THERMO-HYDRAULIC PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF PARABOLIC CONCENTRATING SOLAR WATER HEATER

This paper concerns the thermo-hydraulic performance analysis of a PCSWH (parabolic concentrating solar water heater) with placing the PTT (perforated twisted tape) in the absorber tube. The experiments are performed using water as testing fluid. In this analysis, the mass flow rate changes from 0.0326 kg/s to 0.0667 kg/s and Reynolds number ranges from 2100 to 4250 respectively. The analysis is based on the effect of porosity of the PTT and mass flow rate over the pressure drop and heat transfer enhancement during the flow into the absorber tube of the PCSWH. At last to guess the increment in pressure drop and enhancement of heat transfer the empirical correlations for friction factor and the Nusselt number have been formulated considering the turbulent effect caused by PTT inside the absorber tube. The major observations of this analysis are that PTT enhances the pressure drop and heat transfer and also both enhances with increasing porosity of the PTT.