Effect of Different Rib Shapes on the Performance of Solar Thermal Collector

Solar Thermal Collectors have been growing in demand due to their efficiency of converting the solar energy into electrical energy without producing any form of waste or pollution. Thus, a number of research projects are being conducted in the field of enhancing the performance of the solar thermal collectors. Enhancing the heat dissipation through the collectors by adding ribs to its surface is an effective method to save money on energy. In this paper, a solar collector having total length of 605 mm is selected which is then divided into an inlet section of 120 mm, an outlet section of 225 mm and a test section in the middle of 260 mm. The test section is provided with ribs of 1.25 mm thickness and 5 mm height at 18 mm distance each. Three different shapes of the ribs, i.e. pentagonal, Circular and T-section have been analysed. The results show that the T-section ribs have been found more efficient with a maximum temperature of 392.99 K at the rib walls. Hence, T-section ribs have been suggested in this analysis with the best performance.