Classifications Design Parameters and Development of Solar Air Heating

With the need to tap renewable energy sources increasing rapidly, solar energy has shown remarkable promise, but has its share of drawbacks as well. Although costs of solar panels has decreased in the last few years, the low flux density of solar energy has made its use commercially less viable. In this paper, we have carried out detailed thermal analysis to study the absorption of heat by a 1.5*2.5 feet aluminium panel, and confirmed the results via experimental studies on a self-fabricated double pass double glazed solar air heater. The different kinds of solar air collectors have also been studied. The effects of various parameters such as inlet fluid temperatures, mass flow rate, and depth of air channel on the thermal performance of the double pass double glazed solar air heater have also been studied, and a graph for outlet air temperature VS time of day has been plotted via MATLAB. Moreover, it has been concluded that although the amount of heat absorbed on the absorber plates increases to a large extent in a double pass double glazed heater, the introduction of cylindrical fins will further increase the efficiency