Comparative study of the efficiency of rectangular and triangular flat plate solar collectors through finite element method

Isaac Simbaña; William Quitiaquez; Patricio Cabezas; Patricio Quitiaquez

doi:10.37116/revistaenergia.v20.n2.2024.593

Comparative study of the efficiency of rectangular and triangular flat plate solar collectors through finite element method

Estudio comparativo de la eficiencia de colectores solares de placa plana rectangular y triangular mediante el método de elementos finitos

Published 2024-01-17

https://doi.org/10.37116/revistaenergia.v20.n2.2024.593

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Vol. 20 No. 2 (2024): Revista Técnica "energía", Edición No. 20, ISSUE II

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EFICIENCIA ENERGÉTICA

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Comparative study of the efficiency of rectangular and triangular flat plate solar collectors through finite element method. (2024). Revista Técnica "energía", 20(2), PP. 81-89. https://doi.org/10.37116/revistaenergia.v20.n2.2024.593

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https://doi.org/10.37116/revistaenergia.v20.n2.2024.593

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Comparative study of the efficiency of rectangular and triangular flat plate solar collectors through finite element method. (2024). Revista Técnica "energía", 20(2), PP. 81-89. https://doi.org/10.37116/revistaenergia.v20.n2.2024.593

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Isaac Simbaña

Instituto Superior Universitario Sucre

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3324-3071

William Quitiaquez

Universidad Politécnica Salesiana

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Patricio Cabezas

Universidad Politécnica Salesiana

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Patricio Quitiaquez

Universidad Politécnica Salesiana

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Solar Collector

Flat-Plate

Efficiency

Finite Element Method

This investigation compared the efficiency of a flat-plate solar collector with triangular and square geometry, by using the finite element method (FEM). The design of the geometries and the utilized parameters for the simulation were obtained from previous publications. SolidWorks was used to model the two collectors, meanwhile, the Fluent module of the ANSYS software was used for the simulation by the FEM. Collectors integrated a pipe of 7 mm internal diameter with a plate thickness of 11 mm; the defined material was aluminum. An ambient temperature of 20 °C was considered, with solar radiation of 1000 W·m^-2 and heat transfer surfaces of 61 250 and 122 500 mm² for the triangular and square collectors, respectively. The quality of the mesh was excellent, obtaining a skewness of 0.2486, with which efficiencies of 62 and 39 % and maximum temperatures of 27 and 25.5 °C were obtained for the triangular and square collectors, respectively. Due to the geometries performing as fins, the temperatures are higher in the corners and, therefore, achieving higher efficiency is impossible.

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