PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF INTEGRATED PACKED BED SOLAR FLAT PLATE COLLECTOR

The main objective of this paper is to study the performance of a solar flat plate collector - packed bed system by using various secondary working fluids such as water, air. In the present work, packed beds are used to store the thermal energy in the form of sensible heat over a period of time and utilize whenever it is required. Basically packed bed consists of materials like gravels, possessing high thermal conductivity. A ir is used as the secondary working fluid in the system . The system consists of two cycles. Primary cycle consists of solar flat plate through which primary working fluid (water) flows. Secondary cycle consists of packed bed (placed beneath the solar flat plate collector) through which secondary working fluid flows. A collector absorbs the solar radiation incident on them and converts into heat energy. A part of heat energy is carried away by water flowing through collector plate and remaining is absorbed by packed bed. Secondary fluid flowing through copper tu be in packed bed absorbs heat energy from the packing material. For a continuous input of solar radiation, performance of system is determined and a comparison is made. From the calculations it is observed that the efficiency of packed bed Solar Flat Plate Collector is higher than th e simple flat plate water heater