THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF 3 SOLAR AIR HEATERS

This paper reports the thermal analysis and the results of thermal performance tests of solar air heaters with V-corrugated absorber plates. Six collector units were used to test three collector types: (a) flow over the absorber, (b) flow on both sides of the absorber, and (c) flow under the absorber. Paired simultaneous testing was used for collectors of the same type to check thermal performance differences which might occur due to construction differences or testing variables. Predictions of collector thermal performance, when using temperatures and environmental data from the tests, were in good agreement with the corresponding measured thermal performance. The predicted performance, particularly with solar glass, indicated very good thermal efficiency for vee corrugated absorber plates.