Investigation for Jet Plate Solar Air Heater with Longitudinal Fins

The jet impingement concept is an effective method of increasing convective heat transfer in a solar air heater. Jet plate solar air heater is extensively used in the fields of space heating, drying of agriculture crops and supply of hot air in buildings due to its higher convective heat transfer coefficient and collector efficiency. The technologically appropriate solar energy operated systems, for example, the solar air heater which has been discussed in this work is versatile enough to rid these discrepancies. A novel jet plate solar air heater with continuous longitudinal fins underneath the absorber plate is investigated. Performance characteristics with the help of significant parameters are presented. The results are compared with many researches pertaining to other designs of solar air heater like smooth duct, roughened duct and finned duct respectively. An enhancement of 3-14.7% in thermal efficiency is observed for Reynolds number range (3000-15000) in comparison to the other mentioned works. Furthermore, increase in heat transfer enhancement of the order 28%-39% is achieved, which implies higher efficiency of the jet plate solar air heater with continuous longitudinal fins underneath the absorber plate at higher values of Reynolds number. The results are plotted corresponding to Reynolds number (Re) = 3000-15000, W = 1-5cm, mass flow rate (ṁ) = 0.0126-0.0675 kg/sec.m2.