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An Experimental Investigation to Check the Overall Performance of a Packed Bed Solar Air Heater

  • SOLAR INSTALLATIONS AND THEIR APPLICATION
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Abstract

An experimental investigation of thermohydraulic performance characteristics of a packed bed solar air heater is done in the present work. The packed bed is generally used to enhance the heat transfer area, increase the turbulence in the flow and for the storage of thermal energy. The experimental investigation has been carried out on a low porosity packed bed solar air heater. The investigation covers a particular range of design and operating parameters. Design parameters take account of the equivalent diameter of packing material (1.55 mm), packing density (250 g per 0.075 m3) and colour of the packed bed material (Black) while the operating parameters take account of the mass flow rate ranging from 0.01 to 0.04 kg/s. It is observed that the efficiency of the air heater increases with increase in mass flow rate. It is also found that the impact on the overall efficiency due to frictional loss is much less in a low porosity packed bed solar air heater.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research work received a specific grant from Department of Science and Technology, India. The authors of this work would also like to take the time to acknowledge the support of the staffs of Energy Department of Tezpur University, India. Their assistance was critical in making this work possible. Without their support, this work would not have been possible. We are indeed very grateful.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tezpur University, Tezpur, India

    Parag Jyoti Bezbaruah, Doljit Borah & Debendra Chandra Baruah

  2. National Institute of Technology Meghalaya, Meghalaya, India

    Parag Jyoti Bezbaruah

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  1. Parag Jyoti Bezbaruah
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  2. Doljit Borah
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  3. Debendra Chandra Baruah
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Correspondence to Parag Jyoti Bezbaruah.

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Parag Jyoti Bezbaruah, Borah, D. & Baruah, D.C. An Experimental Investigation to Check the Overall Performance of a Packed Bed Solar Air Heater. Appl. Sol. Energy 56, 431–441 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0003701X2006002X

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