Renewable Energy 29 (2004) 14891501 www.elsevier.

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Eciency and exergy analysis of a new solar air heater

Irfan Kurtbas , Aydn Durmus
Firat University, Technical Education Faculty, Mechanical Education Department, 23119 Elazg, Turkey Received 4 June 2003; accepted 18 January 2004

Abstract It would be misleading to consider only the cost aspect of the design of a solar collector. High service costs increase total costs during the service life of solar collector. The most eective way to save energy is by increasing the eciency in a solar collector by the heat transfer coecient. In our study, ve solar collectors with dimensions of 0:9 0:4 m were used and the ow line increased where it had narrowed and expanded geometrically in shape. These collectors were set to four dierent cases with dimensions of 1 2 m. Therefore, heating uids exit the solar collector after at least 4.5 m displacement. According to the collector geometry, turbulence occurs in uid ow and in this way heat transfer is increased. The results of the experiments were evaluated on the days with the same radiation. The eciencies of these four collectors were compared to conventional at-plate collectors. It was seen that heat transfer and pressure loss increased depending on shape and numbers of the absorbers. # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Air collector; Collector eciency; Exergy loss

1. Introduction The eects of material and construction of the absorber on the eciency of the collectors have been widely reported in the literature, but the inuences of ow line of the uid on the eciency of the collectors have not been studied in detail. Flat-plate collectors have an important place among applications of solar energy system. The main part of at-plate collectors is black absorber surface. Because of

Corresponding author. Tel.: +90-424-2370000; fax: +90-424-2367064. _ E-mail address: ikurtbas@rat.edu.tr (I. Kurtbas).

0960-1481/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2004.01.006

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Nomenclature A Ah Cp DH E ED f h I k Nu P Q Pr R Re S T Tas U V W a k g m hTlog q l collector surface area (m2) channel cross-section area (m2) specic heat (J/kg.K) hydraulic diameter (m) exergy (W) dimensionless exergy loss () friction coecient () enthalpy (J/kg) total solar radiation incident upon plate of the collector (W/m2) adiabatic constant of the air (1,4) () Nusselt number () pressure (N/m2) useful heat gain (W) Prandtl number () universal gas constant (J/kg. K) Reynolds number () entropy (J/kg.K) temperature (K) surface temperature of the absorber (K) channel perimeter exposed to air (m) average velocity of air (m/s) work (J) heat convection coecient (W/m2.K) heat conduction coecient (W/m.K) eciency of air collector () mass ow rate of air (kg/s) logarithmic main temperature dierence (K) density of air (kg/m3) dynamic viscosity of air (Pas. s)

Subscripts e environment i inlet o outlet max maximum min minimum R radiation

this, several investigations were made on this subject in order to increase eciency of the collector and outlet temperature of uid. The aim of these investigations is

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to develop a more ecient absorber, to increase the amount of energy obtained, to decrease the cost of energy provided from sun, to store the energy and to use it continuously. Flat-plate collectors are classied into two groups according to uid used. Water is usually used in liquid collectors and air, in gas collectors. Since the air has worse thermodynamic properties in terms of heat transfer compared to liquid, the eciency of air collectors is naturally of low value. Because of this, several types of solar air heaters have been proposed over the recent years in order to improve their performance. They are generally used for heating in conditioning and drying of agriculture situations. A modied solar air heater, which incorporated aluminum wool on a perforated plate placed diagonally on the passageway of the air to serve as a front absorbing medium above the absorber plate was designed, conducted and tested [1]. The eciency of the air solar collector increased up to ve-fold compared to the atsurface collectors by using materials to increase the absorption surface area. Rectangular staggered ns are soldered on the collectors back [2]. The interstices are inserted between two consecutive ns located in the same row. A turbulent uid ow is developed which permits the improvement of the thermal heat transfer of these collectors in comparison to the at-plate. For the same n congurations, the thermal heat transfer coecient was evaluated with a selective or non-selective absorber-plate. It was seen that the nature of the absorber plate (selective or nonselective) had no signicant eect on the heat transfer and Nusselt number in nned system collectors. In addition, there were no dierences in friction factors. It is only necessary to reduce the spacing between consecutive n rows in order to increase the heat transfer. A collector was designed in order to overcome the physical problems of conventional at-plate air collectors as well as the particular technical problems of matrix air collectors [3]. The absorber of the collector consist of two parallel sheets of black oxidized or black galvanized industrial woven, ne-meshed wire screens which are made of copper. In this study, the following results are obtained; the thermal performance of the collector improved with increasing mass ow rates due to an enhanced heat transfer to the air stream. There was little eect on its overall thermal eciency at low mass ow rates (10 g/s). The novel matrix air collector yielded an improved thermal performance with higher heat transfer rates to the airow and smaller friction losses compared to at-plate air collectors of conventional design. The surface of air collectors having V-corrugation surface, n and at-plate were designed. This surfaces were covered with material of black copper-oxide having 0.15 emit coecient and 0.9 absorber coecient [4]. In this study, the eciency of the collectors was investigated by performing the experiments with dierent mass ow rate. It was seen that particular V-corrugation collector had both high thermal eciency of collector and high loss of pressure. The eciency of the collector was investigated by placing parallel obstructions to the ow area in the at-plate air collector [5]. The eciency of the collector increased with increasing numbers of n. The experimental results were compared with the theoretical results. The optimization was also conducted

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for dierent intervals. It was seen that the optimum location of ns was in the middle of the collector. In this study, an absorber having ve slices in a collector case was designed to investigate the eect of the ow line of the uid on the performance of solar collectors. This absorber slices have (0:9 0:4 m) dimensions, four dierent surface geometries, single passage, and narrowed-extended shape. In this way, the heat transfer was increased by being extended along the ow line of uid (air) and changing velocity and pressure in narrowed-extended area in which swirl and secondary ows form. As known, swirl and secondary ows cause the convection coecient of the heat transfer to increase.

2. Experimental set up The experimental set up of the solar air collector is schematized as shown in Fig. 1. Although, the collectors designed are composed of basically the same elements present in the conventional at-plate solar air collectors, it has special constructions due to the front absorption surface. The absorbers were formed by a black-painted galvanized sheet with 0.8 mm thick. Type IV of the absorber is at-plate with 25 mm gap between parallel plates. The air ow is provided as seen Fig. 1ad. Type III is the onduline prole plate. In this type, the gap between plates is kept as 25 mm along the plates. The bottom surface of type II is at prole and the upper surface is onduline prole. In the type I, the air to be heated leaves the absorber by passing from narrowed-extended gap. The narrowest gap is 25 mm and the widest gap is 180 mm of the absorber.

Fig. 1. Experimental set-up.

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The sides of the air duct in the absorber were welded by soldering after the galvanized sheet had been covered. Besides, the area welded was covered by joint seal in order to prevent heat leaking. Five slices were placed in the collector cases with 1 2 m dimensions. The collector material of the cases was chosen from a galvanized sheet 0.4 mm thick. A single glazing was chosen in order to maximize the radiation impact on the absorber surface and to reduce costs. To minimize the heat losses from the sides and from the bottom of the collector were insulated by glass wool, which has low heat conductive coecient (k 0:038 W=m:K). The air was provided by a radial fan with a maximum 0.31 m3/s mass ow rates. The radial fan placed at the outlet of the collectors sucked in the air. If the radial fan was placed at the inlet of collectors, the turbulence could have occurred because of blowing. However, sucking of the air prevented this condition. The pressure loss was measured by means of a water U-manometer placed between entrance and the exit and the velocity of the air was measured at the inlet of the collector.

3. Analysis of exergy Exergy is the amount of maximum work obtained theoretically at the end of a reversible process in which equilibrium with environment should be obtained. According to this denition, in order to calculate exergy, the environment conditions should be known [6]. Exergy balance in a steady state open system can be written as follows X X X Ei Eo Eproduct 0 1 The lost work as being described between dierences of maximum work with real work Wlost Wmax Wreal E 2

This expression is equal to exergy loss. Therefore, exergy loss in the open systems;  X : X : X  Te E mi hi Te Se mo ho Te So Q 1 W 3 Ts Eq. (3) gives the balance of exergy in the collector. If it is assumed that the collector has a single entrance and exit and the air is ideal uid and also the conditions are at steady state [7], for Eq. (3) E mei eo ER can be written. Here, e i hi T e S i he T e S e eo ho Te So he Te Se 5 6
:

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and inserting these into Eq. (4) E mhi ho Te So Si I:A:1 Te =Ts for changing of enthalpy and entropy Dh Cp DT DS Cp :lnTo =Ti R:lnPo =Pi If Eqs. (8) and (9) are inserted into Eq. (7) E m:Cp :DT m:Cp :Te :lnTo =Ti m:R:Te :lnPo =Pi I:A:1 Te =Ts is obtained. E Te To =Ti :ln ED k1 Q DT Po =Pi k !   1 Te 1 1 g Ts 11
: : : :

8 9

10

the equation of dimensionless exergy is obtained. The eciency of solar heating systems extensively depends on the eciency of the collectors. Test methods based on incident measures are applied to the whole collector throughout both liquid and gas ows. In this method, mass ow rate of the uid, the temperature of the collector inlet and outlet and the radiation intensity are measured simultaneously [7]. Thermal collector eciency is dened as the ratio of useful energy and the incident solar radiation. g Q I:A 12

The useful energy Q used in the calculation of collector eciency can be estimated by using following equation Q m:Cp :To Ti
:

13

Air collectors (at-plate solar air heaters) are adiabatic radiative heat exchangers, transferring solar radiant energy into heat, which is transferred by convection from the absorber to the working uid (air) [1]. According to this denition, heat transfer obtained can be given in terms of Nusselt number. Nu a:DH k 14

where DH is the hydraulic diameter and evaluated as DH 4:Ah U 15

Ah is the channel cross-section area, U is the channel perimeter exposed to air, a and k are the coecients of convective heat transfer and of conductive heat transfer of air, respectively.

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For the coecient of convective heat transfer Q a:A:DTlog 16

where DTlog is the logarithmic main temperature dierence between temperature of absorber surface and air temperature. If Eq. (16) is equalized to Eq. (13), the coefcient of convective heat transfer can be calculated. Then the Reynolds number, which depends strongly on the velocity of air, has been written as Re q:V :DH l 17

The velocity (V) of the air was measured at the collector entrance; the continuity equation permits us to obtain the velocity in any frontal section of collector duct. m q:Ah :V
:

18

Dynamics viscosity, density of air and specic heat of air are determined according to average air temperature between entrance and exist of the collector.

4. Methods and measurements The experiments were conducted on the days of June, July and August in Elazg v in Turkey. The collectors were located with 37 angles towards the south. The experiments were carried out at the same time periods between 9.00 and 17.00 of the days for a variety of mass ow rates. The air ow through the collector was supplied by a radial fan and adjusted via a sliding valve located at the air inlet. The ow rate was kept constant and same in both the collector designed and conventional at-plate collector. The experiments were carried out using ve dierent mass ow rates and the sliding valve at the radial fan changed these rates. The velocity of the air was measured by wind rose. The collectors were tested according to the ASHARE 93-97 standard [8]. The incident solar radiation was measured with a Kipp and Zonen piranometer. Copper-Constantan thermocouples were placed at the four points in the collector, as well as at the inlet and outlet ports of the air to measure by a multi-channel digital micro voltmeter for 60-min periods. The information about the relative humidity of the air and wind speed during the experiments were kindly supplied by meteorology department in Elazg. In this study, errors came from sensitiveness of equipment and measurements. First; errors due to measurement of temperature; are sensitiveness of voltmeter is v about 0.1% C, measurement error is 0.2% and sensitiveness of the thermov couple is 0.1% C. The sensitiveness was obtained from a catalog of the instruments. The second came from the measurement of ow rate. The sensitiveness of the ow meter is about 0.1% and error due to measurement is about 0.1%. In total, errors for measurement of ow rate are about 0.2%. The empirical relations

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Table 1 Empirical correlations obtained from results of experiment Nusselt number (Nu) Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Type 4 Flat-plate Theoretical 11.353 Re 28.889 Re0.199 37.244 Re0.243 43.901 Re0.228 8.917 Re0.168 0.0158 Re0.8
0.168

Friction coecient (f) 0.122 Re 0.154 Re0.719 0.188 Re0.774 0.221 Re0.724 0.075 R0.636 (0.79 ln Re 1.64)2
0.612

Dimensionless exergy loss (ED) 933.29 Re0.634 285.63 Re0.541 178.34 Re0.516 163.59 Re0.516 1364.1 Re0.624

which are shown in Table 1 are constructed by the least square method. The maximum errors caused by the assumptions and sensitivity in measurement were found to 8%, 10% and 7% for the Nusselt number, friction coecient (f) and dimensionless exergy loss, respectively. The empirical formulas given above are valid for Reynolds number in the range of 2600 and 6500.

5. Results and discussion In this study, the aim was to increase collector eciency using passive method in air collectors. When a comparison was made between collectors the days having approximately the same radiation were used. The results obtained from the collectors designed are depicted in Fig. 2. Moreover, the eciency in each collector is also given in the same gures in terms of mass ow rates. Increasing the mass ow rates resulted in 1.5- to 3.5-fold increase in each collector eciency. However, the outlet temperature of air signicantly changes with the geometry of the absorber. As known, the incident solar radiation is one of the most important parameters in v the collector eciency. The temperature of absorber surfaces increased up to 86 C depending on the incident solar radiation. In addition, the outlet temperature of air v v increased 78.5 C in the lowest mass ow rate (0.012 kg/s), and 67 C in the highest mass ow rate (0.028 kg/s). This behavior may be explained by longer constant times of air with the hot surfaces inside the collector. As seen from the results, the collector eciency increased with increasing mass ow rate of uid. When the radiation is maximum, collector eciency is also maximum. The radiation values change in the range of 880 W/m2 and 480 W/m2 and it reaches the maximum in the midday. According to Fig. 2, maximum eciency in type 1 is 29.2%, 44.3% in type 2, 60.4% in type 3, 67% in type 4 and 16% in the conventional at-plate collector. It was revealed from Fig. 1, that the eect of absorber construction on the collector eciency is fairly important. The eciency for mass ow rate 0.028 kg/s is given in Fig. 3 according to day times. The eciency of at-plate collector changed between 9% and 15%. In type 1, the eciency of collector increased up to 29% at midday by extending the ow line

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Fig. 2. (a) For type 1, the collector eciency as a function of day times for ve mass ow rates. (b) For type 2, the collector eciency as a function of day times for ve mass ow rates. (c) For type 3, the collector eciency as a function of day times for ve mass ow rates. (d) For type 4, the collector eciency as a function of day times for ve mass ow rates.

without changing surface geometry. Extending the ow line two-fold apparently increased the collector eciency almost twice as much. In type 3, the extending of ow line of the air as well as staggering of the ow line because of the onduline prole, the collector eciency increased approximately three times compared to the at-plate collector at a level of 44%. In types 3 and 4, the surfaces geometry increased the collector eciency by 4.5-fold as shown in Fig. 3. By changing the ow area at both upper and lower surfaces, the eciency increased 12% compared to changing the upper surface. The eect of extending the ow line and the surface geometry on the heat transfer are clearly depicted in Fig. 4. In this gure, the changing of Nusselt number with Reynolds number is given. The heat gained is proportional to collector eciency as given in Eq. (12). As is known, the same parameters such as ambient air temperature, collector overall heat loss coecient and collector eciency factor are critical parameters for collector eciency. Therefore, the comparison of the

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Fig. 3. Change of collector eciency with day times for each absorber in m=0.028 kg/s.

heat transfer between both collectors and correlations would be more practical. For full developed turbulent ow of air between two plates with one side heated and the other side insulated, the correlation was given by Kays and Crawford [9]. Nu 0:0158 Re0:8 19

Fig. 4. Change of Nusselt number with Reynolds number for each absorber in m=0.028 kg/s.

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According to this equation obtained for turbulent ow, Nusselt number changed at between 8.6 to 17.7 level for 2600 < Re < 6500. The values of Nusselt number in at-plate and type 1 absorber were found to be less than the theoretical values. The lower useful heat gain (Q) and the higher logarithmic main temperature dierence may be the reason for decreasing the convective heat coecient. In type 1, although the eciency increased by two-fold by extending ow line compared to at-plate collector, the magnitude of heat transfer was less than the theoretical value. In types 2, 3 and 4, the heat transfer signicantly increased. The heat transfer in type 2 increased 2025%, 6070% in type 3 and 9095% in type 4 compared to the theoretical value. The reason for that was most probably, the extending of the ow line and the forming of swirl and secondary ows by staggering the ow line with surface geometry. Hence, the convective heat transfer coecient increased by introducing turbulence eect to the uid and this also increased Nusselt number. The changing of the pressure loss and friction coecient in the each collector with Reynolds number are given in Fig. 5 for the maximum mass ow rates. In the collector designed, the pressure loss increased approximately 1.5 to 4 N/m2 compared to the at-plate collector. Petukhov developed the friction factor for smooth tubes [10] as follows: F 0:79 ln Re 1:642 20

According to this theoretical correlation, the friction coecient in at-plate collector increased 2.9-fold, 4.8-fold in type 1, seven-fold in type 2, 8.6-fold in type 3 and 9.7-fold in type 4. The increase in friction coecient resulted in an increase

Fig. 5. Change of pressure loss and friction caecient with Reynolds number for each absorber in m=0.028 kg/s.

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in pressure loss. As known, the pressure loss is an important parameter in terms of overall cost. The total exergy loss is shown in Fig. 6. The dimensionless exergy loss obtained from Eq. (11). increased signicantly according to the result calculated for each collector. Since the exergy loss changes with ambient conditions, a theoretical correlation does not exist in the literature. However, in our study, same approximation can be applied for minimum exergy loss. If the solar collectors are considered as a heat exchanger, the maximum heat transfer occurs in case of discharging the collector at the surface temperature of the air inlet. Therefore, a minimum heat loss occurs. According to this statement, for the maximum heat transfer the following equation can be used. Qmax m:Cp :Tas Ti
:

21

Likewise, the minimum pressure loss occurred in collector (Po =Pi 1) can be dened as the minimum exergy loss. As seen in Fig. 6, the lowest exergy loss occurred in type 4 as given in Eq. (11), there is a reverse relationship between dimensionless exergy loss and collector eciency, as well as temperature dierence (hT). It is clear that when the eciency is maximum, the exergy loss is minimum. The minimum exergy loss is also given in Fig. 6 for type 4. The exergy loss in type 4 is higher at 65% level compared to the minimum exergy loss. The experimental results revealed that the pressure loss signicantly aected the exergy loss. The eect of pressure loss on the exergy loss is in the range of ca. 1215%. Approximately the similar results were also obtained for other collectors. The exergy loss for type 1 increased 1.6-fold, 2.3-fold for type 2, 3.2-fold for type 3 and 3.5-fold for type 4 compared to the at-plate collector. The results obtained for exergy loss

Fig. 6. Change of dimensionless exergy loss with Reynolds number for each absorber in m=0.028 kg/s.

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gave us same information about collector overall heat loss coecient and collector eciency. 6. Conclusion The conclusions can be drawn from the experimental study of the new collectors designed, and show the eciency of the collector improves with increasing mass ow rates due to an enhanced heat transfer to the air ow. The eciency of air collectors increases depending on the surface geometry of the collector and extension of the air ow line. When the surface roughness is increased, the heat transfer and pressure loss increases. The optimum slice number of the absorber can be determined for heat transfer and pressure loss changes the number of absorber slices in the collector. The exergy loss of the system decreases depending on the increase of the collector eciency. There is a reverse relationship between dimensionless exergy loss and heat transfer, as well as pressure loss. The more important parameters in order to decrease the exergy loss are the collector eciency, temperature dierence (ToTi) of the air and pressure loss. References
[1] Yildiz C, Togrul IC, Sarsilmaz C, Pehlivan D. Thermal eciency of an air solar collector with extended absorption surface and increased convection. Int Comm Heat Mass Transf 2002;29:83140. [2] Hachemi A. Experimental study of heat transfer and uid ow friction in solar heater with and without selective absorber. Renew Energy 1999;17:15568. [3] Kolb A, Winter ERF, Viskanta R. Experimental studies on a solar air collector with metal matrix absorber. Solar Energy 1999;65:918. [4] Close DJ. Solar air heaters. Solar Energy 1963;7(3):11729. [5] Yeh T, Lin T. Eciency improvement of at-plate solar air heaters. Energy 1995;21:43543. [6] Durmus A. Heat transfer end exergy loss in a concentric heat exchanger with snail entrance. Int. Comm. Heat Mass Transfer 2002;29:30312. [7] Yorgancioglu H. Second low optimization of air-cooled at-plate solar collectors, MS thesis, Mechanical Engineering Department, METU, 1996. [8] ASHARE (Methods of testing to determine the thermal performance of solar collectors), 1977. [9] Kays WM, Crawford ME. Convective heat and mass transfer. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1993. [10] Petukhov BS. Heat transfer and friction in turbulent pipe ow with variable physical properties. New York: Academic Press; 1970.