Optimization and Simulation of a Solar Flat Plate Collector Using Response Surface Methodology and Computational Fluid Dynamics

Solar collector technology has just taken a step forward to ensure that the thermal energy requirements of society are addressed. Development of solar thermal technologies has necessitated the need to employ both computational and experimental tools in an effort to optimise the performance of the system. The paper presents a holistic approach to optimising the thermal efficiency of solar flat plate collectors using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Box-Behnken experimental design has been applied to determine the effects of main parameters, comprising mass flow rate, angle of inclination, and secondary riser inclination, on water outlet temperature. The thermal performance of both optimised and baseline designs was legitimised by CFD simulations. Findings have shown that CFD and RSM models are closely correlated with each other, and outlet temperature prediction has a low deviation of 0.167 K, which emphasizes the precision of the regression model. The highest thermal efficiency was recorded at secondary riser inclination of 11.141, mass flow rate of 23.628 kg/h, inclination angle of 7.226, which gave an outlet temperature of 351.448 K with a desirability score of 1.000. This CFD-RSM system is a powerful and affordable approach to optimization of solar collector designs, and helps to mitigate the need for large-scale experimental studies heavily, and offers scalable solutions to future solar thermal utilizations.