Experimental and CFD analyses of corrugated-plate solar collector by force convection

Solar energy is the best among all renewable energy sources owing to its low effective cost and eco-friendly character. In this study, the header and riser pipe design is studied using an absorber plate and the outlet water temperature of a corrugated-plate solar collector (CPSC). The CPSC is affected by different working parameters, such as atmospheric temperature, inlet and outlet water temperatures, solar radiation, and wind speed. Two mass flow rates (0.0167 kg/s and 0.025 kg/s) have been used in this paper. Outlet water temperatures of up to 56 degrees and 48.5 degrees could be easily obtained by the CPSC for mass flow rates of 0.0167 kg/s and 0.025 kg/s, respectively. The heat transfer and fluid flow analyses in a CPSC using experimental and CFD ANSYS 17.2 models have been presented in this work. It is established that experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results give good agreement.