Simulation studies on thermal regenerator for space heating
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Date
2019-08
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Solar energy available in nature has enough potential to satisfy the energy demands of human, but due to its dilute and intermittent nature, an energy storage medium is necessary to store this energy. Thermal regenerator with the gravels bed as a storage media is one such way to store and utilize the solar energy. In the present work, the simulation study on thermal regenerator having porous solid bed made of gravels is done for the purpose of space heating of room. Parabolic partial differential equations describing the heat transfer between the air and the solid bed are solved by using the Finite Difference Method (FDM) with the help of a program code developed in a MATLAB software. Heating load calculations for a considered room are done in order to determine the mass flow rate of air and the supply air temperature to the room. The program code is developed for charging as well as for the discharge cycle of the bed, where the bed is heated or charged during the day time by the hot air coming out of solar air heater. The temperature of charging air is varying with the time of the day as per the intensity of solar radiation. The same heated bed is discharged by passing the cold ambient air during night. Simulation study has been carried out for beds of different diameter with different particle sizes, and then the optimum number of beds and other parameters are decided accordingly, so as to get the suitable number of heating hours, thus maintaining the required conditions inside the considered space. The results shows that with the decrease in solid particle size, the number of heating hours increases, as with small solid particles, the area of contact between air and solid increases, thereby enhancing the heat transfer process.
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