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Flower‐type pulsating heat pipe for a solar collector
Author(s) -
Chen Yang,
He Yongqing,
Zhu Xiaoqin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.5505
Subject(s) - condenser (optics) , evaporator , heat pipe , thermal , materials science , working fluid , heat transfer , cylinder , solar energy , thermosiphon , mechanics , thermodynamics , optics , mechanical engineering , engineering , physics , electrical engineering , heat exchanger , light source
Summary Inspired by the sunflower, we report a new structure of a solar collector that integrates a pulsating heat pipe (PHP) into a flat‐plate collector. The proposed flower‐type PHP solar collector is designed after a sunflower with petals that absorb sunlight and transfer nutrients to the stem after photosynthesis. The evaporator section adopts the shape of a flower to absorb sunlight fully, and the condenser section is rolled into a cylinder and placed in the lower part of the structure. A systematic experimental study is conducted upon start‐up, and the performance characteristics, with acetone as the working fluid, are evaluated. We also did a heat loss analysis, which has a deviation of 8%. The effects of the mass flow rate of cooling water, filling ratio, length of the condenser section, and solar intensity are assessed. As the temperature of the heat absorber plate increases, the thermal resistance of the PHP can decrease to a minimum of 0.14°C/W. Under sunny weather conditions, the instantaneous thermal efficiency of the system with a filling ratio of 50% reaches 50%. Besides, we discussed the unstable operation conditions and possible dryout phenomenon that happened inside the PHP.