Agricultural solar air collector made from low-cost plastic packing film

N.T. Ahmad

Renewable Energy, 2001, vol. 23, issue 3, 663-671

Abstract: Special attention has been paid to build a simple solar air heater from cheap plastic wrapping film with air bubbles, for use in drying operations on a farm (grain, fruit, fish, etc.). The model used was a single-sheet cylindrical collector and, after it had gained some heat, another layer of the plastic wrapping film with air bubbles was added in a later stage to decrease convection heat losses to the surroundings. Each cylindrical collector was 5 m long and 0.36 m in diameter, with a black interior band covering the lower part of the collector (30% of the surface area). The inlet direction of the collector was always towards the wind in order to achieve maximum air flow inside the collector. Although the method used is simple, a considerable gain in the temperature of the airflow was obtained: a temperature difference of around 10°C was measured.

Keywords: Agriculture; Solar energy; Crop drying; Air heater (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:23:y:2001:i:3:p:663-671

DOI: 10.1016/S0960-1481(00)00143-9

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