An improved model for natural convection heat loss from modified cavity receiver of solar dish concentrator

A 2-D model has been proposed to investigate the approximate estimation of the natural convection heat loss from modified cavity receiver of without insulation (WOI) and with insulation (WI) at the bottom of the aperture plane in our previous article. In this paper, a 3-D numerical model is presented to investigate the accurate estimation of natural convection heat loss from modified cavity receiver (WOI) of fuzzy focal solar dish concentrator. A comparison of 2-D and 3-D natural convection heat loss from a modified cavity receiver is carried out. A parametric study is carried out to develop separate Nusselt number correlations for 2-D and 3-D geometries of modified cavity receiver for estimation of convective heat loss from the receiver. The results show that the 2-D and 3-D are comparable only at higher angle of inclinations (60° ? β ? 90°) of the receiver. The present 3-D numerical model is compared with other well known cavity receiver models. The 3-D model can be used for accurate estimation of heat losses from solar dish collector, when compared with other well known models.     

Numerical Analysis of Thermal and Dynamic Behavior of a Roof Solar Collector

In some regions with a specific climate, summer comfort in the rooms located below the roof becomes critical if the roof system is not well designed. In order to analyze the efficiency of this system a numerical model was developed. This model is based on the study of the natural convection coupled with radiative heat transfer in an inclined air channel. The configuration studied is an inclined channel formed by two parallel plates. The upper and lower plates were maintained at fixed temperatures. The air flow in the channel which is due to the buoyancy forces is fully turbulent and the turbulence was modeled by using the k‐ε model. Some numerical results obtained were validated using the experimental works of Khedari and colleagues and those of Nouanégué and colleagues. The effect of physical and geometrical parameters and the radiative heat transfer on the channel behavior is shown. Correlations for Nusselt numbers and air flow rate were obtained as functions of the geometric parameters and the Rayleigh number. These correlations can be used in other models that represent this system.     

Magneto hydrodynamic buoyant convection of an electrically conducting fluid in a tilted square cavity

A numerical investigation of steady‐natural convection of an electrically conducting fluid, enclosed in a tilted square cavity, subjected to a uniform magnetic field applied perpendicular to the plane of cavity is presented. A comprehensive understanding of the effects of controlling parameters on the flow and heat transfer is delineated for a wide range of parameters. Correlations for the average Nusselt number are presented specifically for fluids with low Prandtl numbers pertaining to liquid metals. It is made known that when the applied magnetic field is perpendicular to the plane of the cavity, the magneto hydrodynamic drag is greatest as compared to any other direction of the applied magnetic field and consequently the suppression of convection is also at its maximum, irrespective of all other controlling parameters. 8 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20326     

Natural Convection Heat Transfer of Liquid Metal Gallium Nanofluids in a Rectangular Enclosure

A new mixed nanofluid (Cu/diamond–gallium [Cu/diamond–Ga] nanofluid) is proposed, and the mass ratio of Cu nanoparticles and diamond nanoparticles in the new mixed nanofluid is 10:1. The natural convection heat transfer of Cu/diamond–Ga nanofluid, Cu–gallium (Cu–Ga) nanofluid, and liquid metal gallium with different volume fractions in a rectangular enclosure is investigated by a single‐phase model in this paper. The effects of temperature difference, nanoparticle volume fraction and the kinds of nanofluid on the natural convection heat transfer are discussed. The natural convection heat transfer of the three kinds of fluids is compared. It is found that Nusselt numbers of the Cu/diamond–Ga nanofluid along with X direction increases with the nanoparticle volume fraction and temperature difference. Cu/diamond–Ga nanofluid can enhance the heat transfer by 73.0% and 9.7% at low‐temperature difference (ΔT = 1 K) compared with liquid metal gallium and Cu–Ga nanofluid, respectively. It also can enhance the heat transfer by 85.9% and 5.2% at high‐temperature difference (ΔT = 11 K) compared with liquid metal gallium and Cu–Ga nanofluid, respectively.     

含加热圆管方腔内自然对流的数值研究

采用数值计算方法对含不同直径圆管以及相同直径圆管位置不同方腔内的层流自然对流进行了研究。以冷热壁面温度差为基准的瑞利数Rn为10^6,以圆管壁面热流密度为基准的Ra为10^8。计算结果表明,当圆管处于方腔中间位置时,随着圆管直径的增大,圆管表面局部努塞尔数呈减小趋势。当圆管直径不变时,由于在不同位置处浮力作用的强弱不同,随着圆管在方腔内位置的改变,方腔内流场结构和温度场分布也会发生变化。整个计算结果可为工程设计提供参考。     

Two dimensional numerical simulation of transient natural convection in freezer

A two dimensional model of the transient natural convection in a freezer is studied numerically by finite volume approach. The temperatures of the freezer outside surfaces and the evaporator vary in specified manners, which were taken from an experimental work. The fluid in the freezer is of the Bousinnesq type and the flow is assumed laminar. The transient heat conduction in the insulating layers and the temperature and velocity fields of the fluid are solved conjugately. The radiation heat transfer between the freezer inner surfaces is taken into account by using the additional source term method. The distributions of the local Nusselt number along the upper and lower surfaces of the evaporator and their average values in the period of periodically unsteady operation are calculated. Comparisons are made between the results with and without consideration of inner surface radiative heat transfer. It is found that the radiative heat transfer between the inner surfaces has a profound effect on the evaporator heat transfer characteristics.     

A numerical investigation on effects of ceiling and floor surface temperatures and room dimensions on the Nusselt number for a floor heating system

In this study, the effect of ceiling and floor surface temperatures and room dimensions on the Nusselt number over the floor of a floor heating system has been investigated numerically. The variation of the Nusselt number with Rayleigh number has been analyzed under constant wall temperature condition for different ceiling temperatures (10–25 °C) and room dimensions. It has been seen that when the room dimensions and temperature difference between the ceiling and interior air are increased, the Nusselt number over the floor increases as well. The numerical results have been compared with the correlations given in the literature. It has been seen that the correlations available in the literature are valid only for given thermal conditions and room dimensions. The results calculated from the correlations which do not consider the effects of ceiling and floor surface temperatures deviate up to 35% than the results of this numerical study carried out for different ceiling and floor surface temperatures and room dimensions. Therefore, a new correlation for Nusselt number over the floor, which contain the influence of thermal conditions and all of room dimensions must be discovered.     

A CFD-based experimental analysis on the effect of free stream cooling on the performance of micro processor heat sinks

Heat sinks are widely used to remove the heat from the microelectronic devices including Pentium and AMD processors. In the present study, four different types of heat sink have been used i.e. Pentiums III and IV, AMD Athlon and Duron heat sinks; in order to analyze their performance. The paper presents the comparison of heat sinks of Pentium and AMD families. The simulation and experimental investigations have been made at different Reynolds numbers. The Fluent 6.2 software which is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code has been used in the simulation to predict the temperature and the flow fields. The experiments have been carried out by using an air chamber with nozzle at different Reynolds numbers. The Nusselt number and temperature distributions have been plotted against Reynolds number for all heat sinks. The simulation results obtained are found in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results.     

Effects of diameter ratio of adiabatic circular cylinder and tilt angle on natural convection from a square open tilted cavity

A numerical analysis is carried out to study the performance of natural convection inside a square open tilted cavity filled with air. An adiabatic circular solid cylinder is placed at the center of the cavity and the sidewall in front of the breathing space is heated by a constant heat flux. The top and bottom walls are kept at the ambient constant temperature. Two‐dimensional forms of Navier–Stokes equations along with the energy equations are solved using the Galerkin finite element method. Results are obtained for a range of Grashof numbers from 10³ to 10⁶ at Pr = 0.71 while the tilt angle varies from 0 to 45° and the diameter ratio of the cylinder is considered to be 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 with constant physical properties. The parametric studies for a wide range of cylinder diameter ratios and cavity tilt angles show significant features of the present problem in terms of stream functions and temperature profiles. The computational results indicate that the heat transfer coefficient is strongly influenced by the above governing parameters. It is also found that the average Nusselt number decreases when the diameter ratio increases. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.21001     

Natural convection heat transfer in partially open inclined square cavities

A numerical study has been carried out on inclined partially open square cavities, which are formed by adiabatic walls and a partial opening. The surface of the wall inside the cavity facing the partial opening is isothermal. Steady-state heat transfer by laminar natural convection in a two dimensional partially open cavity is studied by numerically solving equations of mass, momentum and energy. Streamlines and isotherms are produced, heat and mass transfer is calculated. A parametric study is carried out using following parameters: Rayleigh number from 10³ to 10⁶, dimensionless aperture size from 0.25 to 0.75, aperture position at high, center and low, and inclination of the opening from 0° (facing upward) to 120° (facing 30° downward). It is found that the volume flow rate and Nusselt number are an increasing function of Rayleigh number, aperture size and generally aperture position. Other parameters being constant, Nusselt number is a non-linear function of the inclination angle. Depending on the application, heat transfer can be maximized or minimized by selecting appropriate parameters, namely aperture size, aperture position and inclination angle at a given operation Rayleigh number.