NUMERICAL STUDY ON HEAT TRANSFER PERFORMANCE OF SOLAR COLLECTOR TUBE WITH PYRAMIDAL INNER-SURFACE

Lin Zhimin; Zhang Hangmin; Wang Zhaoxia; Hou Bo; Wang Liangbi

doi:10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2024-1539

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Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (1) : 146-157. DOI: 10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2024-1539

NUMERICAL STUDY ON HEAT TRANSFER PERFORMANCE OF SOLAR COLLECTOR TUBE WITH PYRAMIDAL INNER-SURFACE

Lin Zhimin^1,2, Zhang Hangmin^1,2, Wang Zhaoxia^1,2, Hou Bo^1,2, Wang Liangbi^1,2

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Abstract

To address the issue of large circumferential temperature differences caused by non-uniform heating in parabolic parabolic trough solar collector tubes, a pyramidal inner-surface collector tube was designed by applying a stamping process to the inner wall of a traditional metal collector tube. The parametric effects of the different pyramid lengths, pyramid widths, and pyramid heights on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics, the circumferential maximum temperature difference, the intensity of secondary flow, and the local heat transfer characteristics in the pyramidal inner-surface collector tube were analyzed comparatively using a numerical method. The results show that： the introduction of pyramid-shaped roughness elements enhances the heat transfer performance of traditional collector tubes, with the structural parameters having varying degrees of influence on the flow and heat transfer characteristics; and the maximum evaluation factor of heat transfer enhancement named as J_F reaches 1.59, and compared with a traditional collector tube, the maximum circumferential temperature difference with the pyramidal enhanced tube is reduced by up witha 51.68%; and the local Nusselt number on the inner wall surface changes periodically along the circumferential direction, with its peak values occurring at a specific location between the apex and the base of the pyramid elements; the variation trends of the cross-sectional average Nusselt number and secondary flow intensity along the flow direction are consistent, and the variation trend of average Nusselt number and secondary flow intensity with increasing Reynolds number are also consistent, which indicates that the intensity of secondary flow in the pyramidal inner-surface collector tube determines its heat transfer intensity.

Key words

solar collectors / heat transfer / secondary flow / friction factor / numerical simulation

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Lin Zhimin, Zhang Hangmin, Wang Zhaoxia, Hou Bo, Wang Liangbi. NUMERICAL STUDY ON HEAT TRANSFER PERFORMANCE OF SOLAR COLLECTOR TUBE WITH PYRAMIDAL INNER-SURFACE[J]. Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica. 2026, 47(1): 146-157 https://doi.org/10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2024-1539

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