A vertical open-ended channel filled with a porous medium, with an imposed heat flux and a heat loss coefficient on one of its walls, is studied numerically. A fan can enhance the self-driven flow, and therefore a mixed convection regime is considered. The objective is to maximize the overall...

In this paper the findings are reported from an experimental study of the heat transfer and flow created between two vertical parallel walls heated from one side. In the laboratory a mock up of a facade provided with photovoltaic elements (PV) was built. Surface and air temperatures were...

Applications of parabolic collectors for solar heating and solar thermal power plant increased in the recent years. Most of the solar power plants installed with parabolic collectors are on flat terrain and they may be subjected to some environmental problems. One of problems for large parabolic...

In a solar chimney, the buoyancy induced flow of air generates ventilation of the building where the chimney is attached. When atmospheric wind blows over the upper part of a solar chimney, a mixed buoyancy-wind driving induced flow appears, and then the thermal behaviour of the chimney changes...

This study reports on numerical predictions of velocity and pressure fields, and dust particles trajectories in steady and unsteady flows around a full-scale paraboloidal solar dish. Calculations are performed for three wind speeds of 4.16, 9.72, and 15.2 m s−1, and dish pitch angles from...

This study focuses on heat transfer enhancement in double pipe energy storage system. Enhancement is achieved by use of metal screens/spheres placed inside the phase change material (PCM), which is paraffin wax and results in increasing the effective thermal conductivity of the combined media of...

Solar domestic hot water (SDHW) systems are a cost effective and efficient way to pre-heat domestic water for hot water use in buildings. Currently used sensible energy storage systems (commonly using water as the storage medium) are simple and inexpensive, but require large amounts of storage...

This paper presents a comparison of optimized mixed-mode and indirect-mode natural convection solar dryers for maize. The mixed-mode and indirect-mode solar drying simulation models were validated against results from a laboratory solar dryer with experiments carried out under a solar simulator...

In this paper, experimental investigation into the basic characteristics of solar thermal conversion using supercritical CO2 natural convection are presented. Natural circulation of supercritical fluids can be easily induced and even a small change in temperature can result in large change in...

The non-uniformity of the air temperatures and the slow flow rate at the plane collector exit constitute the main cause of the limitations of the solar drying systems. In order to obtain an uniform and a variable flow rate for different uses, a hot air generator using concentrated solar...