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Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 15111524 www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Numerical study of the heat and mass transfer in inclined glazing cavity: Application to a solar distillation cell
R. Chouikh, L. Ben Snoussi, A. Guizani
INRST, BP 95 Hamam-lif 2050, Tunisia Received 27 January 2006; accepted 10 July 2006 Available online 11 September 2006

Abstract A numerical analysis is performed for the natural convection ow resulting from the combined buoyancy effects of thermal and mass diffusion in an inclined cavity. This work enters within the framework of general study dealing with the mathematical model for solar brackish water desalination unit. The problem is stated in a Cartesian coordinates system, involves the use of a control volume-based nite-element method and solves the full vorticity transport equation together with the stream function, concentration and energy equations. The predicted stream function patterns, isoconcentration and isotherms are presented for different thermal Rayleigh numbers. The heat and mass transfer evolution are explained in terms of dynamic and temperature elds of the ow in the inclined cavity. In particular, the desirable ow for enhancing the performance of the solar distiller is determined by examining ow patterns. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Buoyancy effects; CVFEM; Heat and mass transfer; Modeling

1. Introduction A majority of the countries located on the southern border of the Mediterranean basin, suffers from water scarcity because of rapid decrease of ground water levels, depletion of aquifers and lack of precipitation which is extremely variable in space and time. One way
Corresponding author. Fax: +216 71 430 934.

E-mail address: ridha.chouikh@ipein.rnu.tn (R. Chouikh). 0960-1481/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2006.07.001

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Nomenclature A Dw;a C C* g H h k L N Pr RaT RaM Sc T T* U V U* V* x,y x* y* aspect ratio, H/L diffusion coefcient, m2 s1 specie concentration, mol m3 dimensionless specie concentration (CCc)/(ChCc) gravitational acceleration, m s2 height of the enclosure, m heat transfer coefcient, W m2 K1 thermal conductivity, W m1 K1 length of the enclosure, m buoyancy number Prandtl number, n/a thermal Rayleigh number, bT g (ThTc)L3/na mass Rayleigh number, bM g (ChCc) L3/na Shmidt number, n/Dw;a Temperature, K dimensionless temperature, (TTc)/(ThTc) x-component velocity, m s1 y-component velocity, m s1 dimensionless horizontal velocity, UL/aRa0.25 T dimensionless vertical velocity, VL/aRa0.25 T dimensional coordinate, m dimensionless x coordinate, x/LRa0.5 T dimensionless y coordinate, y/LRa0.5 T

Greek symbols a bM bT y n o o* c c* thermal diffusivity, m2 s1 mass expansion coefcient, m3 mol1 thermal expansion coefcient, K1 tilt angle, degree kinematic viscosity, m2 s1 vorticity, s1 dimensionless vorticity, oL2Ra0.25/a T stream function, m2 s1 dimensionless stream function, c/aRa0.75 T

Subscripts c h cold hot

to address this problem is low-cost brackish water desalination especially for small scale. A variety of solar desalination devices have been developed. A simple solar distiller with a greenhouse effect is a promising technology in this respect.

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A schematic diagram of a water desalination system integrated in a greenhouse roof is presented in Fig. 1. The process makes use of the greenhouse effect to bring saline water to evaporation and then collect the condensing water vapor. It is the most common technology utilizing solar energy for desalination. Several designs are possible, all of which have as the main components an inclined glass cover at the top and an absorber at the bottom, on which ows a thin brackish water lm. The partially transparent lower absorber allows the evaporation of the owing brackish water by absorbing part of solar energy and then facilitates the cooling of the greenhouse environment during the sunny hours (Fig. 1). Previous works by Boutiere, Feuermann and Fuller [13] have presented initial technical concepts for solar water desalination and have produced preliminary experimental data about the production of fresh water as a function of the main design parameters. Recently, Kalogirou [4] has presented an overall review of a large variety of systems used in the desalination processes. The author gave some general guidelines for selection of desalination systems powered by renewable energy. The author pointed on the main design parameters that need to be considered in this area. Few mathematical models of the energy balance equations describing the heat and mass transfer in a solar still have been presented to the current date. The most representative of such works are those proposed by Malik et al. [5], Selcuk [6] and Sodha et al. [7]. The computation method based on the energy conservation has been simplied by taking some simplications in order to diminish complex difculty. So, the governing equations are derived from the steady heat balances for three thermal network nodes which are, respectively, the glass cover, the brackish water and the absorber.
Glass cover Flowing brackish water Transparent absorber Brackish water storage Condensation Fresh water trough Evoporation Solar radiation

Transmitted solar radiation Brackish water pump Greenhouse environment

To irrigation plants

Distilled water production storage

Fresh water store

Fig. 1. Principle of a water desalination system integrated in a greenhouse roof.

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In order to have a better insight into the physics, the particular problem of the solar distiller should be viewed in conjunction with the more familiar and quite relevant problem of convection in air layer enclosed between two inclined plane surfaces, the bottom of which is at an elevated temperature and where a temperature gradient DT is applied. This is also the case in the solar distiller, as the imposed temperature gradient in the air contained in the solar distiller is in the inclined direction, with heating provided from the bottom (brackish water surface) and cooling from the top (glass cover). The majority of the work accomplished in this area has been experimental [810]. In fact, the natural convection in the solar distiller results from the combined buoyancy effect of thermal and mass diffusion. So, the mathematical complexities are much more involved than in the purely thermal diffusion problems, because of the coupling and non-linearity of the governing equations and the multiple mass and heat transfer parameters which are correlated in terms of combined buoyancy effect. In order to deepen the understanding of the mass and heat transfer mechanisms by natural convection in such processes, this study presents a numerical solution to the complete NavierStokes, concentration and energy equations for steady-state laminar natural convection ow resulting from the combined buoyancy effect of thermal and mass diffusion in an inclined rectangular cell. These coupled equations are solved using the control volume-based nite-element method (CVFEM). The most attractive feature of this approach is the physical meaning of the full basis of its formulation in terms of uxes and sources and its ability to use an irregular grid which provides more exibility in tting irregular domains. 2. Theoretical study Fig. 2 presents a schematic drawing of the inclined glazing cavity which simulates an evaporationcondensation cell of the solar still integrated in a greenhouse roof. The study domain is a two-dimensional rectangular enclosure of dimension H L with different
y insulated solar radiation

g v glass u condensed water glass cover Th Tc x

thin film

insulated

Fig. 2. Geometrical conguration.

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aspect ratios. The glazing cavity is assumed to be innite depth along the z-axis. The side at the top which simulates the glass cover is held at uniform temperature Tc while the side at the bottom (transparent absorber) is held at temperature Th with Th4Tc. The remaining sides in the process were well insulated. The tilt angle y is dened as the angle between the lower adiabatic side and the horizontal direction. In this study, the tilt angle y is varied between 01 and 901. However, only the results corresponding to y 601 are presented. This tilt angle is chosen because it corresponds to a maximum exposure to the sun rays for the studied locality [11]. The brackish water on the bottom side of the inclined glazing cavity is vaporized from the liquidvapor interface (thin brackish water lm). The vapor moves through the air and condenses at the cooled top side. Conservation equations are written using the stream functionvorticity formulation and assuming constant properties except for the density in the body force term. The coupled elliptic transport equations for c*, o*, C* and T* written in Cartesian coordinates, in dimensionless form and for steady two-dimensional laminar convection, are as follows:

continuity equation: @2 c @2 c o , @x2 @y2 (1)

vorticity equation: U

   2  @o @o Pr @ o @2 o @T @T V 2 RaT Pr cos y sin y 3=4 @x @y @x2 @y @x @y RaT   @C @C RaM Sc cos y sin y . @x @y

energy equation: U  2  qT qT 1 qT q2 T V 2 , 2 3=4 qx qy qy RaT qx (3)

mass equation: U

 2  qC qC Pr qC q2 C V 2 . 2 3=4 qx qy qy Sc RaT qx

(4)

The boundary conditions corresponding to the considered problem are as follows:

on the hot wall: T C 1; U V c 0, (5)

on the cold wall: T C U V c 0, (6)

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on the adiabatic walls: qT qC U V c 0. qy qy (7)

We derive the boundary condition for o* by expanding the stream function near the wall as a Taylor series and then using the continuity and the no-slip condition:   cw c ow 2 , (8) Dn2 where n* denotes the normal direction from the wall. c* is the stream function value at the w wall and c* is the value at a short normal distance Dn* into the uid. The system of the governing equations contains multiple dimensionless parameters: RaT, RaM, N, A, Pr and Sc. Buoyancy ratio N represents the relative effect of chemical species diffusion on the thermal diffusion in causing the density difference which drives the ow. It is to be noted that for N 0, there is no mass diffusion effect and the buoyancy force arises solely from the temperature differences, and for N40, the buoyancy force from mass and thermal diffusion are combined to assist the ow. 3. Solution procedure The coupled elliptic transport equation for c*, o*, C* and T* are solved numerically using the CVFEM [12,13]. The advantage of this method is its demonstrated ability to reduce cross-stream diffusion signicantly by properly taking into account the local orientation of the ow eld. Moreover, the CVFEM provides accurate predictions and physical realistic results with relatively coarse meshes. To overcome instabilities related to the discretization of the velocity components by linear interpolation function (LI), we used a MAss-Weighted skew upwind interpolation scheme (MAW) [14]. According to the values of local velocity, we used a hybrid scheme which consists to use the LI scheme, whenever possible, and switch to the MAW scheme when negative contributions to the coefcients in the convectiondiffusion discretization equations are encountered. The obtained discretized equations form a set of simultaneous linear equations. Any suitable solution method can be employed at this stage. In our study, the discretized equations, one for each control-volume, are solved by using the simultaneous overrelaxation method (SOR) with Chebyshev acceleration algorithm [15]. The solution was considered converged when the relative error between the new and the old values of T* and c* is less than 104. The method employed has been previously successfully utilized for solving problems like the one encountered here [16]. In the present study, and after a series of running trials, the number of grid points in the x-direction is xed at 20, while the number of grid points in the y-direction is xed at 100 for all cases. 4. Numerical results The ow, mass and temperature elds are presented for Pr 0.7 and Sc 0.6 which covers water vapor diffusion into air. The thermal Rayleigh numbers RaT were varied between 100 and 105 for aspect ratios equal to 10, with two buoyancy ratios 0 and 1. The scale of the glazing cavity is not considered in order to clarify the plot. As indicated in

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literature [17,18], the ow in the inclined cavities is quite complex and it is basically three dimensional for different regimes of the ow and for different geometrical parameters (aspect ratio, inclination). Thus we begin this study by presenting the effect of inclination angle y on the structure of the thermal and dynamic elds. The glazing cavity is rotated from the vertical position (heated from left vertical side) with a tilt angle y 01, to horizontal position (heated from below) with a tilt angle 901. We show in Fig. 3 typical examples of the change in the ow pattern with various inclination angles 0901 and for thermal Rayleigh number RaT 105. For 0pyp301, the streamlines form a located single clockwise rotating vortex (one long unicell). However for 301pyp501, the basic ow is a strong primary circulation going upward along the hot wall and downward along the cold wall, with several weak elongated secondary cells in the core. For 601pyp901, the previous big circulating cell disappears and a series of small cells form throughout the whole cavity, each rotating along the opposite direction to its neighboring ones. Corresponding isotherms are shown in Fig. 4. For low inclination angle yp301, the isotherms are nearly parallel to the hot wall. As the tilt angle y increases, a more pronounced deformation of the isotherms do occur. Fig. 5 presents typical proles for the

10

30

50

70

90

Fig. 3. Streamline contours with A 10 and RaT 105 at selected tilt angles.

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10

30

50

70

90

Fig. 4. Isotherms contours with A 10 and RaT 105 at selected tilt angles.

local Nusselt number for different tilt angles. The local Nusselt number decreases gradually with increasing y* due to the development of a boundary layer ow along the hot wall. However, for 60pyp901, the prole presents several minima and maxima points along the hot side. The heat transfer from the hot wall to the cold one is carried out mainly by multi-cellular ows as could be seen in the streamlines mentioned above, which locally reduce and enhance the distribution of local heat transfer rate on the hot wall since the hot air from the latter arrives at the cold wall through many shortcut paths in the air layer due to the existence of multi-cellular ows. Fig. 6 presents the relationship between the inclination angle y and the local Nusselt number for RaT 105. The value of Nuav increases slightly with increasing inclination angle from y 01 to about 401. Then, it decreases steeply with increasing inclination angle y until about 601. Finally, the prole of the average Nusselt number presents several minima and maxima points. The complex behavior of the average Nusselt number with tilt angle y can be explained by the fact that for 0pyp301, the boundary layer ow

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2.4

2.2

Nuav

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1 0 10 20 30 40 50 Tilt Angle 60 70 80 90

Fig. 5. The average Nusselt number versus tilt angle with A 10 and RaT 105.

(a unicellular ow) developed in the vicinity of the hot wall or cold wall causes the small increase of Nuav with y. For 60pyp901, the development of multi-cellular ows (Benard convection) is responsible of the maximums and the minimums. Several computed results for isotherms and streamlines at y 601 and RaT 105 are shown in Fig. 7. As can be seen, the ow, mass and thermal elds are strongly dependent on thermal Rayleigh number. The isotherms show steep temperature gradient near the heated wall. We note the presence of a thermal plume close to the hot active surface where steep mass and temperature gradients exist. These mass and heat gradients initiate and maintain the natural convection ow within the enclosure. Warm uid adjacent to the hot surface is convected upward and is replaced by cooled air. In fact, the ascending streams are warmer than the descending ones, providing the driving force in the respective direction of motion. For low thermal Rayleigh number RaT, the isotherms are nearly parallel to the heated wall, indicating that most of the heat transfer is by heat conduction (Fig. 7(a)). The effect of convection is seen as a departure of the isotherms from the longitudinal axis. As the thermal Rayleigh number increases, the deformation of the isotherms becomes more accentuated (Fig. 7(b) and (c)) and the mechanism of heat transfer is gradually shifted to natural convection. The similarities between the governing equations for heat and mass transfer suggest that empirical correlation for the mass transfer coefcient and concentration eld would be similar to those for the heat transfer coefcients and temperature eld. So the concentration elds are not presented here because the same change is observed. The corresponding streamlines form a main clockwise-rotating vortex. This rotating cell is generated by the transversal temperature gradient across the section. We note that this clockwise motion convects cool uid along the cold wall and down into the lower portion of the enclosure resulting in a negative

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7 0 6.5 6 5.5 5 4.5 4 Nuloc 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 11 21 31 41 51 Tilt Angle 61 71 81 91 101 30 60 90

Fig. 6. Local Nusselt number for RaT 105 and A 105 at selected tilt angles.

dimensionless temperature perturbation. At the same time, warm uid adjacent to the hot surface is convected upward where it appears as a positive perturbation in the upper portion of the enclosure. For low thermal Rayleigh number, two secondary cells appear within the main cell (Fig. 7(a)). Heat transfer by convection in the viscous boundary layers alters the temperature distribution to such an extent that temperature gradients in the center are close to zero, or change sign, thus promoting negative vorticity. This causes the development of secondary vortices in the core. As the thermal Rayleigh number increases, the velocity eld is distorted into an elliptic shape and the effect of convection is more pronounced in the isotherms. So, four stable rolls (Benard cellular ows) appear in the cavity and circulate in opposite directions (Fig. 7(c)). Also, plume-like pattern is present inside the cavity marking the boundaries between cells. These patterns also provide evidence of the alternating downward and upward motion. It is possible now by examining the computed isotherms and streamlines to draw some rst conclusions on how the operation of the still will be affected by the given ow patterns. Along the inclined glass cover to the right, where the condensed vapor is collected, there are several ow separation locations (RaT4104), coinciding with the interface between two convective cells. Evaporating water can be carried away from the owing brackish water by any one of these cells, but the presence of ow separation there may not, on one hand, allow enough time for the vapor to cool down as it ows along the glass cover and to condensate, while on the other hand may cause some of the condensate

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(a)

(b)
1

(c)

Fig. 7. Isotherms and streamlines for A 10 and y 601. (a) RaT 10 , (b) RaT 103, and (c) RaT 105.

to be carried away by the cells back toward the owing brackish water. It becomes obvious, therefore, that the desirable ow pattern would be one whereby the inclined surface was associated with a single cell, which would rotate in a sense that could drive the condensed vapor toward the right lower end of the inclined glass cover (clockwise rotation). In this particular case, the sense of rotation for the major cells is found to be favorable for RaTp103. Fig. 8 shows the variation in the vertical velocity component proles at mid-height of the cavity for aspect ratio A 10 and for two buoyancy number N 0 and N 1. We can deduce that V* varies along the whole length of the cavity and the velocity level increases in the enclosure when the buoyancy force from species diffusion acts in the same direction of the thermal buoyancy force (N 1). After convergence is attained, the local Nusselt (respectively Sherwood) number related to the dimensionless temperature (respectively concentration), and average Nusselt (respectively Sherwood) number (determined by the Simpson method) is calculated as follows:   Z @T 1 H Nu 1=2 Nu dl. ; Nuav H 0 @x Ra 1
T

(9)

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N=0 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 V* 0 1 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35 2 3

N=1

10

11

X*
Fig. 8. Longitudinal velocity component proles at mid-height of the cavity for RaT 105 and y 601.

The inuence of thermal Rayleigh number on respectively average Nusselt number is shown in Fig. 9. As indicated in previous studies [15,16], the heat (mass) transfer is an increasing function of thermal (mass) Rayleigh number. It is to be noted that local Nusselt number shown in Fig. 6, greatly changes with the cavity height and presents several minima and maxima points along the hot side (transparent absorber). These results are similar to those reported in Refs. [17,19]. 5. Conclusion Numerical solutions to the NavierStokes, mass and energy equations for laminar natural convection ow resulting from the combined buoyancy effect of thermal and mass diffusion in an inclined glazing cavity with differentially heated side walls have been obtained for large range of thermal Rayleigh numbers by using a CVFEM. This numerical approach allowed us to analyze the complex natural convection ow situations arising in the inclined glazing cavity and to evaluate the effect of different parameters on the solar still performance. It is found that the desirable ow for enhancing the performance of the solar distiller is characterized by a single cell which rotates in a sense that allow enough time for the vapor to cool down. This sense is found to be favorable for relatively low thermal Rayleigh number.

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3 A=1 and N=1 2.5

2 Nuav

1.5

0.5

0 1.E+00

1.E+01

1.E+02 RaT

1.E+03

1.E+04

1.E+05

Fig. 9. Variation of average Nusselt number with thermal Rayleigh number for y 601.

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