Open Access

ARTICLE

Experimental Study of Heat Transfer Enhancement in Solar Tower Receiver Using Internal Fins

by Hashem Shatnawi^1,2,*, Chin Wai Lim², Firas Basim Ismail³, Abdulrahman Aldossary¹

1 Education Sector in Jubail, Jubail Technical Institute, Jubail Industrial City, 31961, Saudi Arabia
2 Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Kajang, 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
3 Power Generation Unit, Institute of Power Engineering (IPE), Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Kajang, 43000, Selangor, Malaysia

* Corresponding Author: Hashem Shatnawi. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Interval Arithmetic with Applications to Physical Phenomena)

Computers, Materials & Continua 2021, 68(2), 1693-1711. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2021.016741

Received 10 January 2021; Accepted 19 February 2021; Issue published 13 April 2021

Abstract

The receiver is an important element in solar energy plants. The principal receiver’s tubes in power plants are devised to work under extremely severe conditions, including excessive heat fluxes. Half of the tube’s circumference is heated whilst the other half is insulated. This study aims to improve the heat transfer process and reinforce the tubes’ structure by designing a new receiver; by including longitudinal fins of triangular, circular and square shapes. The research is conducted experimentally using Reynolds numbers ranging from 28,000 to 78,000. Triangular fins have demonstrated the best improvement for heat transfer. For Reynolds number value near 43,000 Nusselt number (Nu) is higher by 3.5% and 7.5%, sequentially, compared to circular and square tube fins, but varies up to 6.5% near Re = 61000. The lowest friction factor is seen in a triangular fin receiver; where it deviates from circular fins by 4.6%, and square fin tubes by 3.2%. Adding fins makes the temperature decrease gradually, and in the case of no fins, the temperature gradient between the hot tube and water drops sharply in the planed tube by 7%.

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