Thermal performance modelling of solar collector with heat storage

Abstract

Solar drying is used to reduce post-harvest losses. An indirect solar dryer with oriented air is presented. It provides the ability to store energy. This work predicts the outlet temperature at the collector in the single-face and bifacial modes of collector. The heat balance applied to each element is determined taking into account the temporal term which characterises storage in the material. The simulation is done using Matlab software. Both models of the collector are validated by comparing the experimental and theoretical curves. The results show that the two curves of outlet temperatures have the same profile when the global heat transfer coefficient loss is 2.94 W.m-2.K-1, the contact resistance between the absorber and the insulator is 0.025 W-1.m2.K and the velocity is 0.2 m.s-1. The contact resistance has a significant influence on the outlet air temperature but not accessible for controlling temperature compared to the velocity.