


{"id":387876,"date":"2024-10-02T20:40:10","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T20:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/forums\/topic\/simulating-solar-collector\/"},"modified":"2024-10-02T20:40:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T20:40:10","slug":"simulating-solar-collector","status":"publish","type":"topic","link":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/forums\/topic\/simulating-solar-collector\/","title":{"rendered":"Simulating solar collector"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;p&gt;Hello, I&#8217;m simulating a dual-purpose solar collector which is used to heat both air and water simultaneously. I&#8217;m using Ansys Fluent for this simulation. To reduce the computation time, I draw a small geometry for this collector which consists of four domains (Air, Water, Absorber, and Weld). In design modeler I shared the topology then I proceeded to mesh (see image 1). <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727886212-0.png\" alt=\"\" \/> In mesh, the element, skewness, and orthogonal qualities seem good, aren&#8217;t they? (see image 2). <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727886275-000.png\" alt=\"\" \/> Then, I named the bodies and surfaces as illustrated in the image (3). <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727886455-0000.png\" alt=\"\" \/> The named surface (glass) is the top surface of the air domain which represents the collector&#8217;s cover. This cover transfers heat with surroundings by convection, how does Ansys fluent deal with the surroundings (I mean the space outside my geometry)? because I have convection B.C. on the top of the air volume (green colored as in image 4), I put both the convection coefficient and free stream temperature. So, will the convection be between the green-colored surface and the surroundings? or between the green surface and the air volume (this is my first question)?&nbsp; &nbsp; <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727886545-44.png\" alt=\"\" \/> In the setup, <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727901293-010.png\" alt=\"\" \/> I activated the energy model with a laminar flow (because my case is laminar). I chose materials (air, water-liquid, steel for absorber, copper for weld and pipe, and I defined a new material which is glass that covers the collector). Then, I applied these materials to the 4 domains in cell zone conditions (except glass because it is a surface, not a body). In Boundary conditions, I entered the mass flow rate and temperature for inlet air and inlet water, for the outlet I chose a pressure outlet. <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727898288-00000.png\" alt=\"\" \/> The other B.Cs are:&nbsp; 1) glass: it is the top surface of the air domain and its material is &#8220;glass&#8221; with convection thermal condition. <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727898439-06.png\" alt=\"\" \/> 2) interior-absorber-weld: which is the interface between the absorber and weld domains, it is thermally coupled with steel as a material for it. 3)interior-pipe-weld: it is the interface between the pipe and weld domains, it is also thermally coupled with copper material. 4) side_walls-absorber: it represents the left and right sides of the collector which are attached to the absorber, steel is the material, these walls are considered isolated surfaces so I chose zero heat flux for thermal conditions. 5) side_walls-air: represents the left and right sides of the air domain, also isolated surfaces, I chose Aluminum as material for them and again zero heat flux for thermal conditions. &nbsp; 6)wall-absorber: represents the bottom, front, and back surfaces of the absorber domain, steel material, zero heat flux. &nbsp;7) wall-absorber-air: represents the upper surface of the absorber domain where I&#8217;m applying a heat flux of 633 W\/m2.&nbsp; 8) wall-pipe: represents the bottom, front, and back surfaces of the pipe domain. cooper material and zero heat flux. 9)wall-pipe-water: represents the interface between water and pipe domain, cooper material, zero heat flux ( because I assumed that there is an insulation material beneath the pipe). 10) wall-weld: represents the bottom, front, and back surfaces of the weld domain.cooper material and zero heat flux. I noticed there is no &#8221; Mesh Interface &#8221; in the outline tree. <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727900596-07.png\" alt=\"\" \/> In the solution Methods, I used a coupled scheme and second order. &nbsp; <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727900734-08.png\" alt=\"\" \/> The solution controls: <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727900812-09.png\" alt=\"\" \/> The residuals are put (1e-6) and I applied Hybrid initialization. Then I run the simulation. The problem appears in the residual report, I didn&#8217;t get a convergence at all. <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/02-10-2024-1727901452-011.png\" alt=\"\" \/> any help will be highly appreciated.&lt;\/p&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-387876","topic","type-topic","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"custom_fields":[{"0":{"_bbp_subscription":["43660","199"],"_bbp_author_ip":["193.225.62.179"],"_btv_view_count":["332"],"_bbp_topic_status":["unanswered"],"_bbp_topic_id":["387876"],"_bbp_forum_id":["27792"],"_bbp_engagement":["199","43660"],"_bbp_voice_count":["2"],"_bbp_reply_count":["10"],"_bbp_last_reply_id":["388154"],"_bbp_last_active_id":["388154"],"_bbp_last_active_time":["2024-10-04 10:45:47"]},"test":"hasan-mustafa-moayadstudent-uni-miskolc-hu"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics\/387876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/topic"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics\/387876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationspace.ansys.com\/forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}