Single Pass Solar Air Heater Without Absorber

Abstract

The single pass solar air heater is constructed and tested for thermal efficiency at a geographic location of Cyprus in the city of Famagusta. The length and the width of the collector are 150 and 100 cm respectively. The distance between the cover glass, 0.4 cm in thickness, and the bottom of the collector, is 3 cm. The absorber plate was replaced by fourteen steel wire mesh layers, 0.2 × 0.2 cm in cross section opening, and they were fixed in the duct parallel to the glazing. The distance between each set of wire mesh layers is 0.5 cm to reduce the pressure drop. The wire mesh layers were painted with black before installing them into the collector. The obtained results show that as the mass flow rate increases, the efficiency of the system will also increase. The temperature difference (ΔT) between the inlet and outlet air through the system increases as the mass flow rate decreases. The maximum ΔT (45.8 °C) is achieved at the flow rate of 0.011 kg/s. The range of the mass flow rate used in this work is between 0.011 and 0.04 kg/s. It is also found that the maximum efficiency obtained for the single pass air collector is 53.01 % for the mass flow rate of 0.04 kg/s.