CFD Simulation of Weather Condition Effect on the Performance of Dual Purpose Solar Collector

Abstract

In this research, study the performance of dual-purpose solar thermal collectors numerically simulation was done. The study included studying a new type of absorber plate and water pipes distribution. The simulation part of this research is done by using the COMSOL Multiphysics program version 5.5. The new type was a corrugated absorber plate with (2*1) m dimensions and zig-zag water pipes with (0.01) m diameter passage through the absorber plate. The effect of solar irradiance, ambient temperature, wind speed, water volumetric flow, and inlet water temperature on the performance of the dual-purpose solar thermal collector was studied. The numerical simulation results that the maximum error between the present work and the previous experimental work was  2.4%., and also that when the solar irradiance, inlet water temperature, and ambient temperature increases the outlet temperature increases, but it decreases with the wind speed