Application of folded sheet metal in at bed solar air collectors

A.M. El-Sawi
a
, A.S. Wi
a,
*
, M.Y. Younan
b
, E.A. Elsayed
c
, B.B. Basily
c
a
Department of Mechanical Design and Production Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza 12316, Egypt
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, American University in Cairo, 74 New Cairo 11835, Egypt
c
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Rutgers University, 96 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8018, USA
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 15 April 2009
Accepted 22 December 2009
Available online 4 January 2010
Keywords:
Flat bed solar air collector
Continuous folding
Chevron pattern
V-grooved
Flat plate
Absorber plate
a b s t r a c t
In the present study the chevron pattern of fold structure produced using a recently developed continu-
ous folding technique is considered for the rst time in the application of solar air collectors. An exper-
imental study of two types of at bed solar air collectors, with at plate and chevron pattern absorbers, is
carried out to investigate their performance over a wide range of operating conditions. A theoretical com-
parison between at plate, v-grooved and chevron pattern absorbers is also presented. Under the consid-
ered congurations and operating conditions, the chevron pattern absorber is found to be the most
efcient and that the at plate absorber the least efcient. The chevron pattern is found to have higher
performance, reaching up to 20% improvement in thermal efciency and an increase of 10 C in outlet
temperature at some ranges of mass ow rates.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Solar energy has a great potential for low temperature
applications, particularly for drying of agricultural products. In
drying and space heating, solar energy is an ideal choice because
the warmair can be used directly, eliminating any need for an extra
heat exchanger inthe thermal system. However animproved design
of the solar air collector will lead to a better performance of the
system.
The majority of at bed solar air collectors are equipped with at
plate absorbers. The heat transfer coefcient of a surface in contact
with air is considerably lower than that with water. While the
wallwater surface area is a minor concern in the design of solar
water collectors, it is the main concern for air collectors. The main
drawback of at plate absorber air collectors is the lowheat transfer
coefcient which results in lower thermal efciency. If the area
available for heat transfer is not greater than the projected area of
the absorber, the absorber becomes unnecessarily hot which in turn
leads to higher heat losses [1]. The convective heat transfer rate in
channel ows could be augmented by increasing the heat transfer
surface area and by increasing turbulence inside the channel [24].
Different modications are suggested and applied to improve the
heat transfer coefcient betweenthe absorber plate and air. Absorb-
ers with attached ns [1,5], corrugated absorber [610] and matrix
type absorber [11], are examples of the popular modications
suggested in the literature. Yeh and Lin [1] investigate the effect of
placing parallel barriers on the solar collector efciency. Hachemi
[5], studies theuse of staggerednrows solderedunder theabsorber
plate. These design modications result in better thermal perfor-
mance as compared to the at plate collectors. Karimand Hawlader
[6], experimentally study the use of a v-grooved solar air collector,
and show that it has enhanced thermal performance as compared
to at plate absorber. Choudhury [7], investigates a corrugated ab-
sorber plate design for low temperature applications. Hollands [8],
studies the emittance and absorption properties of three corrugated
specular surfaces. Remarkable efforts are made by Liu et al. [2,10]
and Gao et al., [9] in studying the thermal performance of cross cor-
rugatedsolar air collectors andcompare the results withthat of a at
plate as well as a v-grooved absorber plate. These studies showthat
the thermal performance of the cross corrugated solar collector is
superior to that of both the v-grooved and the at plate collector.
In general, the literature shows that the collectors with corrugated
or nned absorber have higher efciency than simple at plate ab-
sorber collectors without signicantly increasing the pressure drop.
As discussed by Abu-Quidis and Nimr [11], matrix collectors, in-
crease the efciency but at the expense of higher fan power as pres-
sure drop is signicantly higher.
In the present paper, experimental and theoretical investiga-
tions are carried out into a new type of at bed solar air collector
with folded sheet metal absorber in the form of a chevron pattern.
This is an innovative design and the results will contribute to the
efforts made towards improving the design of solar air collectors
in solar thermal engineering. More specically, we make use of
1359-4311/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2009.12.018
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 123980321; fax: +20 235693025.
E-mail address: aswi@yahoo.com (A.S. Wi).
Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 864871
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Applied Thermal Engineering
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ apt her meng
the novel continuous folding technique developed by Elsayed and
Basily [12]. This technique produces 3-D folded structures having
enhanced surface areas in a continuous manner. The chevron pat-
tern, shown in Fig. 1, is the simplest to fold from at sheets and is
considered in the present study.
The methodology behind the continuous folding technique is to
pre-fold the sheet material through a set of sequential and circum-
ferentially grooved rollers followed by a nal set of cross-folding
rollers to create the folded patterns [12]. This technique has the
advantage of being continuous, producing minimum shredding de-
fects and being economical when compared with conventional
production processes such as pressing or forging. The enhanced
surface area of the folded chevron pattern as well as the passages
along the bending lines that could be considered as embedded ow
passages motivated the present work.
Themainobjectiveof thepresent studyis toinvestigate theappli-
cation of folded sheet metal as thermal absorber plate in at bed so-
lar air collectors. This novel solar air collector is formed by a chevron
pattern absorbing plate and a at bottom plate. The paper provides
design and construction of two types of solar air collectors, namely
at plate absorber and chevron pattern of fold absorber, and com-
pares their thermal performance experimentally. Moreover, a theo-
retical study is carried out to compare the thermal performance of
three types of absorber plates, namely at plate, v-grooved and
foldedchevronpattern. This provides important anduseful informa-
tion for the improvement of efciencies of solar air collectors.
2. Performance analysis
Many researchers study the performance of solar collectors ana-
lytically. Hottel and Woertz [13] develop a widely used mathemat-
ical model. The steady state efciency of the solar air collector is
given by:
g
Q
u
IA
1
The useful energy gain of the collector, Q
u
, is calculated from the
widely used HottelWhillierBliss relation [14] given by:
Q
u
F
R
AIsa U
L
T
i
T
a
2
The overall heat loss coefcient, U
L
, is given by [14]:
U
L
U
t
U
b
3
The top loss coefcient, U
t
, as given in Eq. (4), depends only on
the projection area of the absorber plate and is independent of the
geometry of the surface [14]:
U
t

N
C
Tpm
_ _
TpmTa
Nf
_ _
e

1
h
w
_

_
_

_
1

rT
pm
T
a
T
2
pm
T
2
a

e
p
0:00591Nh
w

2Nf 10:133ep
eg
_ _
N
4
where f 1 0:089h
w
0:1166h
w
e
p
1 0:07866N, C 520 1
0:00051b
2
for 0

< b < 70

. For 70

6 b < 90

. Use b = 70.
The back loss coefcient, U
b
, is given by:
U
b

k
i
L
ib
5
The heat removal factor, F
R
, expressed in Eq. (6) is a quantity
that relates the actual useful energy gain of a collector to the useful
gain if the whole collector surface is at the uid inlet temperature
[14].
Fig. 1. Chevron pattern produced from at sheet of material by continuous folding
[12].
Nomenclature
A collector aperture area (m
2
)
A
ab
absorber surface area (m
2
)
A
f
air duct cross section (m
2
)
a length of the parallelogram (m)
b width of the parallelogram, (m)
b
v
half-height of the v-groove (m)
C
p
specic heat of uid (J/kg C)
D
h
hydraulic diameter (m)
F
0
efciency factor
F
R
collector heat removal factor
h convective heat transfer coefcient (W/m
2
C)
h
c
height of the chevron pattern (mm)
h
r
radiation heat transfer coefcient (W/m
2
C)
h
w
wind heat transfer coefcient (W/m
2
C)
I intensity of solar radiation (W/m
2
)
k
a
conductivity of air (W/m C)
k
i
insulation conductivity (W/m C)
L ow length of the collector (m)
L
ib
back insulation thickness (m)
M mass ow rate of the air (kg/s)
N
u
Nusselt number
N
uv
Nusselt number for the v-grooved geometry
N
uc
Nusselt number for the chevron pattern geometry
P
r
Prandtl number
Q
u
useful energy gain of collector (W)
R
e
Reynolds number
T
a
ambient temperature (C)
T
fm
mean uid temperature (C)
T
i
inlet temperature of uid (C)
T
o
outlet temperature of uid (C)
T
pm
mean plate temperature (C)
U
b
back loss coefcient (W/m
2
C)
U
L
overall loss coefcient (W/m
2
C)
U
t
top loss coefcient (W/m
2
C)
e
g
emissivity of glass (0.88)
e
p
emissivity of plate
r StefanBoltzmann constant (5.67 10
8
W/m
2
K
4
)
s transmission coefcient of glazing
a absorption coefcient of plate
b tilt angle of the collector()
g efciency
l air viscosity (kg/m s)
u parallelogram angle ()
h folding angle ()
w upper angle of the triangle of the ow channel cross sec-
tion, v-groove and chevron pattern ()
A.M. El-Sawi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 864871 865
F
R

MC
p
AU
L
1 exp
AU
L
MC
p
F
0
_ _ _ _
6
Here, F
0
, is the efciency factor of a collector and depends on the
geometry of the ow channel cross section. It is mainly a function
of the convective heat transfer coefcient, h, between the absorber
plate and the working uid.
The convective heat transfer coefcient, h, is given by:
h
N
u
k
a
D
h
7
The Nusselt number, N
u
, is the ratio of convective to conductive
heat transfer across the boundary, and is available in the literature
for different ow geometries [15,16].
Table 1 shows the congurations, efciency factors and the
Nusselt number correlations for the three absorber plates under
consideration.
In Table 1, h
r
, is the radiation heat transfer coefcient and is gi-
ven for all three congurations by [14]
h
r

4r273 T
fm

3
1
ep

1
eg
1
8
The above mentioned theoretical analysis indicates clearly that
the convective heat transfer coefcient is dependent, among other
factors, on the geometry and pattern of the heat absorber. In the
case of chevron pattern, the geometry of this is dependent on the
geometry of the chevron design (length, width, height, folding an-
gle and other angles). The limiting geometry in one end is the at
panel which has a lower performance in energy absorption when
compared with v-grooved pattern [10]. On the other hand, the v-
grooved pattern is also a special case of the chevron pattern (no
folding in the longitudinal direction). In the present study, a sim-
plied semi-empirical predictioncorrection strategy is adopted
to develop a theoretical model to simulate the thermal perfor-
mance of the chevron pattern solar air collector, under the meteo-
rological conditions of Cairo, Egypt. First, a preliminary thermal
analysis is predicted using the model suggested by Holland et al.
[19] for v-grooved conguration having a ow channel cross sec-
tion identical to that of the chevron pattern (the nearest geometry
to the chevron pattern). Second, this prediction is further rened
(corrected) to t the experimental results of the actual considered
chevron pattern via an experimental correlation analysis.
A thorough reviewof the literature shows that the Nusselt num-
ber expression for the chevron pattern of the continuous fold is not
available in the literature. Hence an empirical Nusselt number is ob-
tainedfor the chevronpatternabsorber plate basedonexperimental
correlationanalysis. Nusselt number for the v-grooved absorber, N
uv
is obtainedusingtheempirical equations giveninTable1at different
mass owrates. Then, the experimental results of the outlet temper-
ature versus mass ow rate for the chevron absorber under consid-
eration, are used to obtain an actual Nusselt number that
correlates with the experimental results, N
uc
, as given by
N
uc
N
uv
0:5385 e
103:37M
9
As shown in the sequel, two sets of experiments are used. The
results of the rst set of experiments are used for the correlation
analysis mentioned above, whereas the second independent set
of results are used for the validation of the corrected model to be
shown in Section 4.2.
A computer model is developed to estimate the performance of
the three absorber plates using Cairo climatic data. The solution be-
gins with a guess of the initial mean plate temperature and mean
uid temperature. Using these values, the collector geometry and
systemproperties (s, a, C
p
, e, k etc.), we obtain, g, for every solar col-
lector type. For calculating convective heat transfer coefcient, it is
assumed that the heat transfer coefcients between the air and
two duct walls are equal. The collector outlet temperature is calcu-
lated using
T
o
T
i

Q
u
MC
p
10
From the calculated values, new mean plate temperature and
mean uid temperature are computed. This iterative process is
continued until the solution converges.
3. Experimental analysis
In this section we present the details of the experiments con-
ducted using both at and chevron plates.
3.1. Experimental setup
The Experimental setup consists of two dimensionally similar
solar collectors set side by side and can be tilted to a predeter-
mined angle through a mechanical system as shown in Fig. 2. It
consists of two modules, the collector module and the air handling
module. The collector module consists of the absorber, glazing,
insulation, back and front plenum and a wood collector frame to
assemble these components.
The air handling module consists of a radial fan capable of deliv-
ering up to 300 m
3
/h, 2 kW air heater, and two manual dampers.
The air is forced using the radial fan through the heater (to ensure
same inlet temperature) to the front plenum. The mass ow rate is
controlled by adjusting the fan speed and the manual dampers be-
hind the back plenum. The measured variables in this experiment
include the inlet and outlet air temperature, ambient temperature
and mass ow rate of the air.
Table 1
Congurations, efciency factors and Nusselt number correlations for three absorber plates.
Flat V-grooved Chevron pattern
F
0 1
1
U
L
h
1
1
h

1
hr
[14]
1
1
U
L
h
sin/

1
1
h

1
hr
[14]
1
1
U
L
h
sin/

1
1
h

1
hr
[14]
N
u
, laminar
4:9
0:0606
Re Pr D
h
L
_ _
1:2
10:0909
Re Pr D
h
L
_ _
0:7
P
0:17
f
[17]
N
u0
b
bv
L
n [19]
N
u0
= 2.821, b = 0.126R
e Nuc Nuv 0:5385 e
103:37M
(Experimentally correlated)
N
u
, transient __
N
u0
1:9 10
6
R
1:79
e
; b 225
N
u
, turbulent
0:0158R
0:8
e
[18] N
u0
0:0302R
0:74
e
; b 0:242R
0:74
e
866 A.M. El-Sawi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 864871
The collectors are instrumented with four T-type thermocouples
for measuring the inlet and outlet temperatures of the air in each col-
lector. The ambient temperature is measured using a thermometer
kept in a shelter to protect it from direct sunlight. Two axial fan type
owmeters areusedtomeasuretheair velocityat theentranceof each
collector. Theair owrateis calculatedusingthemeasuredair velocity
andtheknownduct area. Thefacilityis designedtohaveoneair source
andoneheater for bothtest rigs andboththermocouples andowme-
ters are calibrated to assure accurate comparison. The thermocouple
signal is amplied to the proper input voltage to the data acquisition
card (DAQ) using standard industrial transducer. The data acquisition
card remotely acquires data fromthe transducers and stores it intext/
excels les for any predetermined data sampling rate.
3.2. Collector construction
Two collector frames are designed and manufactured to test
both absorber plate congurations simultaneously to assure iden-
tical climate conditions at the time of the test. The two absorber
frames are shown in Fig. 3.
The at plate collector has 6 mm ow duct height and the chev-
ron pattern collector has 12 mm ow channel height, leading to a
ow passage area of 0.0026 m
2
for both collectors. The collector
frame is constructed so that the back plenum could be opened and
the absorber plate couldbe insertedintothe frame collector. Normal
glass is used as the glazing for both collectors. The bottom of the
chevron pattern absorber rests on an aluminium back plate of the
collector, whereas the at plate collector is lifted above the alumin-
iumplate using supports to create the owchannel with the desired
height. Stiffeners are providedto prevent bulging of the at plate ab-
sorber as well as the chevron one. Multiple air inlets and outlets are
usedtodistributetheowingair uniformlythroughout thecollector.
Design data for the two absorbers are shown in Table 2.
3.3. Test procedure
The experiments are conducted between two hours before and
two hours after the solar noon. The effect of incident angle on the
thermal performance is negligible since data are recorded in near
normal incident. The procedures stated in the ASHRAE standard
[20] are followed to obtain a steady state condition of the collector.
The collectors are warmed up and run at least one hour before tests
are conducted. The collector slope is adjusted to 30, which is con-
sidered suitable for the geographical location of Cairo. Before start-
ing the performance tests, the collectors with their respective
settings are tested for leaks under the operating pressure.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Experimental results
Two independent sets of experiments are conducted to investi-
gate the performance of both the at and chevron pattern collec-
tors. In the rst set the mass ow rate varies while maintaining
the inlet temperature constant. In the second set of experiments
the inlet temperature of air is varied while keeping the mass ow
rate constant. Fig. 4 shows the effect of the mass ow rate on the
outlet temperature as well as the efciency of the solar collector.
The outlet temperature tends to decrease as the mass ow rate in-
creases, where it is evident that the efciency of the two collectors
increases at a slowing rate. The gure clearly shows that the chev-
ron pattern collector is more efcient than the at plate over the
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.
A.M. El-Sawi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 864871 867
entire range of mass ow rate considered. The difference in the
efciencies of both collectors increases as the mass ow rate
increases.
To develop the efciency curves, i.e. efciency g against
(T
i
T
a
)/I, a second set of tests is carried out, where the inlet tem-
perature is varied while the mass ow rate is kept constant for
each test. Following ASHRAE [20] recommendations, four data
points with different (T
i
T
a
) are considered for two different ow
rates of 0.010376 kg/s m
2
and 0.036315 kg/s m
2
. Eq. (11) indicates
that the efciency g is linearly related to (T
i
T
a
)/I with a slope of
F
R
U
L
and intercept of F
R
(sa).
g
Q
u
IA
F
R
sa F
R
U
L
T
i
T
a

I
11
Fig. 5 shows typical efciency curves of the at and chevron col-
lectors at two different mass ow rates. The respective efciency
equations and the characteristic parameters (F
R
(sa) and F
R
U
L
) are
presented in Table 3, which suggests that the slopes of the ef-
ciency curves decrease with the increase of mass ow rate, i.e.,
the overall loss is lower at higher ow rate. The comparison be-
tween the at plate and the chevron pattern absorbers shows that
the chevron pattern has a higher efciency curve and has a lower
slope (lower overall loss) than the at plate absorber at both ow
rates.
Table 2
Design data for the two absorber plates.
Absorber material Copper
Absorber coating Industrial mat black
Plate type Flat plate: channel height = 6.5 mm
Chevron pattern: a = 12.7 mm, b = 14.2 mm, u = 67,
h
c
= 12 mm, h = 45, w = 85, 18 folds per absorber
width
Dimension of
absorber plate
1.2 0.4 m
Plate thickness 0.5 mm
Back insulation Fiberglas wool (thickness 50 mm)
Glazing material Normal glass (thickness 4 mm)
No. of glazing One
Side insulation Wood
Sealant Silicon rubber
Collector frame
material
Wood
Collector tilt 30 (with provision to adjust)
Air ow channel
cross section
0.0026 m
2
Fig. 4. Outlet temperature and efciency vs. mass ow rate at T
i
= 42 C, T
a
= 38 C.
Fig. 3. Two collectors: at plate (left) and chevron plate (right).
Fig. 5. Efciency curves at two different mass ow rates.
868 A.M. El-Sawi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 864871
4.2. Validation of the theoretical model
As described in Section 2, the theoretical model for the chevron
pattern absorber plate is developed using a correlation that de-
pends on the rst set of experimental results obtained in this
study. The theoretical models for both the at plate absorber and
the chevron pattern absorber are validated experimentally using
the second independent set of results described in Section 4.1. This
second set of experimental results is not used in the correlation
analysis needed for the chevron pattern model development (as
discussed earlier). Fig. 6 shows close agreement between the sug-
gested model results and the experimental ones. This suggests that
the developed model estimates the thermal performance of both
solar collectors to a good extent, within the considered congura-
tions and operating conditions.
4.3. Theoretical results
The evaluation of the thermal performance of solar air collectors
is crucial for the proper design and sizing of the collector for a given
application [6]. The results under typical conguration and operat-
ing conditions are discussed. The effects of the mass owrate, input
temperature of the air and the intensity of the solar radiation on the
performance of the three solar collectors under consideration are
presented at various congurations and working conditions.
4.3.1. Results under typical conguration and operating conditions
or a better quantitative presentation some indicative results are
listed in Table 4 under the following typical conguration and oper-
ating conditions: L = 1.2 m, W = 0.4 m, b = 30
o
, I = 900 W/m
2
,
T
i
= 42 C and T
a
= 38 C, mass ow rate = 0.030 kg/sm
2
.
Flat plate absorber: height of the rectangular channel = 6 mm.
V-groove absorber: height of the v-groove = 12 mm, w = 85.
Chevron pattern absorber: a = 12.7 mm, b = 14.2 mm, u = 67,
h
c
= 12 mm, h = 45, w = 85, number of folds for the chevron
pattern absorber = 18 folds.
Table 4shows that the chevronpatterncollector is superior tothe
at plate collector with about 20% higher efciency and superior to
that of the v-grooved collector with about 10% higher efciency. In
general, the present study suggests that the chevron pattern collec-
tor is 1020% more efcient than the at plate collector and 410%
more efcient than the v-grooved collector, under the considered
congurations andoperatingconditions. The improvedthermal per-
formance of the v-groovedabsorber over the at one is inagreement
with the ndings in [6,10]. Increased heat transfer area contributes
to the higher efciency for the v-grooved and the chevron pattern
collectors (the heat transfer area is about 1.5 times of that for the at
plate collector). The signicant advantage of the chevronpatternab-
sorber over the at plate and the v-groovedabsorbers may be attrib-
uted to the multiple reections and absorption of incident radiation
at the same absorptivity [21]. As suggested in Table 4, the compli-
cated shape of the chevron pattern geometry results in an enhanced
convection heat transfer rate inside the air ow channel (about 2.5
times of that for the v-groove collector and about 4.5 times of that
for a at plate collector).
4.3.2. Results under various congurations and operating conditions
The effect of the mass ow rate on the efciency of the three
collectors is illustrated in Fig. 7, which shows that for all three col-
lectors the efciency increases when the mass ow rate is in-
creased. This gure also shows that the v-grooved collector is
more efcient than the at plate, and the chevron pattern collector
is superior to both.
As indicated in Fig. 8, the three collectors under consideration
show higher performance when the input temperature is lowered.
In fact, the overall loss of heat is minimum when the inlet uid
temperature is maintained as close as possible to that of the ambi-
ent uid. Generally, the chevron pattern absorber shows the high-
est performance of all three types.
It is worth noting that the intensity of the solar radiation de-
pends on the orientation of the collector, the day of the year and
the hour of the day among other working conditions. Fig. 9 shows
Table 3
Collector characteristic parameters and efciency equations.
Mass ow rate (kg/s m
2
) F
R
(sa) F
R
U
L
Efciency equation
Flat plate
0.010376 0.2623 5.7466 y = 5.7466x + 0.2623
0.036315 0.6398 5.6775 y = 5.6775x + 0.6398
Chevron pattern
0.010376 0.3718 5.6034 y = 5.6034x + 0.3718
0.036315 0.725 5.5151 y = 5.5151x + 0.7891
Fig. 6. Experimental and predicted efciency curves for both at and chevron solar
collectors at mass ow rate of 0.0103 kg/sm
2
.
Table 4
Results under typical conguration and operating conditions.
Flat V-grooved Chevron pattern
A (m
2
) 0.48 0.48 0.48
A
ab
(m
2
) 0.48 0.63 0.68
A
f
(m
2
) 0.0026 0.0026 0.0026
N
u
3.5 6.3 15.73
h (W/m
2
C) 10 18 45
g (%) 61 70 81
T
o
(C) 57.8 60.4 63.4
Fig. 7. Efciency vs. mass ow rate at I = 900 W/m
2
, T
i
= 42 C and T
a
= 38 C.
A.M. El-Sawi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 864871 869
the effect of the solar intensity on the outlet temperature. Clearly,
the outlet temperature increases linearly when the solar intensity
is increased. Generally, the chevron pattern absorber is more effec-
tive in increasing the outlet temperature especially at higher solar
intensities. However at lower intensities difference among the
three absorbers is insignicant.
Fig. 10 shows that the thermal efciency increases steadily with
the increase of the solar intensity up to about 450 W/m
2
for all
types of collectors. After that level of intensity the efciency in-
crease slows down reaching almost a constant value at lower mass
ow rates. It is evident that the relative improvement in the ef-
ciency of the chevron pattern absorber over the v-grooved and at
plate absorbers is kept at all levels of solar intensity.
5. Conclusions
The new technology of the continuous sheet folding process has
shown a successful application in the design and manufacturing of
a novel at bed solar air collector with chevron pattern folded sheet
absorber. This novel solar air collector comprises a chevron pattern
foldedsheet heat absorber anda at bottomplate. The air owchan-
nels are created by the passages along the bending lines of the chev-
ron pattern. Experimental results have shown that this chevron
pattern absorber has a 20% improvement in the thermal efciency
and an increase of about 10 C over the at collector at some ranges
of mass ow rates. Theoretical results under typical conguration
and operating conditions indicate that the chevron pattern has a
10% and 20% superior thermal efciency when compared with the
v-groovedandtheat absorbers respectively. Generally, thechevron
patternabsorber has a lower overall loss coefcient compared to the
other considered types. This novel design of the chevron pattern of
fold solar air collector lends itself as an economical and efcient
alternative for known solar air collectors. The continuous folding
technology offers other patterns than the chevron which are worth
investigation for application in solar collectors.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the nancial support of the Arab Sci-
ence and Technology foundation through the project MS06191:
Application of sheet folded theory and technology for the manufac-
ture of low cost furniture and solar panels (20072009). The
authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for their
helpful comments.
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