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Comparative study on the performances of solar air collectors with trapezoidal corrugated and flat absorber plates

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Abstract

Thermal performance of the solar air collectors which are mostly used for space heating and drying is generally low. Therefore there are different studies aimed at increasing the thermal performance of the solar air collectors. One of the technics used for this purpose is making changes in surface geometry of the absorber plate. In this research, the thermal performance of two solar air collectors constructed with trapezoidal corrugated and flat absorber plate is investigated experimentally under weather conditions of Konya/Turkey. The experiments were conducted for three different air mass flow rates of 0.022, 0.033 and 0.044 kg/s. The results obtained are compared to the ones of solar air collector with flat absorber plate. It has been observed that difference between inlet and outlet air temperatures of the solar air collectors increases as the mass flow rate decreases. For the air mass flow rate of 0.022 kg/s, the maximum temperature rise in solar air collector with trapezoidal corrugated plate is 9 °C compared to the flat plate solar air collector. It has been shown that thermal performance of the solar air collectors rises with the increase in mass flow rates. It is determined that the average daily thermal efficiency of the solar air collector with trapezoidal absorber plate is 63% for 0.044 kg/s.

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Abbreviations

A c :

Duct cross-section area (m2)

A p :

Surface area of the absorber plate (m2)

C p :

Specific heat capacity of air (J/kgK)

D h :

Hydraulic diameter of the duct (m)

E R :

Relative error (%)

f :

The average friction factor

h :

The mean convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)

H :

Height of the duct (m)

I :

Global solar radiation on the glass cover (W/m2)

k :

Thermal conductivity of air (W/mK)

\( \dot{m} \) :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

Nu :

The mean Nusselt number

P :

Wetted perimeter of duct (m)

\( \dot{Q_d} \) :

Daily total useful heat rate (W)

\( \dot{Q_u} \) :

Useful heat rate (W)

Pr :

Prandtl number

R :

Any parameter

Re :

Reynolds number

T a :

Ambient temperature (°C)

T b :

The average bulk temperature of air (°C)

T i :

Average inlet temperature of air (°C)

T o :

Average outlet temperature of air (°C)

T p :

Average surface temperature of the absorber plate (°C)

∆T :

Temperature difference of air (=To − Ti) oC

V :

Average velocity of air in the duct (m/s)

W :

Width of the duct (m)

w R :

Uncertainty for R value

ρ :

Density of air (kg/m3)

μ:

Dynamic viscosity of air (kg/ms)

η:

Thermal efficiency

η d :

Daily average efficiency

w :

Uncertainty

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Scientific Research Project Coordination Unit of Selçuk University (BAP) for the financial supports they provided to this project (project No. 16201070).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Konya Technical University, 42250, Konya, Turkey

    Selçuk Darici & Anil Kilic

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  1. Selçuk Darici
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  2. Anil Kilic
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Correspondence to Selçuk Darici.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:

Selçuk Darici

Anil Kilic

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Highlights

• Two various types of solar air collectors with different absorber plate were investigated experimentally.

• The comparisons including temperature differences of air across the solar air collector and thermal efficiencies have been made.

• The thermal efficiency of the solar air collector with trapezoidal corrugated absorber plate is found to be higher.

• The thermal efficiency of the collectors increases with increase in mass flow rate.

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Darici, S., Kilic, A. Comparative study on the performances of solar air collectors with trapezoidal corrugated and flat absorber plates. Heat Mass Transfer 56, 1833–1843 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02815-y

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