Rim Farjallah

Unite de Thermique et Thermodynamique

des Procedes Industriels,
Ecole Nationale dIngenieurs de Monastir,
Route de Ouardanine,
Monastir 5000, Tunisia
e-mail: farjallah_rim@hotmail.com
Thermal Performance of the
Monia Chaabane
Unite de Thermique et Thermodynamique
U-Tube Solar Collector Using
des Procedes Industriels,
Ecole Nationale dIngenieurs de Monastir,
Computational Fluid
Route de Ouardanine,
Monastir 5000, Tunisia
e-mail: monia.chaabane@yahoo.fr
Dynamics Simulation
In this paper, we propose a numerical study of a tubular solar collector with a U-tube.
Hatem Mhiri A three-dimensional numerical model is developed. It was first used in order to study the
Unite de Thermique et Thermodynamique
efficiency of the solar collector and to evaluate the validity of the developed computa-
des Procedes Industriels,
tional fluid dynamics (CFD) model by comparison with experimental results from the lit-
Ecole Nationale dIngenieurs de Monastir,
erature. For the numerical simulations, the turbulence and the radiation were,
Route de Ouardanine,
respectively, modeled using the standard ke model and the discrete ordinates (DO)
Monastir 5000, Tunisia
model. This numerical model was then used to carry out a parametrical study and to dis-
e-mail: hatem.mhiri@enim.rnu.tn
cuss the effect of selected operating parameters such as the fluid mass flow rate, the
absorber selectivity, and the material properties. Numerical results show that with the
Philippe Bournot increase of the working fluid flow rate from 0.001 kg/s to 0.003 kg/s, the efficiency of
IUSTI, the solar collector is improved (from 30% to 35%). Numerical results also show that the
UMR CNRS 6595, filled-type evacuated tube with graphite presents a best result in comparison with those
5 Rue Enrico Fermi, found using the copper fin tube (g increases from 54% to 64%). Finally, we noted that the
Technop^ole de Ch^ateau-Gombert, use of a high selective absorber surface adds to better performance in comparison
Marseille 13013, France with the black absorber tube. This is mainly due to the radiation losses reduction.
e-mail: philippebournot@yahoo.fr [DOI: 10.1115/1.4034517]
Hatem Dhaouadi Keywords: CFD simulation, thermal performance, solar collector, U-tube
Faculte des Sciences,
Universite de Monastir,
Unite Chimie Appliquee &
EnvironnementUR13ES63,
Monastir 5000, Tunisia
e-mail: hatem.dhaouadi@fsm.rnu.tn

1 Introduction focused on the performance of the glass evacuated tube solar

 collectors.
Compared to flat-plate collectors at temperature above 80 C
Kim and Seo [2] utilize a one-dimensional model to investigate
(353 K), the combined effects provided by the glass evacuated
all glass vacuum tubes with a coaxial fluid conduit inserted into
tube solar collectors of an extremely selective surface coating and
each tube. The space between the outside of the fluid conduit and
the vacuum insulation of the absorber element can have high heat
the glass tube is filled with antifreeze. This solution facilitates
extraction efficiency [1]. Presently, the glass evacuated tube has
heat transfer from the heated surface of the solar absorber to water
become the crucial and main constituent in solar thermal utiliza-
and prevents operational problems due to freezing in cold
tion. Because of its lower heat loss, it is proved to be very useful
weather. Han et al. [3] produced a three-dimensional analysis of
in residential applications that require higher temperatures.
the performance of the similar tubes using computational fluid
Thus, the evacuated solar collectors are widely used to provide
dynamics (CFD). The water temperature difference between the
either hot water or space heating including evacuated heat-pipe
inlet and the outlet of the conduit was studied for different water
solar collectors and solar collectors with U-tube glass evacuated
mass flow rates. Results show that the highest temperature, which
tube.
depends on the mass flow of water in the pipes, does not necessar-
Numerous studies have been performed especially in the
ily exist at the output.
domestic solar hot water heating field, which is one of the most
Shah and Furbo [4] have developed a theoretical model calcu-
promising applications of solar energy. In the literature, several
lating the thermal performance of the vertical evacuated tube col-
experimental and numerical studies are encountered. They have
lectors. Based on their model results, the optimal distances
between the tubes, the manifold, and the optimal azimuth were
Contributed by the Solar Energy Division of ASME for publication in the studied for different climate conditions.
JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING: INCLUDING WIND ENERGY AND BUILDING
ENERGY CONSERVATION. Manuscript received December 28, 2015; final manuscript
Transfer and heat flow inside the solar collectors evacuated
received August 17, 2016; published online September 20, 2016. Assoc. Editor: glass tubes for different conditions operating structures were
Werner Platzer. studied by Shah and Furbo [5] using CFD. These surveys are

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 based on a design collection with the horizontal tubes connected
to a vertical collecting channel. Three different tube lengths rang-
ing from 0.59 m to 1.47 m were modeled with five different mass
flow rates at the inlet ranging from 0.05 kg/min to 10 kg/min with
a constant inlet temperature of 333 K. Under these operating con-
ditions, the results showed that the collector with the shortest
length of the tube reaches the highest efficiency, and the optimal
inlet flow rate was about 0.41 kg/min.
The effectiveness of instability of the solar collector evacuated
glass tube with a heat pipe was experimentally studied by Sharma
et al. []. Tubular solar collectors with vacuum heat pipe have
various advantages, such as antifreeze, quick startup, resistance to
high pressure, the easiest installation, and maintenance. Many
countries have paid more attention to this type of collector [6].
The evacuated tube heat pipe must retain the vacuum environ-
ment. In practical applications, the continuation of a vacuum
environment is very difficult because of the production of noncon-
densable gases in the hot pipe during operation of the system. The
thermal performance of the heat pipe will be subject to the severe
influence of the accumulation of noncondensable gases. So, the
lifetime of the heat-pipe evacuated tube will be restricted, which
is a serious shortcoming.
Through evacuating air out of the glass tube, the absorber mate-
rial and selective coating are protected from corrosion and other
environmental influences. This ensures a lifetime of at least 15 yr
without loss of efficiency. The getter also acts as an indicator and
will turn white instantly, which denotes that the tube is broken.
Currently, the solar collector U-tube evacuated glass is much
more generally used compared to the heat pipe.
Kim and Seo [1] examined four different forms of the absorber:
finned tube (model I), U-tube welded inside a circular fin (model
II), U-tube welded on a copper plate (model III), and U-tube
welded within a rectangular duct (model IV). Solar collectors
performance has been studied by a numerical method in order to
evaluate the best form of the absorber. The considered solar col-
lector consists of two-layered glass and an absorber operating
with air as a working fluid. The length and diameter of the glass
tube are, respectively, 1200 and 37 mm. Results prove that the
U-tube welded inside a circular fin has the best thermal perform-
ance based on the comparison with the performance of a single
collector tube. Conversely, considering the property of the diffuse
irradiance and the shadow due to the neighboring tubes, the per-
formance of U-tube welded on a copper plate was found to be the
best for all ranges of the incidence angles of the incoming radia-
tion. The performance of minichannel-based evacuated tube solar
collectors was analyzed by Diaz [8]. Results illustrated that the
efficiency of minichannel tubes attached to a metal absorber
can be improved about 5% compared with the standard U-tube
collector for the same tube free flow area for the working fluid.
The bond of conductance in a solar collector absorber plate was
investigated by Badran et al. [9]. The results affirmed that the tem-
perature gradient in the air gap between the pipe and the plate is
very large; it exceeds 50  C. It was also found that the bond con-
ductance of five samples used in the experiment varies from 6.3 to
1.8 W/m K.
In realistic applications of a glass evacuated tube solar
collectors with a U-tube, the circular copper fin cannot be cor-
rectly fitted inside the glass evacuated tube, so air necessarily
exists between the absorber tube and copper fin because of the
gap, which will influence the thermal efficiency of the solar
collectors.
Liang et al. [10] studied numerically as well as experimentally
the thermal efficiency of a glass evacuated tube solar collectors
with a U-tube and a fin filled with graphite.
They came to the following conclusions:
 The temperature difference among the selective layer and the
ambient temperature is not linear with respect to the total
loss coefficient UL. The expression of the total loss coeffi-
cient varies with the variation of the ambient temperature.
061008-2 / Vol. 138, DECEMBER 2016
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 The higher the ambient temperature, the greater the gain of
heat absorbed by the working fluid.
 Thermal resistance decreases with the augment of thermal
conductivity.
 The temperature of the fluid augments with the increase of
thermal conductivity, but the temperature elevation rate of
the fluid decreases with the increase in thermal conductivity.
 The net gain of heat absorbed by the working fluid increases
with the increase in solar radiation.
 Efficiency is quite narrow between the numerical and
experimental values, but the gap widens with increasing
(Ti  Ta)/IT.
We present, in this paper, a numerical study of the thermal per-
formance of the glass evacuated tube solar collector with U-tube
using the package FLUENT 6.3.
Treating this system initially with a stationary analysis, we will
validate our numerical results by comparing them with those
experimental results found in Ref. [11]. Second, we present an
optimization of the operating parameters of the vacuum tube col-
lector, by varying certain parameters affecting its performance.
The literature is very limited in terms of predicting performance
of evacuated U-tube solar collectors, and computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) was not used to model the U-tube solar collector
configuration. Some studies used the CFD package but treated
with another configuration [5].
2 Modeling and Simulation
2.1 Geometry Description. In order to validate the numerical
approach, a 3D numerical model is developed using the CFD
package FLUENT 6.3. This model interprets the geometry of the
glass evacuated tube solar collector experimentally studied by
Linangdong et al. [11].
The solar collector considered in this study is that developed
by Linangdong et al. [11]. As shown in Fig. 1, the system consists
of a two-layered glass evacuated tubes, which are fused together
at one end, and the selective absorbing covering deposited in the
outer surface of absorber tube. The air forms a vacuum (pressure
< 103 Pa [6]) as it is withdrawn from the space between the two
glass tubes. The length and the outer diameters of the outer glass
and the absorber tube are presumed to be, respectively, 1200, 37,
and 47 mm. The U-tube is wedged inside a circular fin [11].
Tables 1 and 2 provide more details about the dimensions, proper-
ties of the different components of the glass evacuated tube solar
collector, and the main material parameters.
In our case, we do not have a very high temperature to cause
the variation of the material properties; in Ref. [12], the thermal
conductivity of cooper, steel, and glass was unchanged for the
temperature variations from 25  C to 125  C and 400  C. In our
interval of temperature variation, the properties of all used mate-
rial were temperature independent. So, we have not considered
the dependant material data.
2.2 Mesh. In a numerical simulation, the steps of creating the
mesh are indisputable. The mesh was generated using Gambit, a
preprocessor bundled with FLUENT. This preprocessor is a single
interface for geometry creation and meshing [13]. Indeed, the
mesh quality directly affects the accuracy of the result. The mesh
generated for this solar system consists of hexahedral cells in the
Fig. 1 U-tube solar collector
Transactions of the ASME
 Table 1 Details about the dimensions and properties of the dif-
ferent components of the glass evacuated tube solar collector

Material Parameters Unit

Absorbing coating Absorptivity 92 %

Emissivity 8 %
Out glass tube Outer diameter 47 mm
Thickness 1.2 mm
Conductivity 1.2 W/m K
Absorber tube Outer diameter 37 mm
Thickness 1.2 mm
Conductivity 1.2 W/m K
Copper fin Outer diameter 35.8 mm
Fig. 2 Mesh generated at the outer tube
Thickness 6 mm
Conductivity 307 W/m K
U-tube Outer diameter 8 mm
hfi 700 W/m2 K
Length of a tubular collector 1200 mm

Table 2 The main material parameters [12]

Thermal Specific heat Density

Material conductivity (W/m  C) capacity (kJ/kg K) (kg/m3)

Cooper 401 0.39 8978

Steel 46 0.5 8030
Glass 1.2 670 2500 Fig. 3 Mesh generated at the U-tube

refined in the vicinity of the walls (Dy 103 cm) so as to predict

more accurately the initial steps of the system functioning. Fur-
different part of the configuration except the inferior part of the ther, the grid was a little larger (Dy 102 cm).
volume where we created a tetrahedral cell. The meshes generated
at the outer tube and the U-tube are, respectively, presented in
Figs. 2 and 3. This generated mesh consists of 480,836 cells. A 2.3 The Governing Differential Equations. Numerical
grid sensitivity study is carried out: Three meshes grid were simulation of the problem requires the resolution of the different
employed to test the sensitivity of the solution to the grid refine- conservation laws.
ment constituted, respectively, of 368,436 cells, 480,836 cells, To resolve these equations, the following assumptions were
and 757,440 cells. For meshes 2 and 3, the differences between taking into account:
the obtained results are lower than 1% while the first grid gives  The flow is stationary.
very different profiles. The grid formed of 480,836 cells was used  The fluid is incompressible.
to reduce computation.  Boussinesq approximations are assumed valid.
The wall y is a nondimensional distance similar to local
Reynolds number, often used in CFD to describe how coarse or The equation system is written as follows:
fine a mesh is for a particular flow. It is the ratio between the tur-  The continuity equation
bulent and laminar influences in a cell [13]. It should be noted that
the mesh was generated in accordance to the y criterion for the
wall-adjacent cells. q u~i 0 (1)
xi
 (30 < y < 300) required from turbulence models using a
standard wall function. The standard wall functions work  The momentum conservation equation
reasonably well for a broad range of wall-bounded flows. " !#
However, they tend to become less reliable when the flow sit- p u~i u~j 2 u~i
uations depart too much from the ideal conditions that are q u~i u~j  l  dij
xj xi xj xj @xi 3 uj
assumed in their derivation [13].
 The enhanced wall treatment is a near-wall modeling (2)
method that combines a two-layer model with improved wall
where =xj q u~i u~j is the convective transport term.
functions to resolve the viscosity-affected near-wall region.
 The energy conservation equation
Generally, this method requires a very fine near-wall mesh to
ensure the right value of y. The term (y) measures the !
gradient of the fluid variables at every cell, known as q u~j T~ k T~
 qu00j T 00 Sh (3)
dimensionless wall distance; lower gradient means a better xj xj Cp xj
accuracy of the model. This term is commonly used in the
boundary layer theory and in defining the low of the wall. In  The Boussinesq approximation
the considered CFD model, it required a value of y of the
For many natural-convection flows, we can get faster convergence
order of 1 to have confidence in the enhanced wall
with the Boussinesq model than by setting up the problem with
treatment coupled to the standard ke turbulent model.
fluid density as a function of temperature. This model treats den-
High grid densities are employed in the regions where most of sity as a constant value in all solved equations, except for the
the heat transfer is expected to occur; the mesh is thus locally buoyancy term in the momentum equation

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 Table 3 The boundary conditions

U-tube input Imposed mass flow

m_ 0.001 kg/s
U-tube output Atmospheric pressure
P Patm 1 atm 101,325 Pa
Separation surface Atmospheric pressure
P Patm 1 atm 101,325 Pa
Superior wall of external tube Mixed (convection radiation)
imposed heat flux I0 950 W/m2
Space between two glass tubes Vacuum
P < 103 Pa
Fig. 4 Boundary conditions

q  q0 g  q0 bT  T0 g the glass evacuated tube solar collector with U-tube are calculated
according to relation (6)
q q0 1  bDT
q q0 1  bDT (4) _ pf Tout  Tin
mC
g (7)
UD I 0 Ap
Re
t
where AP can be expressed as
where q0 is the (constant) density of the flow, T0 is the operating
temperature, and b is the thermal expansion coefficient. The Ap 2DL (8)
following equation is obtained by using the Boussinesq
approximation: Ambient temperature considered for the calculation of convective
and conductive losses is the same that is considered experimen-
q q0 1  bDT (5) tally by Linangdong et al. [11] and is equal to 283 K. Temperature
Tciel necessary for estimating radiative exchange is calculated
to eliminate q from the buoyancy term. This approximation according to the following relationship:
is accurate as long as changes in actual density are small;
specifically, the Boussinesq approximation is valid when Tsky 0:0552T1:5
a (9)
bT  T0 <<< 1 [13]. In our case, bT  T0 0:033  1, so the
Boussinesq approximation is valid. From the results of the simulation, we present the evolution
In this simulation, the system is treated stationary. The standard of the collector efficiency as a function of normalized gain
ke used to model the turbulence. The working fluid is air. The Tf  Ta =I 0 , and the numerical results are compared to the
Reynolds number is calculated according to the relation (6); in experimental results of Linangdong et al. [11], as shown in Fig. 5.
our case, we found a Reynolds number of Re 8941.5 (higher Figure 5 shows a satisfactory agreement between the numerical
than the critical Reynolds number Re 2300) and the flow is results and the experimental data as the difference does not exceed
turbulent 3.3%.
UD Similarly, in Fig. 6, we present the variation of temperature
Re (6)
t difference DT Tout  Tin with the inlet temperature of the work-
ing fluid. The comparison between the numerical and experimen-
where U is the velocity (m/s), U f0:001=1:225  p  tal results also shows a good agreement, proving the validity of
4:103 2 g 16:326 m=s; D is the characteristic length the developed CFD model.
(diameter) (m), D 8 mm; and t is the kinematic viscosity
(m2/s), t 14:6  106 m2 s1.
The DO model was enabled to study the radiative transfer.
Indeed, it is a nongray model; it allows us to consider the selective
surfaces (a 6 e) and to introduce their radiative properties.

2.4 Boundary Conditions. The different boundary condi-

tions imposed on Gambit at different surfaces and volumes of
our configuration are shown in Fig. 4 and cited below:
 The condition mass flow inlet for air entry: This type of
condition is considered for an incoming flow, and the entered
flow is fixed at 0.001 kg/s.
 The condition pressure outlet of the U-tube and the surface
of separation: This condition indicates that these surfaces are
held to a constant static pressure which is one atmospheric
pressure (P 1 atm 101,325 Pa).
 The boundary condition mixed for the lateral solid walls: It
allows to simulate the radiative and convective heat transfer
in the lateral surfaces of the tube (Table 3).

3 Numerical Results
3.1 Validation of the CFD Model. For the CFD model vali-
dation, the numerical results of the thermal efficiency variation of Fig. 5 Validation of numerical results with experiments

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Fig. 6 The variation of temperature difference with the inlet
temperature
Fig. 7 Temperature contours in the U-tube
3.2 Study of the Flow Characteristics of the Flow in the
Solar Collector. Figures 7 and 8 show, respectively, the tempera-
ture distribution and the streamlines in the U-tube. The analysis of
these figures shows that the temperature gradually increases when
it approaches the outset of the tube because of the increasing
exchange of heat between the tube and the air flowing inside.
4 Optimization of Operating Parameters of the Solar
Collector With U-Tube
The behavior of the solar collector with U-tube depends on sev-
eral parameters. Therefore, this part treats the effect of the inlet
mass flow rate of the coolant, the replacement of the copper tube
by a tube filled with graphite, and the selectivity of the outer
tubes.
4.1 Influence of the Variation of the Mass Flow Rate
Effect. In this section, we focus on the effect of the mass flow
rate on the performance of the tubular collector.
The relation (1) shows that the solar collector efficiency varies
with the mass flow rate m,_ and this variation is shown in Fig. 8 for
three values of the mass flow rate.
For a flow rate of 0.003 kg/s, the efficiency was higher than that
for the flow rates of 0.002 kg/s and 0.001 kg/s. The thermal
performance of the solar collector increases with the velocity of
the fluid, so with the flow, the internal convective heat transfer is
largely improved.
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Fig. 8 The streamlines in the U-tube
Fig. 9 Influence of the variation of the mass flow rate
However, the temperature difference decreases with the
increase of the mass flow rate as shown in Fig. 9.
This phenomenon can be explained as follows: The increase in
the working fluid flow rate enhances the heat transfer and
decreases the temperature in the absorber plate, as well as
decreases the outlet temperature, as shown in Fig. 10 resulting
thus in the lower heat losses and the higher thermal efficiency. In
practical applications, the inlet working fluid velocity should be
determined according to the inlet working fluid temperature and
working fluid temperature demands.
As the efficiency is affected by the mass flow rate, we proposed
to present the pressure drop in Fig. 11. In our case, we treated a
forced convection flow. The fluid was considered incompressible,
and the pressure variation was small.
4.2 Material Effects. To study the influence nature of the
materials on the performance of the solar collector, the following
cases are considered: (a) the experimental device made by
Linangdong et al. [11] used for our CFD model validation in
which the U-tube and the absorber tube are separated by a copper
fin tube, and (b) the numerically investigated system in which we
used a tube filled with a graphite presented in Fig. 12.
As we have proved, in the first part, the reliability of our model,
we will use the same model in a configuration where the graphite
DECEMBER 2016, Vol. 138 / 061008-5

Fig. 10 The variation of the temperature difference with the
inlet temperature
Fig. 11 Pressure drop at a given flow rate
Fig. 12 The filled-type U-tube solar collector
is introduced between the U-tube and the absorber, indeed.
The thermal capacity of the copper is 381 J/kg K while that of the
graphite is 720 J/kg K. The copper tube (a) is unfilled while that in
graphite (b) is filled. Therefore, the contact surface between the
U-tube and the tube of separation is more important in the second
case (b), which promotes a better heat transfer. Then, the useful
energy results in an improvement of solar system performance.
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Fig. 13 Efficiency comparison
Fig. 14 The variation of the temperature difference with the
inlet temperature
Figure 13 shows that when the mean temperature of the work-
ing fluid is the same as the ambient temperature, i.e., at maximum
efficiency, the filled-type evacuated tube efficiency is 10% higher
than that of the copper fin evacuated tube.
Figure 14 illustrates the variation of the temperature difference
with the inlet temperature.
4.3 Absorber Selectivity Effect. The operation of a solar
thermal collector is simple: It absorbs the energy of the sun and
thus heats the heat transfer fluid contained in the absorber tube.
The absorber must have the following two main qualities:
 being very black to absorb as much energy as possible from
the sun (higher a)
 having lower emissivity to reduce thermal loses (lower e)
To satisfy these two conditions, the absorber must be selective.
The influence of the absorber selectivity ratio on the thermal
efficiency of the evacuated tube solar collector is discussed.
Transactions of the ASME
  With the increase of the flow rate, the efficiency of the sys-
tem was enhanced. Indeed, for an inlet temperature of 353 K,
the U-tube solar collector efficiency is improved from 30.9%
to 35.6% when the mass flow passes from 0.001 kg/s to
0.003 kg/s.
 The performance of the U-tube solar collector increases with
the substitute of the cooper fin tube with a filled-type, which
improves the heat transfer in this case.
 The use of a selective absorber tube improves the efficiency
of the system, and this is mainly due to the radiative losses
reduction.
It can be shown that the double passage of the working fluid
through the solar system enhances the performance of the solar
system. So, considering a multipass system, with a selective
absorber and a vacuum insulation, can be a very interesting solu-
tion to improve the thermal performance of this type of solar col-
lector. We can also study the alternative of the use of a nanofluid
as a working fluid, which will certainly improve this system
operating.

Acknowledgment
The authors express their gratitude to the Tunisian Higher Edu-
Fig. 15 Selectivity effects (absorber tube)
cation and Scientific Research Ministry for the financial support.

Nomenclature
Ap outer surface area of the absorber tube, m2
Cpf specific heat capacity, kJ/(kg K)
D outer diameter of the absorber tube, m
g gravitational acceleration, m s2
I0 solar radiation, W m2
L absorber tube length, m
m_ mass flow rate of working fluid, kg/s
P pressure, Pa
Sh radiation energy, J
Ta ambient temperature, K
Tf mean temperature of the working fluid, K
Tin inlet temperature, K
Tout outlet temperature, K
Tp temperature of the absorber tube, K
Tsky sky temperature, K
ui velocity component, m/s
a absorptivity
b thermal expansion coefficient, K1
e emissivity
k thermal conductivity, W m1 K1
l dynamic viscosity, N s m2
Fig. 16 The variation of the temperature difference with the q density, kg m3
inlet temperature

The results are present, respectively, in Fig. 15 showing the Abbreviations

advantage of using a selective absorber, which allows better
efficiency.
Figure 16 gives the variation of the absorber tube temperature
with inlet temperature of the working fluid for I0 950 W/m2. It
can be seen that the absorber tube temperature increases linearly
with the increase of the inlet temperature of the working fluid.
5 Conclusion
This paper is devoted to the numerical simulation of a U-tube
solar collector. Gambit was used to create the geometry and
meshes, and then FLUENT was used for the numerical simulation. A
grid sensitivity test was first carried out to choose the most
adequate grid. For these simulations, the standard ke was chosen
as the most appropriate turbulent model and the DO as a radiation
model. The numerical simulations were carried for different mass
flow rate, tube nature, and absorber properties. The following con-
clusions were deducted:
CFD computational fluid dynamics
DO discrete ordinates model
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