Modeling and simulation of a solar flat plate collector as an air heater considering energy efficiency

Abstract

The present research study includes thermal energy performance analysis of a flat plate solar collector, in order to cover a sensitivity analysis about effective variables contributed to performance increasing approach. To obtain that, energy and momentum governing equations on a flat plate thermal collector were developed to achieve air output temperature and velocity profiles both in model and experiment. The model theory is validated with experiments by a set of flat plate thermal collectors, those located in (3544′35′′ N, 5057′25′′ E) coordinates and then were applied to carry out experimental activities. Quantitative results depicted that the mean difference between predicted and measured output air temperature in natural and forced convection scenarii is 1.47 C (3.5%) and 0.9 C (1.5%), respectively; however earlier research works and studies mentioned in literature, include error percentages in the range of 4-10%. Another quantification about, the average error percentages of estimated amounts of output air velocity profile values in natural and forced convection scenarii is 9% and 4%, respectively. This issue realizes the developed model in forced convection scenario more accurate than natural convection scenario.