Air systems can be used space heating and crop drying. In this paper the thermal analysis of typical flat plate solar air collector is presented. This is similar to that applied for water heating collectors, except for the fin efficiency and the resistance of the bond between the fin and the air conduit. The final equation for the useful energy collected, derived from this analysis, is exactly the same as the one applied for water heating collectors except the fin efficiency, which depends solely on combined heat transfer and the heat loss coefficients. Further, through modelling of a typical collector with standard weather condition of 890 W/m² solar radiation and 288 K (15°C) ambient temperature, the optimum characteristics of the collectors are determined. These concern the air mass flow rate and the thickness of the gab between the collector absorber and back plates. The optimum size of mass flow rate obtained is equal to 0.2 kg/m²s and the optimum gab is equal to 0.015m.
Keywords. Solar energy; air collectors; thermal analysis; optimum characteristics
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How to cite this article
Tsioutis, C., Kalogirou, S., Yiakoumetti, K. and Maidment, G. (2009). 'Thermal analysis of solar air collectors'. SET Proceedings, 8, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.65582/set.2009.016
