Thermal Performance of Single and Double Exposure Solar Air Heaters

Abstract

In this paper, thermal performance of double flow, single and double exposure solar air heaters are analytically investigated. In single exposure solar air collector solar radiation absorbed by the absorber only through the top of the collector whereas in double exposure solar air collector solar radiation absorbed by the absorber through both top and bottom of the collector by using reflector. The performance of collectors have been analysed with different parameters such as mass flow rate and insolation. The results show that double exposure solar air collector is better than the single exposure solar air collector. The double exposure solar air heater is 4.17% more efficient than the single exposure solar air heater at a mass flow rate of 0.0277 kg/s.

Keywords: Air heaters, double exposure solar air collector, single exposure solar air collector, Thermal Performance