Investigative study of the thermal performance of a trial solar air heater

Abstract

Solar collectors need to be inclined at the optimum angle to maximize the receiving energy. The evaluation of the thermal performance of solar air collectors is important for the proper design and sizing of the collector for a given application. In our experimental/theoretical study, which consists of a thermal performance investigation, we have sought to optimize the efficiency–temperature rise couple of the designed solar air heater by considering the appropriate assembling materials regarding the absorber, the glazing and the insulation. Obviously, efficiency is dependent on the orientation of solar collectors and the measured parameters climate conditions such as wind speed, solar radiation and ambient temperature. In order to achieve possible performance optimization of the receiver plane using a low number of variables and equations, the calculations were carried out considering four values of azimuth angle, γ = 0°, 22.5°, 45° and 67.5°, and by varying the tilt angle β by 5 degrees from 15° to 70°. Keywords: Experimental solar air collector, Absorber, Insulation, Optimization, Efficiency