Experimental performance of single and double pass solar air heater with fins and steel wire mesh as absorber

A.P. Omojaro and L.B.Y. Aldabbagh

Applied Energy, 2010, vol. 87, issue 12, 3759-3765

Abstract: Thermal performance of a single and double pass solar air heater with fins attached and using a steel wire mesh as absorber plate was investigated experimentally. The effects of air mass flow rate range between 0.012Â kg/s and 0.038Â kg/s on the outlet temperature and thermal efficiency was studied. The bed heights were 7Â cm and 3Â cm for the lower and upper channels respectively. Result shows that, the efficiency increase with increasing air mass flow rate. For the same flow rate, the efficiency of the double pass is found to be higher than the single pass by 7-19.4%. Maximum efficiency obtained for the single and double pass air heater was 59.62% and 63.74% respectively for air mass flow rate of 0.038Â kg/s. Moreover, the thermal efficiency further decreases by increasing the height of the first pass of the double pass solar air heater. The temperature difference between the outlet flow and the ambient, [Delta]T, reduces as the air mass flow rate increase The result of a single or double solar air heater using steel wire mesh arrange in layers as an absorber plate and packing material when compared with a conventional solar air heater shows a much more substantial enhancement in the thermal efficiency.

Keywords: Double; pass; solar; air; heater; Packed; bed; Wire; mesh; Fins; Thermal; efficiency; Solar; air; heater (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-2619(10)00247-3
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:87:y:2010:i:12:p:3759-3765

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().