet temperature, the absorbing plate
temperature, and ambient temperature .further the measurements were performed at
different value of mass flow rate of air in flow channel duct. It is concluded that smooth
plate double pass solar air heater is 3-4% more efficient than single pass solar air heater. If
we use the porous media in double pass solar air heater increase the air heater efficiency to
be 5 % efficient than air heater in single pass, and 2-3% more in double pass without
porous media.

15
21. N.L. Panwar et.al. [1997], in order to produce process heat for drying of
agricultural, textile, marine products, heating of buildings and re-generating dehumidify
agent, solar energy is one of the promising heat sources for meeting energy demand
without putting adverse impact of environment. Hence it plays a key role for sustainable
development. Solar energy is intermittent in nature and time dependent energy source.
Owing to this nature, PCMs based thermal energy storage system can achieve the more
popularity for solar energy based heating systems. The recent researches focused on the
phase change materials (PCMs), as latent heat storage is more efficient than sensible heat
storage. In this paper an attempt has been made to present holistic view of available solar
air heater for different applications and their performance.

22. Madhukeshwara. N et.al. [2004], Heat transfer and friction correlations are
developed for turbulent flow in solar air heater ducts having a repeated ribbed roughness on
the absorber plate. Software program is developed using ‘C++’ programming language to
determine the effect of various parameters on heat transfer and friction in solar air heater
duct with ribbed absorber plate. This software can be used for iterative work to identify the
optimum design parameters. Use of artificial roughness in the form of repeated ribs on the
absorber plate has found to be a convenient method for the enhancement of heat absorption
capacity of the solar collector. The different parameters of ribbed roughness are relative
roughness pitch (P/E), relative roughness height (e/Dh), and angle of attack of flow (α) and
the range of these parameters are decided on the basis of practical considerations of the
system and operating conditions. Based on similarity considerations correlations for the
Nusselt number and friction factor in terms of these parameters have been developed.

23. Pankaj Sharma et.al. [2009], Artificial roughness applied on the absorber plate
is the most efficient method to improve thermal performance of solar air heaters.
Experimental investigations appropriate to distinct roughness geometries shows that the
enhancement in heat transfer is accompanied by considerable rise in pumping power. In
view of the fact, a designer needs to carefully examine shape and orientation of roughness
elements in order to choose the best fit roughness geometry for intended application.
Thermal performance of conventional solar air heater can be improved by enhancing the
heat transfer. Basically heat transfer enhancement techniques are active and passive
techniques. Providing an artificial roughness on a heat transferring surface is an effective
passive heat transfer technique to enhance the rate of heat transfer to fluid flow. Attempts
have been made to increase heat transfer to air flowing through solar air heater duct using
finned absorber, packed bed absorber, corrugated absorber, two-pass air flow, over-lapped
glass plates, artificially rib roughened absorber, etc. The convective heat transfer
coefficient of solar air heater is low due to the presence of viscous sub layer between the air
and absorber plate which can be improved by providing artificial roughness on the heat
transferring surface. Artificial roughness in the form of repeated ribs on the absorber plate
is an effective technique to enhance the rate of heat transfer to flowing fluid in the
roughened duct of solar air heater which also helps to break the laminar sub-layer and
creates turbulence in the flow, which reduces the thermal resistance and greatly enhance
the heat transfer. Enhancement in heat transfer results in higher thermal efficiency in case

16
of rib roughened solar air heater as compared to conventional solar air heater having rib-
roughness parameters of relative roughness pitch of 8, angle of attack of 60° relative
roughness height of 0.047 and value of Reynolds number from 2564-6206. Finally
comparison of thermal efficiency between smooth and roughened plate under the similar
condition of air flow is carried out.

24. P. T. Saravanakumar et.al. [1998], in this paper, an analysis has been

developed the thermal performance of the flat plate air heater with and without thermal
storages experimentally and using artificial neural networks (ANN). In this, ambient
temperature, solar intensity and air velocity were used as input layers, while the outputs are
collector outlet temperature and efficiency of the solar air heater (SAH). The back
propagation learning algorithm methods were used in training and testing the data.
Comparisons between predicted and experimental results are used to indicate that the
proposed ANN model can be used for estimating outlet temperature of the collector and
efficiency of SAHs with reasonable accuracy.

25. Yashwant Kumar Vishwakarma et.al. [2007],In double pass solar air heater
thermal performance can be obtained by augment the rate of heat transfer and minimizes
the top losses and bottom losses. Efficiency of solar air heater is low because of low value
of heat transfer coefficient between absorber plate and flowing air. This is due to the
presence of laminar sub layer that need to be broken to increase heat transfer. Therefore for
enhancement of heat transfer turbulence is created by providing inclined continuous ribs on
absorber plate. This paper presents an experimental investigation carried out to study the
effect Inclined continues rib roughness on heat transfer coefficient and friction factor in an
artificially roughened solar air heater duct. The experiment encompassed Reynolds number
(Re) from 3000 to 15,000. Relative roughness height (e/D) values 0.027, relative roughness
pitch (P/e) range of 6–12, angle of attack (α) - 600.Extensive experimentation has been
conducted to collect data on heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a rectangular
duct roughened with continues inclined-ribs. Using these experimental data, correlations
for Nusselt number and friction factor in terms of roughness geometry and flow parameters
have been developed. The roughened wall has roughness with pitch (P), ranging from 9-18
mm, height of the rib of 1.5 mm and duct aspect ratio of 6.67. The air flow rate corresponds
to Reynolds number between3000–15000. The heat transfer results have been compared
with those for smooth ducts under similar flow and thermal boundary condition to
determine the thermal efficiency of solar air heater.

17
 Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Problem Identification

Identify Parameters for Study

Design Selection

Design-1 (Existing) Design-2

Design Simulation of Object

Final Design for Object

Simulation of final design

NO Fabrication
(New)
Result comparison

Experimental validation

YES

Optimization of final new design

Conclusion

Conc
llusion
Parameters for Study:
1. Analysis of existing design and New Design

2. Analysis of Final Proposed Design

18
 3. Optimization of Final Design

4. Fabrication of Final Design

Tool Used:

Finite Element Analysis

The useful features of finite element Analysis are as follows:

• Discretization of the whole model into small elements, which may be square,
rectangle, and triangle or in polygon shapes.

• Derive the governing differential equations for each element of the model.

• Assembly of all elements, based on stability of the solution.

Design Modeler:

Autodesk Inventor 2015

• Autodesk Inventor was introduced in 1999 as an ambitious 3D parametric modeler

based not on the familiar AutoCAD programming architecture but instead on a
separate foundation that would provide the room needed to grow into the fully
featured modeler it now is, a decade later.

• Inventor 2015 continues the development of Inventor with assembly layout, plastic
parts, and other productivity tools.

• The maturity of the Inventor tools coincides with the advancement of the CAD
market’s adoption of 3D parametric modelers as a primary design tool.

Analysis Software:

ANSYS Mechanical 15.0

ANSYS is a complete FEA software package used by engineers worldwide in virtually all
fields of engineering:

– Structural

19
 – Thermal

– Fluid, including CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)

– Electrical / Electrostatics

– Electromagnetic

A partial list of industries in which ANSYS is used:

– Aerospace

– Automotive

– Biomedical

– Bridges & Buildings

– Electronics & Appliances

– Heavy Equipment & Machinery

– MEMS - Micro Electromechanical Systems

– Sporting Goods

Materials Used:

Materials Stainless Steel, Structural Steel, Gray cast Iron

Density
Young’s Modulus
Poisson Ratio
Bulk Modulus
Material Properties
Shear Modulus
Tensile Yield Strength
Compressive Yield Strength
Tensile Ultimate Strength

20
Type of Analysis:
1. Stress

2. Strain

3. Deformation

4. Safety Factor

5. Principal Stress

6. Principal Strain

Fig. 3.1

21
 Chapter 4
MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY
4.1 MATERIALS USED FOR THERMAL ANALYSIS
Thermal analysis is a branch of materials science where the properties of materials are
studied as they change with temperature .It is a technique in which a physical property of a
substance is measured as a function of temperature whilst the substance is subjected to a
controlled temperature program. In practice thermal analysis gives properties like; enthalpy,
thermal capacity, mass changes and the coefficient of heat expansion. Solid state chemistry
uses thermal analysis for studying reactions in the solid state, thermal degradation reactions,
phase transitions and phase diagrams. Thermal analysis Includes several different methods
such as:- Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), mass Differential thermal analysis (DTA),
temperature difference ,differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), heat difference, Pressurized
TGA (PTGA), mass changes as function of pressure, Thermo mechanical analysis (TMA),
deformations and dimension Dilatometer (DIL), volume evolved gas analysis (EGA):
gaseous decomposition products.

Materials used while analysis of solar air heater are:-

1. Aluminum
2. Glass
4.1.1 ALUMINIUM
Aluminum is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic number 13.
It is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal. Aluminum is the third most abundant
element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant metal, in the Earth's crust. It makes
up about 8% by mass of the crust, though it is less common in the mantle below. Aluminum
metal is so chemically reactive that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing
environments. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different minerals. The chief ore of
Aluminum is bauxite.

Aluminum is remarkable for the metal's low density and for its ability to resist corrosion due
to the phenomenon of passivation. Structural components made from Aluminum and its
alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and are important in other areas of transportation
and structural materials, such as building facades and window frames. The most useful
compounds of Aluminum, at least on a weight basis, are the oxides and sulfates.

Aluminum is a relatively soft, durable, lightweight, ductile and malleable metal with
appearance ranging from silvery to dull gray, depending on the surface roughness. It is
nonmagnetic and does not easily ignite. A fresh film of Aluminum serves as a good reflector
(approximately 92%) of visible light and an excellent reflector (as much as 98%) of medium
and far infrared radiation. The yield strength of pure Aluminum is 7–11 MPa, while
Aluminum alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa. Aluminum has

22
about one-third the density and stiffness of steel. It is easily machined, cast, drawn and
extruded.

Fig. 4.1 Aluminum

Corrosion resistance can be excellent due to a thin surface layer of Aluminum oxide that
forms when the metal is exposed to air, effectively preventing further oxidation. The
strongest Aluminum alloys are less corrosion resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed
copper. This corrosion resistance is also often greatly reduced by aqueous salts, particularly
in the presence of dissimilar metals. In highly acidic solutions, Aluminum reacts with water
to form hydrogen, and in highly alkaline ones to form aluminates— protective passivation
under these conditions is negligible. Also, chlorides such as common sodium chloride are
well-known sources of corrosion of Aluminum and are among the chief reasons that
household plumbing is never made from this metal.

Some of the many uses for Aluminum metal are in:

1. Transportation (automobiles, aircraft, trucks, railway cars, marine vessels, bicycles,

spacecraft, etc.) as sheet, tube, castings, etc.

2. Packaging (cans, foil, frame of etc.)

3. Construction (windows, doors, siding, building wire, etc.).[56]

4. A wide range of household items, from cooking utensils to baseball bats, watches.[57]

5. Street lighting poles, sailing ship masts, walking poles, etc.

6. Outer shells of consumer electronics, also cases for equipment e.g. photographic
equipment, MacBook Pro's casing.

7. Electrical transmission lines for power distribution ("creep" and oxidation are not issues in
this application as the terminations are usually multi-sided "crimps" which enclose all sides
of the conductor with a gas-tight seal).

8. MKM steel and Alnico magnets

23
9. Super purity Aluminum (SPA, 99.980% to 99.999% Al), used in electronics and CDs, and
also in wires/cabling.

10. Heat sinks for electronic appliances such as transistors and CPUs.

4.1.2 GLASS
Glass is a non-crystalline amorphous solid that is often transparent and has widespread
practical, technological, and decorative usage in, for example, window panes, tableware, and
optoelectronics. Scientifically, the term "glass" is often defined in a broader sense,
encompassing every solid that possesses a non-crystalline (that is, amorphous) structure at the
atomic scale and that exhibits a glass transition when heated towards the liquid state.

The most familiar, and historically the oldest, types of glass are based on the chemical
compound silica (silicon dioxide), the primary constituent of sand. The term glass, in popular
usage, is often used to refer only to this type of material, which is familiar from use as
window glass and in glass bottles. Of the many silica-based glasses that exist, ordinary
glazing and container glass is formed from a specific type called soda-lime glass, composed
of approximately 75% silicon dioxide (SiO2), sodium oxide (Na2O) from sodium carbonate
(Na2CO3), calcium oxide, also called lime (CaO), and several minor additives. A very clear
and durable quartz glass can be made from pure silica which is very tough and resistant to
thermal shock, being able to survive immersion in water while red hot. However, quartz must
be heated to well over 3,000 °F (1,650 °C) (white hot) before it begins to melt, and it has a
very narrow glass transition, making glassblowing and hot working difficult. In glasses like
soda lime, the other compounds are used to lower the melting temperature and improve the
temperature workability of the product at a cost in the toughness, thermal stability, and
optical transmittance.

Fig. 4.2 Glasses

Glass is in widespread use largely due to the production of glass compositions that are
transparent to visible light. In contrast, polycrystalline materials do not generally transmit
visible light. The individual crystallites may be transparent, but their facets (grain boundaries)
reflect or scatter light resulting in diffuse reflection. Glass does not contain the internal
subdivisions associated with grain boundaries in polycrystals and hence does not scatter light
in the same manner as a polycrystalline material. The surface of a glass is often smooth since
during glass formation the molecules of the super cooled liquid are not forced to dispose in
rigid crystal geometries and can follow surface tension, which imposes a microscopically
24
smooth surface. These properties, which give glass its clearness, can be retained even if glass
is partially light-absorbing—i.e., colored. Glass has the ability to refract, reflect, and transmit
light following geometrical optics, without scattering it. It is used in the manufacture of
lenses and windows. Common glass has a refraction index around 1.5. This may be modified
by adding low-density materials such as boron, which lowers the index of refraction (see
crown glass), or increased (to as much as 1.8) with high-density materials such as
(classically) lead oxide (see flint glass and lead glass), or in modern uses, less toxic oxides of
zirconium, titanium, or barium. These high-index glasses (inaccurately known as "crystal"
when used in glass vessels) cause more chromatic dispersion of light, and are prized for their
diamond-like optical properties. According to Fresnel equations, the reflectivity of a sheet of
glass is about 4% per surface (at normal incidence in air), and the transmissivity of one
element (two surfaces) is about 90%. Glass with high germanium oxide content also finds
application in optoelectronics—e.g., for light-transmitting optical fiber.

Color in glass may be obtained by addition of electrically charged ions (or color centers) that
are homogeneously distributed, and by precipitation of finely dispersed particles (such as in
photochromic glasses).Ordinary soda-lime glass appears colorless to the naked eye when it is
thin, although iron (II) oxide (FeO) impurities of up to 0.1 wt% produce a green tint, which
can be viewed in thick pieces or with the aid of scientific instruments. Further FeO and
Cr2O3 additions may be used for the production of green bottles. Sulfur, together with carbon
and iron salts, is used to form iron polysulfide and produce amber glass ranging from
yellowish to almost black. A glass melt can also acquire an amber color from a reducing
combustion atmosphere.

4.2 Modeling & Designing Tools

4.2.1 CREO

Creo is a family or suite of design software supporting product design for discrete
manufacturers and is developed by PTC. The suite consists of apps, each delivering a distinct
set of capabilities for a user role within product development. Creo runs on Microsoft
Windows and provides apps for 3D CAD parametric feature solid modeling, 3D direct
modeling, 2D orthographic views, Finite Element Analysis and simulation, schematic design,
technical illustrations, and viewing and visualization. Creo Elements/Pro and Creo Parametric
compete directly with CATIA, Siemens NX/Solid edge, and Solid works. The Creo suite of
apps replace and supersede PTC’s products formerly known as Pro/ENGINEER, Co Create,
and Product View. PTC began developing Creo in 2009, and announced it using the code
name Project Lightning at Planet PTC Live, in Las Vegas, in June 2010. In October 2010,
PTC unveiled the product name for Project Lightning to be Creo. PTC released Creo 1.0 in
June 2011.Creo apps are available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese,
Korean, Chinese Simplified, and Chinese Traditional. The extent of localization varies from
full translation of the product (including Help) to user interface only. Creo is part of a broader
product development system developed by PTC. It connects to PTC’s other solutions that aid
product development, including Wind-chill for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM),
Mathcad for engineering calculations and Arbor text for enterprise publishing software.

25
 Fig. 4.3 Product designed in CREO

4.2.2 AUTODESK INVENTOR

Autodesk Inventor, developed by U.S. based software company Autodesk, is a computer-
aided design application for creating 3D digital prototypes used in the design, visualization
and simulation of products. It uses Shape Manager, their proprietary geometric modeling
kernel. Autodesk Inventor competes directly with Solid Works and Solid Edge. Inventor
includes an integrated motion simulation and assembly stress analysis environment. Users
can input driving loads, friction characteristics, and dynamic components, then run dynamic
simulation tests to see how a product will work under real-world conditions. The simulation
tools can help users optimize strength and weight, identify high-stress areas, identify and
reduce unwanted vibrations, and size motors and actuators to reduce energy consumption.
Finite element analysis (FEA) lets users validate component design by testing how parts
perform under loads (using actual load information instead of estimates). Inventor’s
Parametric Studies and Optimization technology lets users modify design parameters from
within the assembly stress environment and compare various design options, then update the
3D model with the optimized parameters.

Inventor uses specific file formats for parts (IPT), assemblies (IAM), and drawing views
(IDW or DWG). Files can be imported or exported in DWG format. Design Web Format
(DWF) is Autodesk’s preferred 2D/3D data exchange and review format.

Inventor includes a Building Information Modeling (BIM) Exchange tool, used to create and
publish simplified 3D representations, intelligent connection points, and additional
information in native file formats for AutoCAD MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing)
software. Users can export 3D geometry to AutoCAD Architecture, Revit-based software,
and AutoCAD software, and exchange data with industrial design software such as Autodesk
Alias Design.

26
 Fig. 4.4 Structure designed in Autodesk inventor

Inventor is also used to design mechatronic systems since it is interoperable with electrical
software applications such as AutoCAD Electrical and E-plan. Inventor can exchange data
with applications such as CATIA V5, UGS, Solid Works, and Pro/ENGINEER. Inventor

27
supports direct import and export of CATIA V5, JT 6, JT 7, Para solid, Granite, UG-NX,
Solid Works, Pro/E, and SAT files. The Inventor Construction Environment provides fault-
tolerant import of large STEP and IGES data sets. Quarantine holds entities containing
geometric problems, such as surface slivers and mismatched boundary curves. Users can
publish drawings as PDF files, publish 3D part and assembly models in SAT or JT formats,
or create STL files for output to stereo lithography and 3D print machines.

4.3 Discretization Method

In mathematics, discretization concerns the process of transferring continuous functions,
models, and equations into discrete counterparts. This process is usually carried out as a first
step toward making them suitable for numerical evaluation and implementation on digital
computers. Processing on a digital computer requires another process called quantization.
Dichotomization is the special case of discretization in which the number of discrete classes
is 2, which can approximate a continuous variable as a binary variable (creating a dichotomy
for modeling purposes). Discretization is also related to discrete mathematics, and is an
important component of granular computing. In this context, discretization may also refer to
modification of variable or category granularity, as when multiple discrete variables are
aggregated or multiple discrete categories fused

4.3.1 Finite Element Method

The finite element method (FEM) is a numerical technique for finding approximate solutions
to boundary value problems for partial differential equations. It is also referred to as finite
element analysis (FEA). FEM subdivides a large problem into smaller, simpler, parts, called
finite elements. The simple equations that model these finite elements are then assembled into
a larger system of equations that models the entire problem. FEM then uses vibrational
methods from the cal. The subdivision of a whole domain into simpler parts has several
advantages:

1. Accurate representation of complex geometry

2. Inclusion of dissimilar material properties
3. Easy representation of the total solution
4. Capture of local effects ulus of variations to approximate a solution by minimizing an
associated error function.

28
A linear differential equation can be of the following form:

Lu q = + 0
Where u is the vector of primary variables of the problem, which are functions of the
coordinates, L is the differential operator and q is the vector of known functions. This
differential equation will be subjected to boundary conditions, which are usually of two
types- (i) the essential boundary conditions (ii) the natural boundary conditions. The essential
boundary conditions are the set of boundary conditions that are sufficient for solving the
differential equations completely. The natural boundary conditions are the boundary
conditions involving higher order derivative terms and are not sufficient for solving the
differential equation completely, requiring at least one essential boundary condition. For
example, consider the differential equation:

d/dx (EAdu/dx) + q=0

This problem can be solved completely under one of the following two conditions:

(i) u is prescribed at both ends.

(ii) u is prescribed at one end and du/dx is prescribed at the same or other end.

However, the problem cannot be solved if only du/dx is prescribed at both ends. Thus, we
surely require one boundary condition prescribing u. Therefore, for this problem u= u* is an
essential boundary condition and du/dx= (du/dx)* is a natural boundary condition, where *
indicates the prescribed value. Now consider the differential equation.

d2/dx2(EId2w/dx2)-q=0
This differential equation can be solved completely by specifying w and dw/dx at both ends.
One can also specify d2w/dx2 and/or d3w/dx3 as boundary conditions, however out of total
four boundary conditions, two must be of one of the following forms:

(i) w prescribed at both ends.

29
(ii) w prescribed at one end and dw/dx prescribed at the other end.

Thus, the prescribed values of w and dw/dx form the part of essential boundary conditions
and prescribed values of d2w/dx2 and d3w/dx3 form the part of natural boundary conditions.
Two popular FEM formulations are Galerkin formulation and Ritz formulation. In Galerkin
formulation, the primary variable is approximated by a continuous function inside the
element. When the approximate primary variable ue is substituted in Eq. (1), we shall get
residue depending on the approximating function, i.e.,

L + eu q = R

A typical work out of the method involves (1) dividing the domain of the problem into a
collection of subdomains, with each subdomain represented by a set of element equations to
the original problem, followed by (2) systematically recombining all sets of element
equations into a global system of equations for the final calculation. The global system of
equations has known solution techniques, and can be calculated from the initial values of the
original problem to obtain a numerical answer.

Fig. 4.5
In the first step above, the element equations are simple equations that locally approximate
the original complex equations to be studied, where the original equations are often partial
differential equations (PDE). To explain the approximation in this process, FEM is
commonly introduced as a special case of Galerkin method. The process, in mathematical
language, is to construct an integral of the inner product of the residual and the weight
functions and set the integral to zero. In simple terms, it is a procedure that minimizes the
error of approximation by fitting trial functions into the PDE. The residual is the error caused
by the trial functions, and the weight functions are polynomial approximation functions that

30
project the residual. The process eliminates all the spatial derivatives from the PDE, thus
approximating the PDE locally with

1. A set of algebraic equations for steady state problems.

2. A set of ordinary differential equations for transient problems.

These equation sets are the element equations. They are linear if the underlying PDE is linear,
and vice versa. Algebraic equation sets that arise in the steady state problems are solved using
numerical linear algebra methods, while ordinary differential equation sets that arise in the
transient problems are solved by numerical integration using standard techniques such as
Euler's method or the Runge-Kutta method.

Fig. 4.6 FEM mesh refinement

In step (2) above, a global system of equations is generated from the element equations
through a transformation of coordinates from the subdomains' local nodes to the domain's
global nodes. This spatial transformation includes appropriate orientation adjustments as
applied in relation to the reference coordinate system. The process is often carried out by
FEM software using coordinate data generated from the subdomains. FEM is best understood
from its practical application, known as finite element analysis (FEA). FEA has applied in
engineering is a computational tool for performing engineering analysis. It includes the use of
mesh generation techniques for dividing a complex problem into small elements, as well as
the use of software program coded with FEM algorithm. In applying FEA, the complex
problem is usually a physical system with the underlying physics such as the Euler-Bernoulli
beam equation, the heat equation, or the Navier-Stokes equations expressed in either PDE or
integral equations, while the divided small elements of the complex problem represent
different areas in the physical system .FEA is a good choice for analyzing problems over
complicated domains (like cars and oil pipelines), when the domain changes (as during a
solid state reaction with a moving boundary), when the desired precision varies over the
entire domain, or when the solution lacks smoothness. For instance, in a frontal crash

31
simulation it is possible to increase prediction accuracy in "important" areas like the front of
the car and reduce it in its rear (thus reducing cost of the simulation). Another example would
be in numerical weather prediction, where it is more important to have accurate predictions
over developing highly nonlinear phenomena (such as tropical cyclones in the atmosphere, or
eddies in the ocean) rather than relatively calm areas.

4.3.2 Mesh generation

Mesh generation is the practice of generating a polygonal or polyhedral mesh that
approximates a geometric domain. The term "grid generation" is often used interchangeably.
Typical uses are for rendering to a computer screen or for physical simulation such as finite
element analysis or computational fluid dynamics. The input model form can vary greatly but
common sources are CAD, NURBS, B-rep, STL (file format) or a point cloud. The field is
highly interdisciplinary, with contributions found in mathematics, computer science, and
engineering.

Three-dimensional meshes created for finite element analysis need to consist of tetrahedral,
pyramids, prisms or hexahedra. Those used for the finite volume method can consist of
arbitrary polyhedral. Those used for finite difference methods usually need to consist of
piecewise structured arrays of hexahedra known as multi-block structured meshes. A mesh is
otherwise a discretization of a domain existing in one, two or three dimensions.

The grid generation by algebraic methods is done by using known functions in one, two or
three dimensions taking arbitrary shaped regions. The computational domain might not be
rectangular one, but for the sake of simplicity, the domain is taken to be rectangular. The
simplest procedure that may be used to produce boundary fitted computational mesh is the
normalization transformation.

For a nozzle, with the describing function y = x2 the grid can easily be generated using
uniform division in y-direction with equally spaced increments in x-direction, which are
described by

Ε=x
ὴ=y/ymax

4.4 Thermal Analysis Tool

4.4.1 CFD or Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics

that uses numerical analysis and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid
flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of
liquids and gases with surfaces defined by boundary conditions. With high-speed
supercomputers, better solutions can be achieved. Ongoing research yields software that
improves the accuracy and speed of complex simulation scenarios such as transonic or

32
turbulent flows. Initial experimental validation of such software is performed using a wind
tunnel with the final validation coming in full-scale testing, e.g. flight tests.

Computational fluid dynamics has been around since the early 20th century and many people
are familiar with it as a tool for analyzing air flow around cars and aircraft. As the cooling
infrastructure of server rooms has increased in complexity, CFD has also become a useful
tool in the data center for analyzing thermal properties and modeling air flow. CFD software
requires information about the size, content and layout of the data center. It uses this
information to create a 3D mathematical model on a grid that can be rotated and viewed from
different angles. CFD modeling can help an administrator identify hot spots and learn where
cold air is being wasted or air is mixing

Simply by changing variables, the administrator can visualize how cold air will flow through
the data center under a number of different circumstances. This knowledge can help the
administrator optimize the efficiency of an existing cooling infrastructure and predict the
effectiveness of a particular layout of IT equipment. For example, if an administrator wanted
to take one rack of hard drive storage and split the hard drives over two racks, a CFD
program could simulate the change and help the administrator understand what adjustments
would be need to be made to deal with the additional heat load before any time or money has
been spent

The fundamental basis of almost all CFD problems are the Navier–Stokes equations, which
define any single-phase (gas or liquid, but not both) fluid flow. These equations can be
simplified by removing terms describing viscous actions to yield the Euler equations. Further
simplification, by removing terms describing vortices yields the full potential equations.
Finally, for small perturbations in subsonic and supersonic flows (not transonic or
hypersonic) these equations can be linearized to yield the linearized potential equations.
Historically, methods were first developed to solve the linearized potential equations. Two-
dimensional (2D) methods, using conformal transformations of the flow about a cylinder to
the flow about an airfoil were developed in the 1930s.

33
 Fig. 4.7 CFD Analysis

In all of these approaches the same basic procedure is followed.

1. During preprocessing
1.1 The geometry (physical bounds) of the problem is defined.
1.2 The volume occupied by the fluid is divided into discrete cells (the mesh). The
mesh may be uniform or non-uniform.

34
 1.3 The physical modeling is defined – for example, the equations of motion +
enthalpy + radiation + species conservation
1.4 Boundary conditions are defined. This involves specifying the fluid behavior and
properties at the boundaries of the problem. For transient problems, the initial
conditions are also defined.
2. The simulation is started and the equations are solved iteratively as a steady-state or
transient.

3. Finally a postprocessor is used for the analysis and visualization of the resulting solution.

4.5 Component of Solar Air Heater

In this project, we have taken solar air heater with three different surfaces into consideration
that are plain surface, normal zig-zag surface and inclined zig-zag surface. Aluminum and
glass is used to make the solar air heater. Instead of normal window glass, toughened glass
has utilized in this research work. Thermal losses of cover due to convection as well as
radiation process are assumed as constant. Due to corrugated shape of absorber plate, easily
air flow will occur so no vent is required in solar air heater. Aluminum cans have used to
create obstruction on the way of air and to increase temperature as well as thermal efficiency
of solar air heater. Each Aluminum can was opened on top as well as bottom to receive air
flow from it. Inlet as well as outlet temperatures were measured. Solar air heater performance
tests were conducted on days with clear sky condition means without clouds in the sky, hence
the amount of direct radiation will be more. Here, mass flow rate remains constant.

35
 Chapter 5
ANALYSIS OF SOLAR AIR HEATER
In this chapter we have to deal with the analysis of solar air heater on the software “ANSYS
WORKBENCH 15.0” and also using “ANSYS FLUENT SOLVER” for solving the results
for analysis. We have to do the analysis of a solar air heater using CFD as a tool. For this we
take a defined geometry made from CREO/AUTODESK INVENTOR. In practically the
geometry is made from the aluminum and glass materials. We have to analysis the amount
and efficiency of air heated by the solar heater by taking three types of different designs and
do analysis on them and adapt a best design for solar air heater.

5.1 Analysis tools:

5.1.1 Ansys workbench 15.0
Ansys workbench 15.0 is a released version of Ansys analysis software. It is a product of
Ansys, Inc. which is an American Computer-aided engineering software company.it is
headquartered south of Pittsburgh in Cecil Township, Pennsylvania, and United States. Ansys
publishes engineering analysis software has a range of disciplines including finite element
analysis, structural analysis, computational fluid dynamics, explicit and implicit methods, and
heat transfer. ANSYS 15.0 is the last version of Ansys software that has to be support
Windows XP operating system, Windows 7 (32-bit) operating system, and the Windows 32-
bit platform.

Fig. 5.1

Ansys 15.0 is similar to its older versions with the often commands and it has a classic Ansys
interface, the last few years have seen the company focus on moving both its core structural
analysis tools (as well as the long list of acquisitions in recent years) to the Workbench
platform. Workbench provides a single interface to all of Ansys’ tools. From the classic

36
structural tools to the various CFD solvers and technologies it has access to (Ansys acquired
both Fluent and CFX in recent years) and the more special purpose technologies in its stable.

The goal is to provide a single platform that allows users to take advantage of a more simple,
schematic style approach to build simulation tasks. It’s driven by building up and connecting
different building blocks. Each of these blocks allows you to take inputs and outputs from
one stage and feed them into the next or indeed, multiple processes. The clever part is how
Workbench 15.0 is handling the transformation and repurposing of that data.

Some of the basic features of ansys workbench 15.0 and the improvements over the previous
versions are following-:

User customization

Workbench 15.0 rewrote the book on how Ansys users interacted with the underlying
technology, but it’s also the case that longtime users have a lot of experience and knowledge
built into scripts, automation routines and other in-house developed items.

The last few releases have seen the ACT (Ansys Customization Template) environment start
to flesh out. This enables users to take their own assets and publish them for others to take
advantage of, perhaps bringing them into Workbench as entities on their own or even
distributing them publically through an app store like approach.

Large complex models

When it comes to large simulation tasks (in terms of geometry complexity), workbench 15.0
has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Much of this centers on the ability to use the most appropriate modelling technique to solve
the problems we are working on then change it to focus in on details where needed and best
illustrated by stepping through the workflow. We can see a screenshot of ansys workbench
15.0 handling a complex model.

Fig. 5.2

37
Meshing updates

The big change on the meshing front for this release 15.0 is that the core meshing tools in
Ansys now run across multiple cores/threads.

What’s interesting is how this has changed. In previous releases, it worked in serial, meshing
the first part, then the second, then the next and so on. Now, Ansys works in parallel on a per
part basis and does so without the inherent limitations of Ansys.in short if you have got a
workstation with multiple cores or threads available, it will use them to process your meshing
tasks. In 15.0 onwards, it’s now possible to begin a simulation process using previously
created meshes, rather than pure analytic geometry from a 3D CAD system. This allows a
couple of workflows to function.

Composite design

Moving onto more specialist updates, the Ansys 15 release sees work accelerating on the
composites simulation front. While the last major release saw Workbench gain tools to assist
with the complex business of defining how composite materials are defined in the system,
this 15.0 release sees that work move on and greater integration with ACP (Ansys Composite
Prep/Post) for pre and post processing these types of models, from sheet material definition to
ply orientation and into how the models are built from the ground up.

Contact and bolt pre-tension

While nowhere near as specialist as composites, another area that’s seen greater intelligence
added is in the definition of bolt pretension. In previous versions simulation of define a bolted
connection between two or more components is complex. 3D CAD integrated simulation
tools tend to provide the user with pre-configured tools to define the bolt, tension and
influenced areas on a mesh. Ansys workbench 15.0 extends this type of automated tool to give you
much greater control we are not only working with real-world values (such as thread pitch), but
also pitch diameter, thread starts, thread direction (left or right handed) etc.

The results are computed quickly and once established, can be reused wherever needed in the
same model or indeed, across multiple studies.

Exporting Results for Fluid Solid Interface

Compared to the pervious release, the Export Results property of the Fluid Solid Interface
boundary condition in workbench 15.0 is now, by default, set to No.

Solving Units

Mechanical analysis now supports a new unit quantity, Temperature Gradient, for
temperature changes per unit length.

Contact and Connection Enhancements

The Connections Worksheet now provides information for the properties of Spring
Connections and Beam Connections

38
 Fig. 5.3 Design 1 – Plain surface

Fig. 5.4 Design 2 – Normal Zig zag surface

39
 Fig. 5.5 Design 3 – Inclined zig zag surface

Graphics Enhancements

New graphic tools are introduced in workbench 15.0

Mapping Enhancements

Mapping validation objects can now be inserted under imported data objects from linked
analyses (Thermal Stress, Sub modeling, and Acoustic Coupling).

Loads/Supports enhancements

• For a Harmonic Analysis, the following boundary conditions now support frequency
dependent tabular loading.

-Acceleration

-force

- Moment

-Pressure

- Remote Force

So these are some features and improvements in workbench 15.0.

5.1.2 Ansys fluent solver:

We have to do the analysis of a solar air heater using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)
as a tool so we have to use Ansys fluent solver for solving the results of analysis.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the science of predicting fluid flow, heat and mass

40
transfer, chemical reactions, and related phenomena by solving numerically the set of
governing mathematical equations.

The results of CFD analyses solving with the fluent solver.

– Conceptual studies of new designs

– Detailed product development

– Troubleshooting

– Redesign

Ansys fluent solver comes with the Ansys workbench 15.0 or basically we can say it’s a part
or function of Ansys workbench 15.0.

Various models which are introduced in Ansys fluent solver 15.0

Turbulence

A new sub grid-scale model is available for the large eddy simulation (LES) model, called
the Wall Modeled LES S-Omega approach. It is an enhancement of the WMLES approach.
WMLES does not provide zero eddy-viscosity for flows with constant shear. Consequently, it
does not allow the computation of transitional effects, and can produce overly large eddy-
viscosities in separating shear layers.

Heat Transfer and Radiation

The ability to use multi-layer shells to model heat transfer in the normal and planar directions
of walls made up of layers of different materials.

Combustion and Species Transport

•A reactor network model is available for modeling detailed chemical kinetics as a network
of stirred reactors.

•A new spark model has been implemented that is much less sensitive to numerical
parameters such as mesh and time-step size.

Discrete Phase Model

•Ability to calculate unsteady time statistics (mean and RMS) for discrete phase particle
quantities.

• Ability to specify discrete phase density as a function of temperature.

Eulerian Multiphase Model

New methods for specifying/computing interphase heat-transfer coefficients in the Eulerian

multiphase model.

41
 Fig. 5.6 Result 1 – Plain surface

Fig. 5.7 Result 2 – Normal zig zag surface

42
 Fig. 5.8 Result 3 – Inclined zig zag surface

Eulerian Wall Film Model

The phase change option of Eulerian wall film model is now compatible with the mixture and
the Eulerian multiphase models.

For a given problem or analysis we will have to follow these steps to solve it by ansys fluent
solver.

-Define material properties.

-Select appropriate physical models available in fluent solver (Turbulence, discrete phase,
multiphase, etc.).

-Prescribe operating conditions.

-Prescribe boundary conditions at all boundary zones.

-Provide initial values or a previous solution.

-Set up solver controls.

Here are some features of Ansys fluent solver 15.0.

43
Solver-Numeric

• Mesh interfaces between solid zones of the same material are now created as interior-type
interfaces rather than coupled-wall interfaces. This improves mesh-read performance for
cases with many solid zone interfaces.

• A new option has been added to use Laplace coefficients for coarsening in the AMG solver.

Solver-Meshing

• A node-based algorithm is now used for diffusion-based smoothing offering improved

robustness. In addition, a new smoothing method is available which is based on the equations
for a linearly elastic solid.

Material Properties

• We can define and edit materials in the Create/Edit Materials dialog box while using the
single species and multi-species NIST real gas models.

• We can set the phase (liquid or vapor) for a specific fluid zone for the real-gas models.

Cell Zone and Boundary Conditions

• When using the Non-Reflecting Boundary Condition option at a pressure-outlet with the
pressure based solver, we can specify whether to use Static Pressure or Total Pressure for
Backflow Pressure Specification.

Mesh Optimizer

• Ability to select multiple control points and multiple parameters when defining the scaling
factor settings for the mesh optimizer.

5.2 Environmental conditions:-

Environmental conditions for a solar air heater that the environment in which the solar air
heater is placed during its working or analysis.

We have to do the analysis of air heater which is placed on the rooftop of a building in Jaipur.
For this we have to define some specific environmental properties of Jaipur. Which are as
follows-

 Latitude coordinate of Jaipur in decimals-20.0

 Longitude coordinate of Jaipur-77.0
 Time zone of Jaipur-GMT+5.30
 Weather conditions-winter
The solar air heater is placed in open environment so that it can absorbs, reflects and
transmits the sun rays and heat the air which passes through it. For proper flow of air through
it we have to use a blower.The various phenomenon or process that takes place due to
surrounding environment of solar air heater.

44
Radiation-radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or
particles through space or through a material medium.

In solar air heater the radiation takes place by the rays of sun which directly implies on the
glass plate of the solar air heater thus it get heated by the radiation of sun.

Radiation in solar air heater consists of three sub-process which are as follows-

Fig. 5.9

Absorption-glass plate of solar air heater absorbs the sun rays and gain heat from it and
transferred it to air and thus air get heated. This radiation is known as absorbed radiation.

Reflection-some part of the radiation is reflected by the glass plate which is called as
reflected radiation.it gives heat to the upper part of glass plate.

Transmission-some of the part of radiation gets transmitted through the glass plate and the
heated the air which was flowing through the solar air heater.

Radiation in solar air heater depends upon following factors-

 Design of solar air heater.

 Material of solar air heater body.
 Material of upper glass plate of solar air heater.
 Environmental conditions of place at which the analysis have to be done.

5.3 Boundary conditions:-

Boundary conditions of solar air heater defines the boundary characteristics of the various
parts of solar air heater.

At first air goes from air blower to the air inlet part which is made of aluminum material.
Mid part of body of solar air heater have four sides three sides which called walls are made
of aluminum material and upper wall which have directly face the solar rays is made of glass
material and the end part is air outlet part and made from the aluminum material.

45
 Chapter 6
RESULT

Fig. 6.1 Result

A Three- dimensional Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis has been carried out to
study heat transfer behavior in a rectangular duct of solar air heater having plain surface and
artificial roughness. Three surfaces are taken into consideration: plain surface, normal zig zag
surface and inclined zig zag surface. By the CFD analysis, we found that efficiency of solar
air heater with plain surface rectangular duct is more than the solar air heater with normal zig
zag and inclined zig zag surface. It can be seen from fig. 22 that the enhancement in heat
transfer of the abnormal duct with respect to the smooth duct is less.

46
 Chapter 7
APPLICATIONS
Types of applications for solar air heating are numerous:
Production plants, factories, workshops, warehouses, exhibition halls, offices, institutional
facilities, theatres, gymnasiums, dryers, cleaners. The right solar heating product will perform
best if properly integrated within the HVAC and control system of the building.

Solar air heating connected to the make-up air unit:-

This application is the most common. The solar air collector is mounted upstream of the
make-up air unit, preheating the air before it reaches the burner. In this configuration, any
solar heat gain is a useful energy gain, e.g. will save fuel. Even on cloudy winter days, a
relatively low temperature rise of 5C will result in fuel and money savings.

This set-up is to be used preferably if the operating hours of the unit are over 6 hours per day,
5 days a week.

Fig. 7.1

Solar air heating in parallel with the make-up air unit:-

In this application, the fan pulls in outside air through the solar collectors and mixes it with
inside, with interlocked mixing dampers, so that air is delivered at a constant supply
temperature inside the building. As a result, outside air flow may vary depending on sunshine
and weather conditions. Advantages of this configuration include:

 Solar gains at all times, even during unoccupied periods (week-ends)

 Mechanically independent of the gas-fired make-up air unit
 Linked with other HVAC components via automated controls
47
  Oxygen-rich heated fresh air supply (as opposed to fuel gas from direct-fired units)

Fig. 7.2

This configuration is generally used if the gas-fired unit works irregularly, upon gas detection
(alarm) or if the make-up air unit cannot easily de ducted to the solar air heater.

Solar air heating within loop of roof-top unit:-

Thanks to our line of roof mounted solar panels which deliver heat even in the coldest
conditions, preheat the air before it reaches the ventilation unit.

Fig.7.3

48
 Chapter 8
CONCLUSION
A Three- dimensional Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis has been carried out to
study heat transfer behavior in a rectangular duct of solar air heater having artificial
roughness. There is a good agreement between the experimental and simulated results for
outlet air temperatures. The Nusselt number of CFD results has maximum ±8.73 % over
experimental results. In this present investigation, a prediction has been conducted to study
heat transfer behaviors of a rectangular duct of a solar air heater having plain surface and
artificial roughness on the absorber plate. The main conclusions are:

1. There is no doubt that a major focus of CFD analysis of solar air heater is to enhance the
design process that deals with the heat transfer and fluid flow.

2. In recent years CFD has been applied in the design of solar air heater. The quality of the
solutions obtained from CFD simulations are largely within the acceptable range proving that
CFD is an effective tool for predicting the behavior and performance of a solar air heater.

3. Solar air heater with plain surface have better efficiency of heat transfer as compared to
abnormal surface.

49
 Chapter 9

FUTURE SCOPE
India has tremendous scope of generating solar energy. The geographical location of the
country stands to its benefit for generating solar energy. The reason being India is a tropical
country and it receives solar radiation almost throughout the year, which amounts to 3,000
hours of sunshine. This is equal to more than 5,000 trillion kWh. Almost all parts of India
receive 4-7 kWh of solar radiation per sq. metres. This is equivalent to 2,300–3,200 sunshine
hours per year. States like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, and West Bengal have great potential for tapping
solar energy due to their location. Since majority of the population lives in rural areas, there
is much scope for solar energy being promoted in these areas. Use of solar energy can reduce
the use of firewood and dung cakes by rural household.

Solar air heating is a solar thermal technology in which the energy from the sun, insolation, is
captured by an absorbing medium and used to heat air. Solar air heating is a renewable
energy heating technology used to heat or condition air for buildings or process heat
applications. It is typically the most cost-effective out of all the solar technologies, especially
in commercial and industrial applications, and it addresses the largest usage of building
energy in heating climates, which is space heating and industrial process heating.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a powerful numerical tool that is becoming widely
used to simulate many processes in the food industry. Recent progression in computing
efficacy coupled with reduced costs of CFD software packages has advanced CFD as a viable
technique to provide effective and efficient design solutions. This paper discusses the
fundamentals involved in developing a CFD solution. It also provides a state-of-the-art
review on various CFD applications in the food industry such as ventilation, drying,
sterilisation, refrigeration, cold display and storage, and mixing and elucidates the physical
models most commonly used in these applications. The challenges faced by modellers using
CFD in the food industry are also discussed.

We used CFD as tool for thermal analysis in solar air heater because it gives effective and
efficient result compared to the manual thermal analysis. We can’t differentiate higher order
differential equation more than two times manually because it’s very complicated
mathematical problem but by using FEM and CFD as a tool we can differentiate higher or
more higher differentiate equation with 10th power 9 times and we have probability to get
error 0%. We are being more cautious about losses so firstly we have done thermal analysis
of solar air heater on different model and lastly we get a model which is more effective and
efficient compare to other models so we have used it. Solar air heater uses solar energy and
rises the temperature of air at a particular limit which we want, so without using electricity
and fuel we get hot air with no maintenance only set up cost introduced in it.

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