Abstract

Flat plate collectors are widely used for transferring thermal energy to fluid and used for domestic as well as commercial purpose. So, this research article deals with the detailed simulation study of performance of flat plate collector by using computational fluid dynamics. The weather data for the study was collected for Dehradun region from Indian metrological department Pune for the month of April. NX Cad software was use to design the 3D model of the flat plate collector and Ansys fluent 15.0 was used to analysis the behavior of the collector from the simulated result it was concluded that the maximum area of absorber plate exposed to the direct sunlight helps to achieve better water outlet temperature. The maximum internal energy of flat plate collector was found to be 935.1Jkg for the maximum solar flux of 353.1W/m2 and maximum temperature of 47.5˚C was obtained at the tubes due to larger surface area exposed under the sun.

Key words: Flat Plate Collector, Thermal Energy, Solar Flux, Computational Fluid Dynamics