Effect of flow maldistribution on thermal performance of a solar air heater array with subcollectors in parallel

Rajendra Karwa, Nitin Karwa, Rohit Misra and P.C. Agarwal

Energy, 2007, vol. 32, issue 7, 1260-1270

Abstract: This paper presents results of a theoretical study carried out to investigate the effect of flow maldistribution, caused by the manufacturing imperfections and tolerances, on the thermal efficiency of a solar air heater array with subcollectors in parallel. The air mass flow rate, ambient temperature, solar insolation and wind heat transfer coefficient have been systematically varied to study the effect under a wide range of these parameters. The collector length, duct height, and plate emissivity were also changed to study their effect. It has been found that the maximum reduction in thermal efficiency due to flow maldistribution is less than about 3% for an array with a commercial grade finish of duct surfaces and ±10% manufacturing tolerance for the duct height.

Keywords: Solar air heater array; Subcollectors in parallel; Flow imbalance; Thermal performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544206001848
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:energy:v:32:y:2007:i:7:p:1260-1270

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2006.08.002

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

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