Comparison Of 2 Angle Collectors With Variations 0°, 20°, 30°

and Trapezoidal Groove Plate

Adolf Ronny H. Sirait, Gery P Hutapea And Himsar Ambarita
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara,
Jl. Almamater, Kampus USU, Medan, 20155, Indonesia

Email: himsar@usu.ac.id
Abstract
Numerical study of three types of collectors. There is 0°, 20° ,30° of angled two collectors. This
simulation finds out which collector will be the most optimum tilt angled solar collector while every
collector got same sun’s radiation. The boundary condition are The simulation will be at 3.33 ° North
and 98.39 ° East (Mechanical Engineering Magister Program, University of North Sumatra, Medan)
and The simulation will be on 23 April at 12.30 Measurement point in this simulation are the inlet
temperature, the outlet temperature, absorber plate. The most efficient collector is 30°
I. Introduction
Indonesia is located at 60 LU - 110 LU and 950 East - 1410 East, and is in the equatorial region so that
Indonesia has a tropical climate. It means that solar energy is a blessing natural resource that plays
an important role in the future because the shortage of fossil fuels for Indonesia. Solar energy can
be converted to electricity via a photovoltaic (PV) cell or thermal energy via a solar collector to
heat either water or air. The amount of solar radiation received on a collector depends on latitude,
day of the year, slope or tilt angle, surface azimuth angle, time of the day, and the angle of
incident radiation. The factors that can be controlled to maximize the amount of radiation flux received
upon the collector are surface azimuth angle and tilt angle by installing a collector properly[1]
Duffie and Beckman [2] gives “rules of thumb” that to give maximum annual energy availability, a
surface slope equal to latitude is the optimal and the surface should face the equator. It means a solar
collector in southern hemisphere should face to the North with slope equal to its latitude to get maximum
solar radiation. El-Sebaii et al. [3] found that at Jeddah, the solar energy devices have to be tilted to face
south with a tilt angle equals the latitude of the place in order to achieve the optimal performance all year
round. Danny H.W. Li et al. [4] used the whole 2004 year 10-minute horizontal radiation and sky radiance
data recorded in Hong Kong for the analysis. The incident solar radiation data on various inclined surfaces
facing different 8 orientations were calculated. The optimum tilt angle was found to be around 20° due
south, which would receive the annual solar yield over 1598 kWh/m2 . The findings support that a solar
collector with the tilt angle approximately equal to latitude of the place could receive maximum annual
solar radiation. Gopinathan [5] reported that a research is done on several surface orientations at three
inclinations for six different azimuth angles. He got a different optimum tilt and orientation for summer,
winter and annual collection. Gunerhan et al. [6] found the optimal orientation for solar collectors in Izmir
is due south. For increasing the efficiency of solar collectors, it is recommended that, if it is possible, the
solar collector should be mounted at the monthly average tilt angle and the slope adjusted once a month.
Can et al. [7] found that high tilt angles during the autumn (September to November) and winter (December
to February) and low tilt angles during the summer (March to August) enabled the solar collector surface
to absorb the maximum amount of solar radiation. Monthly optimum tilt angles were estimated devising a
sinusoidal function of latitude and day of the year. Tian Pau Chang [8] investigated the optimal angle in
Taiwan. It was calculated according to three different radiation types, i.e. the extraterrestrial radiation,
global radiation predicted by empirical model and ten-year observation data from 1990 to 1999. Tian Pau
Chang’s results show that the angles calculated from the extraterrestrial and predicted radiations are simply
latitude-dependent and thus can be well determined, but the angles estimated from observation data vary
from location to location and are generally flatter than those from other two radiation types. It tells us that
the collector must be installed with a flatter tilt angle when it works in a cloudy or pollutant environment.
Emanuele Calabrò [9] built a relationship between the optimum tilt angles and the geographic latitude
outside tropics from 36° to 46°. He declared that the optimum tilt angle values for winter months were
found to be very different from the values relative to summer months. Tang et al. [10] proposed a simple
mathematical procedure for estimating the optimal tilt angle of a fixed collector based on monthly global
and diffuse radiation. They made estimation of the optimal tilt angle of south-facing collectors used for the
entire year (January to December) in several cities in China.
In Indonesia itself, Eka Handoyo [1] found that the optimal tilt angle of a collector to get maximum
solar radiation in Surabaya . For a collector installed in Surabaya, the optimal tilt angle during March 12 –
September 30 is varied between 0° – 40° (face to the North) and during October 1 – March 11 is between
0° – 30° (face to the South). Other choice is installing two collectors, i.e. one facing to the East to be used
in the morning and one to the West in the afternoon. The optimal tilt angle for these orientations is 36° –
39.4°.These previous studies had not been done in Medan. So in this case the boundary condition are
1. The simulation will be at 3.33 ° North and 98.39 ° East (Mechanical Engineering Magister
Program, University of North Sumatra Medan)
2. The simulation will be on 23 April at 12.30

II Methods
In accordance with the boundary condition in this research , in this simulation testing held at locations
3.33 ° N and 98.39 ° East on 23 April 2019 at 12.30. Based on the boundry condition so we can get amount
the sun’s radiation.
2.1 Pre Processing
This process is the initial modeling process in research to create a model that will be numerically
computed. The model is fluid that flows in the collector and the there pictures are as follows the fluid, as
for

(a) (b)

(c)
Figure 2.1 Fluid Domain (a)0° (b)20° (c)30°
 The stages of pre-processing consist of several steps, namely geometry, meshing, and determination of
boundry conditions and solar calculation. At this stage ANSYS Student Version 19.1 software is used.
Tabel 2.2 Boundry Condition
Boundry condition Information
Inlet Tipe :Velocity Inlet
Temperature :38°C
Velocity :1 m/s
Outlet Tipe :Outflow
Stytrofoam Tipe :Wall
Material :Styrofoam
Glass Tipe :Wall
Material :Glass
Absober Plate Tipe :Wall
Material :Alumunium

Tabel 2.2 Boundry Condition

Based on limitation that have been mention before so the will be at coordinates 3.33 ° north latitude
and 98.39 ° east longitude. The time will be on April 23, 2019 at 12:30

Figure 2.3 Set-up Solar Calculator

After completing the solar calculator settings we can find out the solar radiation energy to the earth as
for the results as shown in figure 2.4

Figure 2.4 Direct Normal Solar Radiation

2.2 Processing
This process is a continuation of processing where the geometry and set-up is ready to run at this stage,
using the Fluent ANSYS Student Version 19.1 software.
2.3 Post Processing
Numerical simulation is done then we will get temperature data on the flat absorber plate and angular
absorber plate. After
2.4 Overall Heat Loss Coefficient
We can calculate overall heat loss coefficient based on question 1[8]:
𝑈𝐿 = 𝑈𝑡 + 𝑈𝑏 + 𝑈𝑒..................................................... (1)
Where is, 𝑈𝐿 is the Overall Heat Loss Coefficient, 𝑈𝑡 is the Top Heat Loss Coefficient, 𝑈𝑏 is the Bottom
Heat Loss Coefficient , and 𝑈𝑒 is the Edge Heat Loss Coefficient.
Where by using the empirical equation S.A. Klein has been modified by Agarwal and Larson, so the upper
heat loss can be searched using equation 2 , which is:
𝑁 1 −1 𝜎(𝑇𝑝 +𝑇𝑎 )(𝑇𝑝2 +𝑇𝑎2 )
Ut = { 𝐶 (𝑇𝑝 +𝑇𝑎 )
+ } + 2𝑁+𝑓−1 ….... ........................... (2)
[ ] ℎ𝑤 [𝜀𝑝 +0.05𝑁(1−𝜀𝑝 )]−1 + 𝑁
𝑇𝑝 (𝑁 + 𝑓) 𝜀𝑐

Where :
ℎ𝑤 = 5.7 + 3.8v (W/m2.K)
ƒ = (1 – 0.04 ℎw+ 0.0005 ℎw ) (1 + 0.091 N)
C = 520 (1 – 0.000051β2)
v = wind velocity (m/s)
N = Number of cover
𝜀𝑐 = emissivity cover
𝜀𝑝 = emissivity plat absorber
σ = Stefan-Boltzman constant (5.67x10−8 W/m2.K4)
𝑇𝑝 = Temperature of plat absorber (K)
𝑇𝑎 = Ambient temperature (K)
The bottom value of the heat loss coefficient is approximated by the following this equation
𝑈𝑏 = 𝑘 . 𝐿 ...........................................................................(3)
Where, 𝑘 is bottom thermal conductivity of insulators, and 𝐿 is Insulator’s thickness
The coefficient value of the side heat loss is also approximated by the following this equation [6]:
(𝑈𝐴)𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒
𝑈𝑒 = ....................................................... (4)
𝐴𝑐
Where, UA is k/L x perimeter of collector x thickness and Ac is surface area of collector (m2)

2.5 Heat rate transfer from radiation

By knowing the dimensions of the collector and the intensity of solar radiation, the heat transfer rate
received by the collector is obtained by this equation:
qin is Ap x normal solar radiation
where is, UA is k/L x perimeter of collector x thickness and Ac is surface area of collector (m2)
2.6 Collector Efficiency
The efficiency of flat plate collector is influenced by many factors such as the size of collector,
geographical location, velocity, humidity ,the temperature of the surrounding air etc. The thermal efficiency
for solar collector can be determined by Eq(6)[12]
𝑚̇̇𝑎 𝐶𝑝𝑎 (𝑇𝑜 −𝑇𝑖 )
𝜂𝑐 = ........................................... (6)
𝐴𝑝 𝐼
Where, 𝑚̇𝑎 is mass air flow (kg/s), Cpa is , To is outlet temperature, Ti is inlet temperature, To is outlet
temperature, Ap is area of surface absorber plate (m2), and I is radiation (W/m2)
III Results and Discussion
We will calculate and compare the result of solar collector. Figure 3.1 show distribution temperature
each solar collector .

(a) (b)

(c)
Figure 3.1 Numerical simulation results of temperature distribution on the dryer
After we got the distribution of temperature, we need to know the average temperature. The average
temperature will be shown at table 3.1

Tabel 3.1 Average Temperature

Simulastion Simulation Simulation
0° 20° 30°
Temperatur plat Absober (1) (°C) 77.83 81.81
Temperatur plat Absober (2) (°C) 82.44 84.24
Inlet (°C) 47 50.63 50.079
outlet (°C) 68.152 71.9 71.07
Tabel 3.2 Quse and Effectivity of Solar Collector

Variation Solar Collector Quse Efficiency

0° 28468.34 0.86
20° 29646.81 0.90
30° 30159.06 0.91
 Quse of sollar collector
30500

Quse of sollar collector (J) 30000

29500

29000

28500

28000

27500
Variation Solar Collector

0° 20° 30°

Figure 3.3 Graphic Experimental and simulation temperature comparison

IV Conclusions
Based on the simulation results, the most efficient solar collector is 30°solar collector. For the
continuation and development of this research in the future, the next research should use Ansys 19.2 full
version. The goal is that during the meshing process can increase the number of nodes and elements. For
experimental analysis in order to get optimal work ability (better), a good modification is done by designing
from the collector and drying chamber/box.

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