Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Energy, Energy Engineering and Power Technology
22
Scopus Publications
89
Scholar Citations
6
Scholar h-index
4
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PV MODULE USING GRAPHENE HYDROPHOBIC NANO COATING COUPLED WITH TOP WATER COOLING Karthik Myilswamy, Kannan Kumaresan Thermal Science, 2025 This research aims to enhance the efficiency of polycrystalline silicon solar photovoltaic panels by addressing the dual challenges of dust accumulation and tem-perature variations. The study investigates the effects of applying a hydrophobic graphene nanocoating on the top surface of the panels to prevent dust buildup, coupled with a top water-cooling system to regulate panel temperature. Outdoor experiments were conducted in Coimbatore, India, from 8:00 a. m. to 4:00 p. m. under sunny conditions for 40 days. A total of eight identical photovoltaic panels were tested with various configurations, and performance parameters such as glass temperature, Tedlar? temperature, output power, solar radiation, ambient temperature, and wind speed were recorded. Experimental results show that the graphene nanocoating reduces panel temperature by 9.36% compared to the dusty panel and 3.8% compared to the uncoated, manually cleaned panel by day 40. The nanocoating alone increased power output and efficiency by 4.16% and 3.3%, respectively, compared to the uncoated, no-cooling panel. Additionally, the nano-coated, top water-cooled panels showed improvements of 16.87% in output power and 13.22% in efficiency compared to the uncoated, no-cooling panel, and 3.11% in power and 2.82% in efficiency compared to the uncoated, water-cooled panels. These results demonstrate that the combined application of graphene nanocoating and water cooling effectively enhances the performance and longevity of photovoltaic modules by reducing dust accumulation and regulating temperature.
Characterisation of erythritol as a potential phase change material Paul Gregory Felix, Velavan Rajagopal, Kannan Kumaresan Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2025 Erythritol ((2 R,3S)-Butane-1,2,3,4-tetrol) is being considered as a phase change material (PCM) of interest owing to its potential applicability for solar thermal applications. But however, lack of inclusive material characterisation outcomes drives the need to bridge this research gap. In this study, erythritol was subjected to both chemical and thermal characterisation investigations. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) investigation estimated the degree of crystallinity to be 73.48% and the crystallite size to be 38.79 nm. The fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) investigation has identified -OH, -C-H and -CH2 to be the major functional groups. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation visualised the crystalline architecture of the PCM. The energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) investigation quantified the composition of C and O in the eclectic constituency. The UV-visible spectrophotometry investigations confirmed that erythritol could be utilised for direct solar thermal applications. The thermal characterisation investigations rendered the latent heat of the PCM to be 333.48 kJ kg−1 and its peak melting temperature to be 118.18°C. The thermal stability investigations estimated the latent heat loss per cycle to be 1.1451 kJ kg−1.
INVESTIGATING NATURAL CONVECTION COOLING IN DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMERS THROUGH INTEGRATED EMAG-CFD ANALYSIS Lavanya R., Kannan K., V. B. A. Vignes Karthic ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition Proceedings Imece, 2025 An ONAN (Oil Natural and Air Natural) distribution transformer is a type of electrical transformer mounted on a utility pole, typically used to convert high-voltage power to lower voltages for residential and small commercial use. Usually, a distribution transformer is loaded throughout the day and hence the core and winding losses, which occurs inside the transformer due to loading, is dissipated as heat. ONAN transformers rely primarily on the thermal convection of the oil to carry heat to the transformer shell, which in turn radiates heat to the surrounding environment. The oil temperature around the winding increases which results in a reduction in oil density and because of the density difference, the buoyancy is in the vertical oil channel, cooling the transformer core and windings passively. Moreover, this type of transformer is exposed to the solar radiation throughout the day. While several studies exist on thermal and electromagnetic analysis in isolation, very few works have integrated to study the direct coupling of core/winding losses and their influence on natural convection-based cooling performance. Hence, in this paper, the convective heat transfer analysis is investigated using two software ANSYS MAXWELL (for transient electromagnetic analysis) and ANSYS FLENT (for steady state thermal investigation including solar loading), thereby contributing to improved design and operational strategies. In conventional convection analysis using ANSYS FLUENT, the heat source input is an assumption value based on the rating of the transformer. But this study employs a methodology (one way coupling) in which electromagnetic analysis is carried out using ANSYS Maxwell, hence the magnetic flux distribution, core losses, and winding losses are computed under rated operational conditions. Further, the computed heat loss is verified by manual calculation. Then, the losses calculated (from ANSYS Maxwell) is the heat source input for thermal analysis using ANSYS FLUENT (CFD). The CFD model accounts for buoyancy-driven flow to evaluate the cooling efficiency and predict hotspot temperatures. The maximum flux density obtained is about 1.65T, which is close to 1.7T, which shows efficient core utilization. The heat generated due to the power losses in transformer is 100 W (on an average), leading to a hotspot temperature of 124.35°C. These findings highlight the critical regions of thermal stress.
Enhancing single-basin solar still performance through sound agitation: A Taguchi-based exploration of sound level, wave type, and water depth Immanual Rajkumar, Kannan Kumaresan, Sanjana Nithyananda Kumar Energy Sources Part A Recovery Utilization and Environmental Effects, 2025 Although numerous improvements have been introduced in solar still technology to enhance its performance by using nanofluids, phase change materials, and design alteration, more attention needs to be paid to the role of sound agitation in enhancing solar still productivity. The present study aims to determine how the inclusion of sound agitation can enhance the performance of a solar desalination system. The experiment was performed in Coimbatore, India, in May 2024, where a conventional solar still (CSS) and modified solar still (MSS) with sound agitation were employed. The Taguchi method and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to evaluate the impact of several parameters, such as sound level, wave type, and water depth, on the productivity of the solar desalination system. The results indicated that wave type had the maximum impact on the output, while water depth and sound level exerted a secondary effect. The optimal parameters combination was wave type equal to square wave, water depth equal to 5 mm, and sound level equal to 90 dB. Regression analysis revealed accurate quantitative relationships between the input factors employed and the output, and the MSS system performed better than CSS, where the most significant improvement in distillate was 36.09% and 72.1% to evaporative heat transfer coefficient. Meanwhile, the average improvement concerning the evaporative heat transfer coefficient was 95.84% during the experiment. Thus, it can be concluded that the present experiment revealed the role of acoustic agitation in enhancing a solar desalination system’s thermal efficiency and productivity.
Performance enhancement of solar still desalination using sound agitation and condensation: A comparative study R. Immanual, K. Kannan, N. Sanjana, K.M. Kirthika Desalination and Water Treatment, 2025 This research work focuses on the assessment of the CSS and the newly developed Sound Agitation with Condenser Solar Still (SACSS) for water desalination. Field studies were carried out in Coimbatore city in the southern part of India in the month of March 2024. The SACSS incorporated a 40 W speaker for water agitation at 110 Hz, a fan and a condenser unit. The values of the solar radiation, temperature distributions, heat transfer coefficients, energy fractions, yield, efficiency, and cost per liter were recorded and evaluated. Findings show that the SACSS performs much better than the CSS. The SACSS reached a maximum water temperature of 66 °C, a maximum yield of 0.38 kg/m²·h, a peak efficiency of 82 %, and a cost per liter of 1.16 Rs/L, compared to 64 °C, 0.26 kg/m²·h, 62 %, and 1.44 Rs/L for the CSS. The changes in SACSS enhanced thermal control and distillation effectiveness, particularly during high solar intensity.
Investigations on the functional modes of a thermal energy storage system for sustainable steam cooking application - an experimental study Velavan Rajagopal, Kannan Kumaresan, Paul Gregory Felix Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2024 Steam cooking using parabolic trough collectors is a well-established sustainable technology. The augmentation of a thermal energy storage (TES) system with such a sustainable system will make the technology completely reliable on the renewable energy source. However, there are limited research findings to improve the thermal performance of the TES heat exchangers by adopting non-structural and non-elemental modifications. In this article, experimental studies have been performed on a TES shell and tube heat exchanger that could be envisaged for steam cooking applications. Erythritol was used as the phase change material. The heat exchanger was operated in two modes: progressive and impulsive. From the observations, the performance of the impulsive mode was better than the progressive mode. The impulsive mode of functionality witnessed a 32% decrease in the charging duration, 2.5% increase in the energy stored and 50% increase in the charging rate in comparison to the progressive mode.
Prioritizing the factors affecting innovation capability of steel manufacturing SMEs using fuzzy logic Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 2015
Characterisation of erythritol as a potential phase change material PG Felix, V Rajagopal, K Kumaresan Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 1-15 , 2023 2023 Citations: 1
Thermal analysis of PCM magnesium chloride hexahydrate using various machine learning and deep learning models VK Venkatraman Balakrishnan, K Kumaresan Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 126, 107159 , 2023 2023
System scale testing of magnesium chloride hexahydrate for thermal energy storage-A physical and numerical approach VKV Balakrishnan, K Kumaresan Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 149, 104996 , 2023 2023 Citations: 4
Investigations on the functional modes of a thermal energy storage system for sustainable steam cooking application-an experimental study V Rajagopal, K Kumaresan, PG Felix Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 1-12 , 2022 2022 Citations: 1
Experimental study of solidification of fructose with various rates of cooling Heat and Mass Transfer 58, 1667–1678 , 2022 2022
Differential scanning calorimetry-based investigations of erythritol-sodium chloride phase change composites for thermal energy storage PG Felix, V Rajagopal, K Kumaresan Hemijska industrija 76 (1), 5-18 , 2022 2022 Citations: 2
Applicability of MCDM Algorithms for the Selection of Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage Heat Exchangers. PG Felix, V Rajagopal, K Kumaresan Strojniski Vestnik/Journal of Mechanical Engineering , 2021 2021 Citations: 11
Investigations on the practical feasibility of a model for enhancing technological innovation in micro small and medium sized steel manufacturing companies KR Kiron, K Kannan Anna University , 2020 2020
Application of fuzzy analytical network process for the selection of best technological innovation strategy in steel manufacturing SMEs KR Kiron, K Kannan International Journal of Services and Operations Management 31 (3), 325-348 , 2018 2018 Citations: 9
Innovation capability for sustainable development of SMEs: an interpretive structural modelling methodology for analysing the interactions among factors KRKK Kannan International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, , 15 (No. 4 … , 2018 2018 Citations: 24
Experimental Investigation on GFRP and Polypropylene machined by Abrasive Water Jet Machining UAK Kannan K. National Journal of Technology 12 (3), 56 - 68 , 2016 2016
Prioritizing the Factors Affecting Innovation Capability of Steel Manufacturing SMEs Using Fuzzy Logic KKR Kannan K Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research 74, 665-669 , 2015 2015 Citations: 14
“Design, Development and Analysis of Supersonic Nozzle” National Journal of Technology 11 (2), 1- 8 , 2015 2015
Effect of geometric factors on performance of a sodium to air heat exchanger in a fast breeder reactor KKR K. Kannan, V. Vinod, G. Padmakumar, R. Rudramoorthy Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (1), 428–437 , 2015 2015 Citations: 6
An Investigation on the Innovations in Steel Re-Rolling MSMEs with reference to industries in Kerala State, India KK Kiron Applied Mechanics and Materials 594, 2711-2715 , 2014 2014 Citations: 6
Experimental and Computational investigation of drag coefficient of a commercial car model SSK K.Kannan, N.Sadhiskumar CiiT international Journal of Artificial Intelligent systems and Machine … , 2011 2011
Experimental and numerical analysis of laminar and low turbulent flow distributions in inlet dividing header of shell and tube heat exchanger K Kannan, R Rudramoorthy Journal of Hydrodynamics, Ser. B 22 (4), 494-502 , 2010 2010 Citations: 11
Study of effect of geometrical parameters in flow distribution in headers using CFD’ STGRR Kannan K. International Journal of Logic Based Intelligent Systems 1, 41-56 , 2007 2007
Simulation of flow distribution in a shell and tube heat exchanger - A CFD based approach SVNRR Arun Kumar A., Chockalingam S., Kannan K. International Journal of Mathematical Sciences 5 (2), 249-264 , 2006 2006
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Innovation capability for sustainable development of SMEs: an interpretive structural modelling methodology for analysing the interactions among factors KRKK Kannan International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, , 15 (No. 4 … , 2018 2018 Citations: 24
Prioritizing the Factors Affecting Innovation Capability of Steel Manufacturing SMEs Using Fuzzy Logic KKR Kannan K Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research 74, 665-669 , 2015 2015 Citations: 14
Applicability of MCDM Algorithms for the Selection of Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage Heat Exchangers. PG Felix, V Rajagopal, K Kumaresan Strojniski Vestnik/Journal of Mechanical Engineering , 2021 2021 Citations: 11
Experimental and numerical analysis of laminar and low turbulent flow distributions in inlet dividing header of shell and tube heat exchanger K Kannan, R Rudramoorthy Journal of Hydrodynamics, Ser. B 22 (4), 494-502 , 2010 2010 Citations: 11
Application of fuzzy analytical network process for the selection of best technological innovation strategy in steel manufacturing SMEs KR Kiron, K Kannan International Journal of Services and Operations Management 31 (3), 325-348 , 2018 2018 Citations: 9
Effect of geometric factors on performance of a sodium to air heat exchanger in a fast breeder reactor KKR K. Kannan, V. Vinod, G. Padmakumar, R. Rudramoorthy Annals of Nuclear Energy 75 (1), 428–437 , 2015 2015 Citations: 6
An Investigation on the Innovations in Steel Re-Rolling MSMEs with reference to industries in Kerala State, India KK Kiron Applied Mechanics and Materials 594, 2711-2715 , 2014 2014 Citations: 6
System scale testing of magnesium chloride hexahydrate for thermal energy storage-A physical and numerical approach VKV Balakrishnan, K Kumaresan Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 149, 104996 , 2023 2023 Citations: 4
Differential scanning calorimetry-based investigations of erythritol-sodium chloride phase change composites for thermal energy storage PG Felix, V Rajagopal, K Kumaresan Hemijska industrija 76 (1), 5-18 , 2022 2022 Citations: 2
Characterisation of erythritol as a potential phase change material PG Felix, V Rajagopal, K Kumaresan Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 1-15 , 2023 2023 Citations: 1
Investigations on the functional modes of a thermal energy storage system for sustainable steam cooking application-an experimental study V Rajagopal, K Kumaresan, PG Felix Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 1-12 , 2022 2022 Citations: 1
Thermal analysis of PCM magnesium chloride hexahydrate using various machine learning and deep learning models VK Venkatraman Balakrishnan, K Kumaresan Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 126, 107159 , 2023 2023
Experimental study of solidification of fructose with various rates of cooling Heat and Mass Transfer 58, 1667–1678 , 2022 2022
Investigations on the practical feasibility of a model for enhancing technological innovation in micro small and medium sized steel manufacturing companies KR Kiron, K Kannan Anna University , 2020 2020
Experimental Investigation on GFRP and Polypropylene machined by Abrasive Water Jet Machining UAK Kannan K. National Journal of Technology 12 (3), 56 - 68 , 2016 2016
“Design, Development and Analysis of Supersonic Nozzle” National Journal of Technology 11 (2), 1- 8 , 2015 2015
Experimental and Computational investigation of drag coefficient of a commercial car model SSK K.Kannan, N.Sadhiskumar CiiT international Journal of Artificial Intelligent systems and Machine … , 2011 2011
Study of effect of geometrical parameters in flow distribution in headers using CFD’ STGRR Kannan K. International Journal of Logic Based Intelligent Systems 1, 41-56 , 2007 2007
Simulation of flow distribution in a shell and tube heat exchanger - A CFD based approach SVNRR Arun Kumar A., Chockalingam S., Kannan K. International Journal of Mathematical Sciences 5 (2), 249-264 , 2006 2006
