Thermal analysis of solar air heater by using pebbles as an absorber material

Abstract

In many countries, the use of solar thermal systems in the agricultural area to dry vegetables, fruits, coffee, and other crops has shown to be practical, economical and the responsible approach environmentally. The traditional approach is less economical so there is a need to find an alternative approach. In this paper, fabrication, and analysis of the solar air heater is done for various absorber materials. Various easily accessible solar absorbing materials such as pebbles, wire mesh, sand, and wood were analyzed to determine which material has higher temperatures and collector efficiency. Factors like temperature, airspeed and humidity are crucial in this study. The project consists of several experiments and sequential procedure as discussed further in the report.