Numerical analysis of solar flat plate collector with cooling chamber partially filled with highly porous metal foams

A 3D numerical experimentation is performed to explore the convection parameters of water flowing via eco-friendly novel cooling channel partially packed with metal foams (MF) using ANSYS Workbench 2022 R2. The foremost goal of the current study is to advance the thermal performance of SFPC (solar flat plate collector) and also its electrical efficiency. For this determination, four different filling rates (H f = 0.25H, 0.5H, 0.75H and H respectively) and MF of four distinct pores per inch (10, 20, 30 and 45) are considered. The MF is located next to the internal surface of the solar module to augment the heat transfer. In this numerical computation, solar radiation heat flux is kept constant and solar plate is positioned at an inclination equal to latitude of the site. The combined Darcy Extended Forchheimer (DEF) and Local Thermal Equilibrium (LTE) model is employed to envisage the convective heat flow through MF filled solar collector. Initially, the numerical computations are confirmed with the help of literature data and achieved a fairly good agreement. The outcomes show that the peak temperature of SFPC surface is dropped by 24 – 27 °C and also its electrical efficiency is amplified up to 13 - 14 % from 8 – 9 % with the use of MFs. The fall of peak temperature around 25 to 30 °C with 19.50 %, 18.50 %, 17.64 % and 19.74 % in temperature drop is observed for 10, 20, 30 and 45 PPI MFs respectively with regard to non-porous case SFPC. The highest thermal performance was achieved for 45PPI with H f =0.75H and lowest performance is obtained for 30PPI at H f =0.25H The enhancement ratio (Er) is much higher for 7 l/min mass flow rate than those for 1, 3 and 5 l/min. Outcomes also exhibit that the 10 and 45 PPI MF stretches 2.72 and 2.68 more heat than non-porous chamber respectively. The 45 PPI MF achieves higher enhancement ratio with respect to all other PPI MF’s and also in all configurations studied.