Design Fabrication and Testing of a Heat Exchanger in a Solar Thermal Energy Conversion System

In this document, a shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) is intended, produced, and experimentally tested for distinct mass flow rates of both warm and cold fluids in a solar thermal energy conversion system (STECS). STHE’s performance is discovered by experiments conducted over 25 days at distinct combinations of heat and cold fluid mass flow rates. The studies are initially carried out to maintain the flow rate of warm fluid mass at a speed of 60 kg/h and the flow rate of cold fluid mass between 120 and 300 kg/h. Further studies with a set cold fluid flow rate of 60 kg/h are proceeded, and the warm fluid flow rate varies between 120 and 300 kg/h. The average maximum temperature of hot fluid by the use of evacuated tube solar collector (ETSC) is found to be 80 °C. Experimental results show that the STHE has a maximum effectiveness of 0.74 when the mass flow rate of warm and cold fluids is 60 and 300 kg/h, respectively. The effectiveness also averages up to 0.6508 with cold and hot fluids mass flow rates of 60 and 300 kg/h.