Analytical and experimental studies on the thermal performance of cross-corrugated and flat-plate solar air heaters

The cross-corrugated heaters consist of a wavelike absorbing plate and a wavelike bottom plate, which are crosswise positioned to form the air flow channel. Two types of these heaters are considered. For the type 1 heater, the wavelike shape of the absorbing plate is along the flow direction and that of the bottom plate is perpendicular to the flow direction, while for the type 2 heater it is the wavelike shape of the bottom plate that is along the flow direction and that of the absorbing plate is perpendicular to the flow direction. The aims of the use of the cross-corrugated absorbing plate and bottom plate is to enhance the turbulence and the heat-transfer rate inside the air flow channel, which are crucial to the improvement of efficiencies of solar air-heaters. To quantify the achievable improvements with the cross-corrugated absorbing and bottom plates, flat-plate solar air-heaters which have both a flat absorbing plate and a flat bottom plate, are also considered. The thermal performance of these three types of solar air-heaters are analyzed, measured and compared under several configurations and operating conditions. All the analytical and experimental results show that, although the thermal performance of the type 2 heater is just slightly superior to that of the type 1 heater, both of these cross-corrugated solar air-heaters have a much superior thermal performances to that of the flat-plate one. It is also found that the use of selected coatings on the absorbing plates of all the heaters considered can substantially enhance the thermal performances of the heaters, whereas such a selected coating on the bottom plates or/and the glass covers does not have such a significant effect on the thermal performances of the heaters.     

EVALUATION OF PERFORATED PLATE SOLAR AIR HEATER

Perforated plates had been successfully used in recent years to achieve high heat transfer coefficient from the absorber plate to the flowing air stream in solar air heaters. Since pumping pressure to maintain a particular flow in the solar air heater utilizing this type of absorber has significant influence on collected energy, so the design of perforated plate configuration must be based on the net energy gained from that collector which is the difference between energy collected and energy paid to overcome pumping pressure. A mathematical model had been constructed and validated experimentally for perforated plate solar air heater to study the effect of plate configurations and airflow rate on both energy gained and pressure loss. The results show that, the flow rate of air and plate configurations have a great effect on net energy gained from the air heater. The results also show that a plate of certain configurations operates most efficiently at certain flow rate and more than one configurations can give optimum value of net energy gained for a particular flow rate.     

Investigation of thermal performance of-double pass-flat and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters

In this paper, the double pass flat and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Analytical models for the air heater with flat and v-corrugated plates are presented. Numerical calculations have been performed under Tanta (latitude, 30^° 47^′ N) prevailing weather conditions. The theoretical predictions indicated that the agreement with the measured performance is fairly good. Comparisons between the measured outlet temperatures of flowing air, output power and overall heat losses of the flat and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters are also presented. The effect of mass flow rates of air on pressure drop, thermal and thermo hydraulic efficiencies of the flat and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters are also investigated. The results showed that the double pass v-corrugated plate solar air heater is 11-14% more efficient compared to the double pass flat plate solar air heater. It is also indicated that the peak values of the thermo hydraulic efficiencies of the flat and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters are obtained when the mass flow rate of the flowing air is 0.02 kg/s.     

Diurnal response of solar air heaters

A time-dependent heat transfer model has been developed to predict the diurnal performance of a conventional solar air heater which consists of a flat passage between two metallic plates through which the heating fluid (air) is made to pass. The effect of various parameters such as the heat capacities of the glass cover, the absorbing plate and the air streams, as well as the heat transfer coefficient from the absorbing plate to the air stream, have been investigated. It is found that the heat capacities of the glass cover and the absorber do not alter the performance characteristics of the solar air heater while the heat capacity of the air stream significantly influences both the rise in temperature of the fluid and the shift in phase. However, the effective heat transfer coefficient from the absorbing plate to the air stream significantly affects the diurnal response of a solar air heater.     

Collector efficiency of upward-type double-pass solar air heaters with fins attached

The collector efficiency of upward-type double-pass flat plate solar air heaters with fins attached and external recycle is investigated theoretically. The double-pass device was constructed by inserting the absorbing plate into the air conduit to divide it into two channels (the upper and lower channels). The double-pass device introduced here was designed for creating a solar collector with heat transfer area double as well as the extended area of fins between the absorbing plate and heated air. Moreover, the advantage of external recycle application to solar air heaters is the enhancement of forced heat convection strength, resulting in considerable device heat transfer performance improvement. This advantage may compensate for the remixing at the inlet which decreases the heat transfer transfer-driving force decrement (temperature difference).     

Improvement in device performance of multi-pass flat-plate solar air heaters with external recycle

A study on improvement in device performance of multi-pass solar air heaters with external recycle has been carried out under countercurrent-flow operations. An absorbing plate and insulation sheet were inserted horizontally and vertically, respectively, into a parallel-plate channel to divide the open duct into four subchannels. The coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations were derived and solved numerically. The theoretical results show that the new device of four-pass flat-plate solar air heater with external recycle can enhance the heat transfer rate compared with that in an open conduit (without the vertical insulation sheet inserted and the absorbing plate glued on the bottom insulation plate, the so-called a downward-type single-pass solar air heater) under the same flow rate and working dimensions. The effects of inserting the absorbing plate and insulation sheet on the transfer efficiency enhancement as well as on the hydraulic dissipated power increment have been also discussed.     

A mathematical model of thermal performance of a solar air heater with slats

A mathematical model for computing the thermal performance of a single pass flat-plate solar air collector is presented. Air channels were formed by providing metal slats running along the circulated air passage linking the absorber plate by the bottom one in an endeavor to enhance the thermal efficiency of the solar air collector. A mathematical model, therefore, is developed by which the influence of the addition of the metal slats on the efficiency of the solar collector is studied. A computer code that employs an iterative solution procedure is constructed to solve for the governing energy equations to estimate the mean temperatures of the collector. The effect of volume airflow rate, collector length, and spacing between the absorber and bottom plates on the thermal performance of the present solar air heater was investigated. Furthermore, a numerical comparison of the present design with the most common type of solar air heaters is conducted. The results of the comparison have indicated that better thermal performance was obtained by the modified system.     

Performance of suspended flat plate air heater

In this communication, a heat transfer model to predict the transient behaviour of a suspended flat plate solar collector with constant flow of fluid (air) above the absorber has been presented. A reflecting sheet with an air gap between the absorber plate and bottom insulation to reduce heat loss has been used. The effect, on performance of the air heater, of the parameters viz, spacing between cover and plate, heat capacity of air and absorber plate, flow rate of fluid and collector length have been studied. The effect of changing the averaging inlet temperature with varying collector length has also been studied.     

An optimum performance of flat-type solar air heater with porous absorber

This investigation is concerned with the design and performance of a flat-type solar air heater in which air flows perpendicularly from the transparent cover to a porous absorber plate. The design phase involved a stability analysis to determine the critical distance (maximum allowable distance) between the absober and transparent cover, for suppressing convection currents, at various environmental and operating conditions. These results are useful to designers of solar collectors of the proposed type. In addition, the thermal performance of this solar heater at its optimum design conditions was computed for a wide range of system parameters illustrating the contribution of conduction and radiative modes of heat transfer. The results indicate that the best operating efficiency can be obtained when running the collector with a mass flow rate of m > 40 kg/m².h. Furthermore, the collector thermal performance is superior than channel type solar air heaters operating under similar conditions and much simpler than honeycomb porous bed solar air heaters.     

A review on methodology of artificial roughness used in duct of solar air heaters

In order to enhance rate of heat transfer to flowing air in the duct of a solar air heater, artificially roughened surface of absorber plate is considered to be an effective technique. Investigators reported various roughness geometries in literature for studying heat transfer and friction characteristics of an artificially roughened duct of solar air heaters. In the present paper an attempt has been made to categorize and review the reported roughness geometries used for creating artificial roughness. Heat transfer coefficient and friction factor correlations developed by various investigators for roughened ducts of solar air heaters have also been reported in the present paper.     

A review on roughness geometry used in solar air heaters

The use of an artificial roughness on a surface is an effective technique to enhance the rate of heat transfer to fluid flow in the duct of a solar air heater. Number of geometries of roughness elements has been investigated on the heat transfer and friction characteristics of solar air heater ducts. In this paper an attempt has been made to review on element geometries used as artificial roughness in solar air heaters in order to improve the heat transfer capability of solar air heater ducts. The correlations developed for heat transfer and friction factor in roughened ducts of solar air heaters by various investigators have been reviewed and presented.     

Short communication simple transient thermal model for solar colector/storage water heaters

This note presents a simple transient model for predicting the thermal performance of some novel solar water heaters which combine both collection and storage of solar energy. These heaters consist of either (i) an insulated rectangular tank whose top surface is blackened and suitably glazed, or (ii) an insulated open shallow tank with black bottom/inner sides and a top glass cover (shallow solar pond). the heaters are adequately covered with an insulation during the night to reduce the heat losses. the proposed model is based on different characteristic equations during sunshine and off-sunshine hours. It is seen that the model predicts the water temperature in close agreement with the experimental observations and earlier theoretical investigations.     

Thermal performance investigation of double pass-finned plate solar air heater

In this paper, the double pass-finned plate solar air heater was investigated theoretically and experimentally. An analytical model for the air heater was presented. Numerical calculations had been performed under Tanta (latitude, 30° 47′N and longitude, 31°E) prevailing weather conditions. The theoretical predictions indicated that the agreement with the measured performance is fairly good. Comparisons between the measured outlet temperatures of flowing air, temperature of the absorber plate and output power of the double pass-finned and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters were also presented. The effect of mass flow rates of air on pressure drop, thermal and thermohydraulic efficiencies of the double pass-finned and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters were also investigated. The results showed that the double pass v-corrugated plate solar air heater is 9.3–11.9% more efficient compared to the double pass-finned plate solar air heater. It was also indicated that the peak values of the thermohydraulic efficiencies of the double pass-finned and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters were obtained when the mass flow rates of the flowing air equal 0.0125 and 0.0225 kg/s, respectively.     

Effective efficiency of solar air heaters having different types of roughness elements on the absorber plate

The use of an artificial roughness on a surface is an effective technique to enhance the rate of heat transfer to fluid flow in the duct of a solar air heater. This paper presents a comparison of effective efficiency of solar air heaters having different types of geometry of roughness elements on the absorber plate. The effective efficiency has been computed by using the correlations for heat transfer and friction factor developed by various investigators within the investigated range of operating and system parameters.     

Thermal performance optimization of a flat plate solar air heater using genetic algorithm

Thermal performance of solar air heater is low and different techniques are adopted to increase the performance of solar air heaters, such as: fins, artificial roughness etc. In this paper an attempt has been done to optimize the thermal performance of flat plate solar air heater by considering the different system and operating parameters to obtain maximum thermal performance. Thermal performance is obtained for different Reynolds number, emissivity of the plate, tilt angle and number of glass plates by using genetic algorithm.     

Thermal performance enhancement of solar air heaters,by a fan-blown absorber plate with rectangular fins

The aim of this study is to provide a remedy for the low thermophysical properties of air, which is used as a fluid of transfer in solar collectors. A fully developed flow needs to be created by the use of staggered fin rows soldered under the absorber plate. The fluid flow undergoes contractions followed by expansions, which creates a fully developed turbulent flow, and increases the thermal heat transfer between the absorber plate and the air. The fins increase the heat transfer surface, from which an appreciable improvement of the thermal heat performance of solar air heaters has been found in comparison to those of solar air heaters with a plane absorber. In this work we have tested the influence of the dimension of the fins and the influence of the space between consecutive fin rows mounted in staggered rows.     

Optimization of a smooth flat plate solar air heater using stochastic iterative perturbation technique

Due to low heat transfer capability, the thermal efficiency of solar collectors is very low and various techniques are implemented to increase the performance of solar air heaters. There is a need for optimization of design and operating parameters for maximizing the thermal gain from the solar air heating systems. In this paper a stochastic iterative perturbation technique (SIPT) is implemented to obtain the optimized set of different system and operating parameters i.e. the number of glass cover plate, emissivity of the plate, mean plate temperature, rise in temperature, tilt angle and solar radiation intensity for different Reynolds number. The results obtained have also been compared with the results obtained from genetic algorithm and random search global optimization technique for smooth flat plate solar air heater.     

An experimental study on a finned type and non-porous type solar air heater with a solar simulator

The results of experiments performed on two non-porous solar absorber solar air heaters with and without fins have been reported in this communication. The experiments were performed under laboratory conditions. Air heaters with fins are seen to be more efficient in comparison to the air heater without fins for air flow rates ≤0.0388 kg/sec per m². The experimental results have been used to validate a simple theoretical model.     

The improvement of collector efficiency in solar air heaters by simultaneously air flow over and under the absorbing plate

The performance of double-flow type solar air heaters, in which air is flowing simultaneously over and under the absorbing plate, is more effective than that of the devices with only one flow channel over or under the absorbing plate because the heat-transfer area in double-flow systems is double. The effect of the fraction of mass flow rate in the upper or lower flow channel of a double-flow device on collector efficiencies, has also been investigated theoretically and experimentally. Considerable improvement in collector performance is obtained by employing a double-flow type solar air heater, instead of using a single-flow device, if the mass flow rates in both flow channels are kept the same.     

Transient analysis of a solar air heater of the second kind

This paper presents a theoretical analysis along with the experimental validation study of a solar air heater of the second kind. The heater consists of a flat passage between two metallic plates through which the heat transfer fluid air is made to pass by some auxiliary means. Study of the periodic response of different parameters of this solar air heater is attempted. The heat balance equations governing the behaviour of the system are solved explicitly. The results obtained from the analytical expressions for the transient variation of outlet air temperature compare well with experimental data. Predictions are also made regarding effects of different performance parameters of the air heater with variations of air mass flow rate and plate emissivity with the hope of optimizing the collector configuration.