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Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 16451660 www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Performance analysis of new-design solar air collectors for drying applications

Suleyman Karsli
Ataturk University, Pasinler Meslek Yuksek Okulu, Pasinler, Erzurum 25300, Turkey Received 1 May 2006; accepted 13 August 2006 Available online 25 October 2006

Abstract This paper presents a performance analysis of four types of air heating at plate solar collectors: a nned collector with an angle of 751, a nned collector with an angle of 701, a collector with tubes, and a base collector. In this study, the rst and second laws of efciencies were determined for the collectors and comparisons were made among them. The results showed that the efciency depends on the solar radiation and the construction of the solar air collectors. The temperature rise varied almost linearly with the incident radiation. The rst law of efciency changed between 26% and 80% for collector-I, between 26% and 42% for collector-II, between 70% and 60% for collector-III, and between 26% and 64% for collector-IV. The values of second law efciency varied from 0.27 to 0.64 for all collectors? The highest collector efciency and air temperature rise were achieved by the nned collector with angle of 751, whereas the lowest values were obtained for the base collector. The effectiveness order of the collectors was determined as the nned collector with angle of 751, the nned collector with angle of 701, the collector with tubes, and the base collector. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Air collector; Solar heating; First law; Second law; Collector efciency; Fin

1. Introduction Owing to rapidly rising oil prices (about $6065 per barrel for today) and greenhouse gases, clean and renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, are receiving greater attention for heating, cooling, drying and power generation applications in Turkey as in
Tel.: +90 442 661 3982/36; fax: +90 442 661 3713.

E-mail address: skarsli@atauni.edu.tr. 0960-1481/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2006.08.005

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Nomenclature Ac CP C pa IT k M _ m NTU P _ Qc _ Q0 _ Qs Tf Ts t U absorber area of the collector (m2) product of mass by heat capacity (kW K1) heat capacity of the air (kJ kg1 K1) incident solar energy per absorber area unit (kW m2) isentropic index of compression mass ow number uid mass ow rate (kg s1) uid number of transfer units uid pressure (Pa) useful heat rate (kW) heat transfer rate to environment (kW) incident energy in the collector area (kW) uid temperature (K) apparent sun temperature (K) time (s) overall coefcient of heat transfer (kW m2 K1)

Greek symbols a Z p y absorptivity efciency dimensionless uid pressure dimensionless temperature

Subscripts p G a in out c s o max plate glass air inlet outlet collector sun temperature ambient maximum

other developing and developed countries. Turkey is an energy importing country; more than half of the energy requirement (65% of the total energy consumption) is supplied by imported fossil fuels. However, this situation is not sustainable and environmentally friendly energy policy for Turkey. Turkey has an important potential for renewable energy sources, especially solar, wind, hydropower, biomass and geothermal energy. For many years, open solar drying for granular materials such nut, walnut, grape, etc. in rural regions of Turkey has an important applications due to a great solar energy potential [1,2].

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There has been an increasing interest in using solar air collectors because (1) preheating of fresh air with solar air collectors is a simple and cheap technology, (2) their maintenance and operation are very easy, (3) they do not require a specialized manpower, (4) they can be produced locally, moreover from locally available materials, (5) they are environmentally friendly, and (6) they do not require fuel. On the other hand, solar air heaters are limited in their thermal performance due to the low density, the small volumetric heat capacity and the small heat conductivity of air. Therefore, several types of solar air collectors have been proposed over the recent years in order to improve their performance [3,4]. Thermal performance of the solar air collectors depends on the material, shape, dimension and layout of the collector. Performance improvement can be achieved using diverse materials, various shapes and different dimensions and layouts. The modications to improve the heat transfer coefcient between the absorber plate and air include the use of an absorber with ns attached, corrugated absorber, matrix type absorber, with packed bed, with bafes and different congurations are given in the literature [523]. For high solar gains, an efcient thermal coupling between absorber and uid is required, while the electrical power for the fan operation ought to be as small as possible. Increasing the absorber area or uid ow heat transfer area will increase the heat transfer to the owing air, on the other hand, will increase the pressure drop in the collector, thereby increasing the required power consumption to pump the air ow crossing the collector. Metwally et al. [16] conducted an experimental investigation on an advanced corrugated duct solar collector. The collector was constructed of corrugated surfaces similar to those used for compact heat exchangers, with the air owing normal to the corrugations. The optimum angle of the triangular collector and the effect of the change of the absorber shape factor on the collector performance were deduced by Kabeel and Mejarik [13]. Pottler et al. [20] determined optimized geometries for a solar ventilation air preheater. A single glazed solar matrix air collector was designed in order to overcome the physical problems of conventional air collectors as well as the technical problems of matrix air collectors by Kolb et al. [15]. Three types of solar air collectors, at plate, nned, and v-corrugated were analyzed to achieve an efcient design of air collector suitable for a solar dryer [14]. The v-corrugated collector was found to be the most efcient collector and the at plate the least efcient. C omakl and Yuksel [8] presented the experimental results of four types of solar air collectors. Only the exergetic efciencies of the collectors were calculated and comparisons were made among them on the basis of the exergetic efciencies. Moummi et al. [17] conducted experiments in solar air collectors with rectangular plate ns inserted perpendicular to the ow. Thermal performance of a solar air heater having its ow channel packed with Raschig rings was presented by Ozturk and Demirel [18]. The characteristic diameter of the Raschig rings, made of black polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tube, was 50 mm and the depth of the packed-bed in ow channel was 60 mm. In another study, Yeh et al. [22] determined that either increasing the collector aspect ratio for increasing uid velocity or providing ns attached with bafes on the collector for increasing heat transfer area, as well as producing air turbulence, will improve the collector efciency. Kurtbas and Durmus [12] investigated ve types of solar air collectors which had different front absorption surfaces. The more important parameters in order to decrease the exergy loss were found to be the collector efciency, temperature difference of the air and the pressure loss.

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This paper presents the performance analysis of four types of air heating at plate solar collectors. The analysis includes both the rst law and second law of thermodynamics. The collector efciencies were determined for four types of solar collectors and comparisons were made among them. 2. Experimental setup and measuring The experimental system is composed of basically the air heating at plate solar collectors and its schematic view is shown in Fig. 1. This gure also shows the locations of the sensors connected to the solar air collectors. The system is comprised of solar air collectors, an air circulation fan, air valves, a multimeter, a pyranometer, and some auxiliary and measurement devices. Four at plate air collectors are used. Looking from right to left are collectors IIV. The main features of the four tested solar air collectors are
outlet air f lowmeters

collectors

IV

III

II

= 750 0 II = 70
I

inlet air fan thermocouples pressure valve collector-I collector-II collector-III collector-IV

discharges

multimeter apparatus
Fig. 1. Experimental setup.

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S. Karsli / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 16451660 Table 1 Detailed specications of the absorbers Plate type Flat plate, at plate with tube, nned at plate with n angle of 701, nned at plate with n angle of 751 Copper 1 mm 0.9 m 0.45 m 0.405 m2 Dull black paint Normal window glass (thickness 4 mm) 1 Glass wool (thickness 50 mm) Glass wool (thickness 25 mm) Silicon rubber Steel 391 (with provision to adjust) 0.01125 m2 100 25 2 mm3 a 0:85 r 0:16 t 0:9 ta 0:78 Ap1 1:2753 Ap2 1:1985 Ap3 0:29836 Ap4 0:827 1649

Absorber material Plate thickness Dimension of absorber plate Absorber area Absorber coating Glazing Number of glazing Back insulation Side insulation Sealant Collector frame material Collector tilt Air ow area between absorber and back plate Dimension of ns Absorptivity of the absorber Reectivity of the absorber Transmissivity of the absorber Effective product transmittanceabsorptance Collector heat transfer area Ap (m2)

described below. In this study, experiments were performed on the Ataturk University campus under the meteorological conditions in Erzurum, Turkey (391N latitude; 411E longitude). All the collectors were placed facing south and with a slope angle of 391 with respect to the horizontal line. The each collector had 0.45 wide, 0.9 m long, with a collection area of solar radiation of 0.405 m2. All the collectors had a 25 mm ow duct height, leading to a ow passage area of 0.01125 m2. The absorbing surface in all collectors was made of copper, 1 mm thick, painted with dull black paint. A single glazing of 4 mm glass was used in all collectors. The collectors lose energy from the upper cover, the laterals, and the bottom of the collector. In order to minimize these losses, all collectors had the backs and sides insulated with a 5 and 2.5 cm of glass wool insulation, respectively. The detailed specications of the absorbers are given in Table 1. The circulated air was distributed by a 1.0 in header pipe at the bottom of the collector. The whole test facility was supported by a stainless steel frame, which rested on four wheels to provide the system rotational and angular alignment facility. The collector frame had also the facility of changing the angle of inclination of the collector. To extract the maximum amount of heat from the absorber, one of the appropriate solutions is to introduce obstacles in the air stream. These obstacles can be xed either to the internal face of the absorber, or on the back plate or as a combination. The objective of using these obstacles is to increase the output temperature of the collector, therefore the

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efciency with minimum load losses [4]. For these reasons, in collector-I, ns were xed both to the internal face of the absorber and to the back plate. The dimensions of the ns were 100 25 2 mm3 (length/height/depth). The angle between the ns and the ow direction was 751; thus the duct provided a narrowing and expanding ow path permitted the uid ow to undergo constriction followed by expansion. This created a fully developed turbulent ow, and in addition, vortices were developed around the plate edges. Collector-II was the same as collector-I except that the angle between the ns and the air ow direction was 701. Collector-III was an air heating at plate solar collector with tubes. There are three basic considerations involved in designing ow passages and manifolds for the collector panels: (1) uniform ow distribution throughout the panel, (2) a small overall pressure drop through the panel, and (3) passage spacing and sizing that must be selected for high efciency. The variation in tube spacing has very little inuence on the collector performance unless the spacing exceeds six inches [19]. This behavior may be attributed to that one of the factors in the resistance to heat ow from the plate surface to the air is the n conduction resistance for the plate portion between the tubes. Considering these factors, the collector 3 was designed so that eight identical tubes were attached in parallel at the bottom of absorbers. The tubes were copper tubes of 1.25 cm outer diameter, and centerline spacing of tubes was 6 cm. In collector-IV, there were no obstacles in the space between the absorber and back plate, thus air owed through the collector without obstacle. The measured variables in the experiment were inlet and outlet air temperatures, absorber surface temperature, ambient temperature, inlet and outlet pressures, air ow rates, and the solar radiation. The location of temperature, pressure and ow rate measurements are shown in (Fig. 1). The air ow was provided by a centrifugal fan with 1.0 HP and 3000 rpm. Four centrifugal fans, placed at the outlet of the collectors, were employed, and the ow rate to each collector could be individually controlled by control valves. The air ow rate was measured by ow meters placed at the outlet of the collectors in a vertical position. Type T (copper-constantan) thermocouples, made from 24 gauge Teon berglass covered thermocouple wire and a multichannel temperature indicator were used in the temperature measurement. Four thermocouples were used for each collector. One thermocouple was centered on the front surface of the collector plate to measure collector plate surface temperature. One thermocouple was installed in the inlet pipe, one in the outlet pipe, and one near the collector to measure the inlet and outlet collector air temperatures and the ambient temperature, respectively. The thermocouple measuring the ambient temperature was kept in a shelter to protect the sensor from direct sunlight. All thermocouples were fastened with a good thermal connection between the sensors and metal. The pressure measurements of the inlet and outlet of air ow on the collectors were carried out by means of U-manometer. The global solar radiation incident on the solar collector was measured with a previously calibrated pyranometer which is a Davis Station Standart Groweather Pyranometer, connected with a high-precision milivoltmeter. The solar air collectors were exposed to the sun for about 30 min. Then, air constant ow was blown and the data collected after each 30 min. The acquisition system recorded the necessary data every half hour. The experiments were carried out at the same time periods between 9.00 and 17.00 of the days for a xed air ow rate.

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The uncertainty analysis is based on the Kline and McClintock method [25]. The uncertainties came from sensibilities of different measurements and equipments. The uncertainties due to measurements of temperature are: sensibility of the multimeter apparatus is about 70.1% 1C, the measurement uncertainties are 70.3%, and sensibilities of the thermocouple is 70.1% 1C. The sensibilities of the air ow meters are about 70.1% and the uncertainties due to the ow rate measurements are about 70.3%, and the uncertainties due to pyranometer readings are about 70.1% at normal incidence. 3. Energy and exergy analysis The rst law efciency of the solar collectors is dened as the ratio of the energy gain to the solar radiation incident on the collector plane: ZI _ Qc , _ Q
s

(1)

_ _ where Qc is the rate of heat transfer to a working uid in the solar collector, and Qs the solar energy absorbed by the solar collector surface and is given by _ Qs I T taAc , (2)

where IT is the rate of incidence of radiation per unit area of the tilted collector surface, Ac the collector area, and ta the effective product transmittanceabsorptance. ta represents the fraction of the solar radiation absorbed by the collectors and depends mainly on the transmittance of the transparent covers and on the absorbance of the absorbent. The effective product transmittanceabsorptance can be evaluated by using the following equation: ta ta . 1 1 arG (3)

Eq. (1) is strictly the results of a rst law analysis of at plate solar collectors because all energy uxes are treated equally, regardless of their potential usefulness. _ The absorption heat transfer rate by the solar collectors,Qc , can be estimated by using the following equation: _ _ Qc ma C pa T a;out T a;in . (4) The exergy analysis by Torres-Reyes et al. [21] is used to evaluate the collectors. The dimensionless exergy balance can be given by the following expression: N s N Ex;Q N Ex;f , (5)

where N s is the entropy generation number, N Ex;Q the dimensionless thermal exergy, and N Ex;f the dimensionless uid exergy ow. N Ex;Q represents the dimensionless inlet exergy ow, and N Ex;f the exergy change of the air ow through the collector. N Ex;Q and N Ex;f can be written as, respectively:   ys N Ex;Q , (6) ys 1

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N Ex;f

! yf;out 1 k 1 pf;out 1 ln M yf;out yf;in ln , yf;in 1 k pf;in 1

(7)

where ys is the dimensionless apparent sun temperature, yf;in and yf;out are the dimensionless temperature for the inlet and outlet uid, pf;in and pf;out are the dimensionless uid pressure at the inlet and outlet, and k is the isentropic index of compression. These dimensionless numbers are given as ys Ts 1; T0 Pin 1; Po ys Ts 1; T0 yf;out T f;out 1, T0 (8)

pin

pout

Pout 1, Po

where T o is the ambient temperature, T f;in the uid inlet temperature, T f;out the uid outlet temperature, T s the apparent sun temperature, Pin the uid pressure at the collector inlet, Pout the uid pressure at the collector outlet, and Po the ambient pressure. The dimensionless number M in Eq. (7), called as the mass ow number is expressed by TorresReyes et al. [21]: M CP , _ =T 0 Qs (9)

_ _ where CP is the product of mass by heat capacity CP mC p ;, Qs the solar energy absorbed by the solar collector. On the other hand, Torres-Reyes et al. [21] derived entropy generation rate for solar collector as ! ! dEx T0 _ _ T 0 S gen 1 Ac I T ta ma C pa T f;out T f;in dt vc Ts ! T f;out k 1 Pout _ a cpa ln ln T 0m . 10 k T f;in Pin Substituting Eq. (9) into Eq. (10) yields yp , M yf;out yf;in 1 ymax (11)

where yp is the dimensionless temperature for the absorber surface, and ymax the dimensionless maximum temperature, and are given by yP TP 1; T0 ymax _ Qs =T 0 , A p Z0 U L (12)

where T p is the plate temperature, Ap the heating surface area, Z0 the surface overall efciency, and U L the overall coefcient of heat transfer. The second law efciency is dened as the ratio of the exergy change of the air ow through the collector to the dimensionless inlet exergy ow: ZII N Ex;f Ns 1 . N Ex;Q N Ex;Q (13)

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Substituting Eqs. (6) and (7) into Eq. (13) yields the second law efciency M yf;out yf;in ln yf;out 1=yf;in 1 k 1=k ln pout 1=pin 1 ZII . ys =ys 1 (14) 4. Results and discussion Four solar air collectors were investigated in this study. The experiments were carried out under climatic conditions of Erzurum city in Turkey. The experiments were performed from March to July in 2004. The useful heat rate and collector efciency were calculated directly from the data obtained from each collector. The experimental results are presented in the form of graphs that describe temperature increase across the solar air collectors, insolation, useful heat rate, and collector efciency as a function of time. The requirement regarding the solar radiation was different for methods and determination of the efciency. The simple method requires at least 1 day with almost clear sky conditions while the detailed method requires a specic amount of solar radiation over a period and not necessarily clear sky conditions. In this study, the simple method was chosen to evaluate performance. In order to illustrate the thermal performance of the solar air collectors, 1 day (June 15) has primarily been chosen for showing measured and calculated values over the day. Fig. 2 shows the weather conditions (total radiation and ambient air temperature) and temperature increase across the solar air collectors. There were almost clear sky conditions on June 15 and the ambient temperature was between 15 and 29 1C. The inlet temperatures to the four solar air collectors were similar since the inlets of the collectors were connected to the same inlet manifold (Fig. 1). Since the mass ow rates through the four collectors and inlet temperatures were nearly the same, the outlet temperatures or the temperature differences between the inlet and outlet temperatures can be compared directly when determining the performance of the collectors. The highest temperature increase occurred at 13:00. The maximum temperature increase through the collectors was 79, 71, 54, and 37 1C, respectively. The highest
90 80 70
Temperature (C)
collector-I collector-II collector-III collector-IV 2 Radiation (W/m ) Ambient Temp.

1400
T for T for T for T for

1200
Radiation [W/m2]

1000 800 600 400 200 0

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 9 10 11 12 13 Time of day 14 15

16

17

Fig. 2. The weather conditions and temperature increase across the solar air collectors on June15, 2004.

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0.90 0.80 0.70 0.60

S. Karsli / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 16451660

Qa [w]

0.50 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00 9.00

Collector-I Collector-III Collector-II Collector-IV

11.00

13.00
time of day

15.00

17.00

Fig. 3. Useful heat rates versus time of day.

temperature increase occurred through collector-I, while the lowest through collector-IV. Fig. 2 shows that the intention of having the main heating of the air to occur when passing the collectors has been fullled. Fig. 2 also presents almost the same pattern in the temperature increase across the four collectors. The useful heat rate of the four solar air collectors against the time of day is presented in Fig. 3. The useful heat rate changes during time of day, and this becomes maximum in the midday since the incident radiation on the collectors is maximum at that time. The heat transfer rate has largest value in collector-I due to this collector have more efcient heat transfer rate than the other three collectors. Information on the temperature rise of air with insolation is important when designing a solar collector specially for drying purposes. If the inlet temperature is close to the ambient temperature, the temperature rise varies almost linearly with incident radiation [15]. The variation of temperature difference with incident radiation for all collectors, presented in Fig. 4, is in an agreement with this observation. The scattering of the solar radiation due to cloudy sky conditions results in departure from the linearity in the gure. These plots of temperature difference versus insolation may be helpful to estimate the uid temperature for any time of the day with the help of available meteorological data [15]. It is also interesting to show the efciency variation of these four collectors as a function of the reduced temperature parameters T i T o =I. The different results obtained from the studied congurations can be compared and the conguration giving a high thermal performance can be selected. Fig. 5 presents the collector efciency versus the reduced temperature parameter for the four collectors. The scatter of the data around the straight line is mainly attributed to the angle of incidence variations, wind speed and the dependence of the heat loss on the plate temperature. Also, the variations of the relative proportions of beam diffuse and ground reective components of solar radiation are participating in the data scattering. Thus, scatters in the data are to be expected [26]. From Fig. 5, it is evident that the efciency decreases as the reduced temperature parameter increases. That means, at higher reduced temperature parameters, the overall loss is lower. It is also found that collector-I has the highest efciency, followed by collectors IIIV. A plot of computed rst and second law of collector efciencies against time of day for four collectors is presented in Fig. 6. Comparison of the collectors on the basis of rst law

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100

1655

80

80
60

T [C 0 ]

T [C 0 ]

60

40

40
20

20

0 400

700

1000

1300

0 300

600

900

1200

(a)
60

I [ W/m2 ]

(b)
40

I [ W/m2 ]

40

T [C 0 ]

T [C 0 ]
20 0 300 600 900 1200

20

0 500

800

1100

(c)

I [ W/m2 ]

(d)

I [ W/m2 ]

Fig. 4. Variation of temperature difference with incident radiation.

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 (Ti-T0)/ I 0.02

Efficiency (%)

Collector-I Collector-II Collector-III Collector-IV

0.025

0.03

Fig. 5. Efciency versus the reduced temperature parameterT i T o =I for solar air collectors .

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0.90 0.80 0.70 Efficiency [%] 0.60 0.50 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00 9.00 11.00 13.00 Hours [h] 0.80 0.70 0.60 Efficiency [%] 0.50 0.40 0.30
I I

S. Karsli / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 16451660

0.90 0.80 0.70 Efficiency [%] 0.60 0.50 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 15.00 17.00 0.00 9.00 11.00 13.00 Hours [h] 0.40 0.35 0.30 Efficiency [%] 0.25 0.20 0.15
I I

II

II

15.00

17.00

(a)

(b)

0.20
II

0.10
II

0.10 0.00 9.00 11.00 13.00 Hours [h] 15.00 17.00

0.05 0.00 9.00 11.00 13.00 Hours [h] 15.00 17.00

(c)

(d)
Fig. 6. Efciency versus time of day.

and second law efciencies are presented in Fig. 7. Fig. 7a shows that the rst law efciency for collector-I exceeds all other collectors. The efciency varies between 26% and 80% for collector-I, between 26% and 42% for collector-II, between 70% and 60% for collectorIII, and between 26% and 64% for collector-IV. The maximum efciencies for four collectors were 80.0%, 42.0%, 60.0% and 64%, respectively. The ndings from the gures can be summarized as

As expected, collector-IV is the least efcient than the other collectors. The absorber temperature must be reduced in order to lower the forward heat loss by radiation from the absorber to the environment. There are no ns, obstacles, or turbulence promoters in collector-IV, and the uid ow is less developed. The absorber temperature remains higher than the collectors with obstacles, generating thermal heat loss by radiation, and thereby reducing the efciency.

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0.90 0.80 0.70 Efficiency [%] 0.60 0.50 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00 9 10 11 12 13 Time of day 0.70 0.60 0.50 Efficiency [%] 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00 9 10 11 12 13 Time of day 14 15 16 17
Collector-I Collector-III Collector-II Collector-IV Collector-I Collector-III Collector-II Collector-IV

1657

14

15

16

17

(a)

(b)

Fig. 7. Comparison of collectors on the basis of rst and second law efciencies.

The efciency of the nned collectors (collector-III and -IV) is higher than that of the collector with tubes (collector-II). The ns create turbulent ow when the air undergoes constriction followed by expansion. This leads to a higher heat transfer coefcient, lowering the absorber temperature and reducing the thermal heat loss at the same time, thereby resulting in higher thermal performances. The efciency of the solar air collector-III is somewhat lower than the efciency of collector-IV although both have similar construction. Higher angle of constriction/ expansion leads to higher heat transfer coefcient, thus higher efciency.

Comparison between the corrugated duct solar air collector and other ve conventional designs conrmed the outstanding performance of the corrugated collector. An advanced design of the corrugated duct solar air collector was suggested at almost the same price as the conventional designs [17]. Thermal performance of the nned systems was found to be higher than that of the at plate collectors [10]. Karim and Hawlader [14] determined that the v-corrugated collector was the most efcient collector and the at plate collector the least efcient. Abene et al. [3] proved experimentally that the introduction of the obstacles in the solar air channel is a very important factor for the improvement of collector performance. The form, dimensions, orientation and disposition of the obstacles considerably inuences the collector efciency. The packed-bed solar air heaters offered an attractive means of providing thermal energy at intermediate temperatures [18].

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According to Yeh et al. [2224] constructing the collector with ns may scarcely increase the fan power and almost not leading to an increased operating cost when the ns employed are thin as compared with the width of collector (tpW ). The experimental results obtained in this paper are in agreement with other authors results, some of them mentioned above. Providing ns/promoters attached on the collector improved the collector efciency. Therefore, the collectors with ns/promoters appear attractive over the collector without ns/promoters when a comparison is made on the basis of rst law efciency. On the other hand, the measured total pressure drop across the four solar air collectors showed that the highest pressure drop of the investigated solar air collectors was across collector-IV with higher angle. The pressure drops for collector-III and -IV are rather different although they are very similar with regard to construction, being the pressure drop across collectorIV much higher than across collector-III. The reason for this behavior is that the angle of constriction/expansion of collector-IV is higher compared to collector-III, leading to a high air speed through the collectors and thereby to a high pressure drop. Similar results were also found by Kabeel and Mejarik [13], Pottler et al. [20]. Since the efciency increased at the expense of increased pressure drop in the collectors with turbulence ns/promoters, as explained above, higher electrical consumptions by the fans are needed to overcome the friction losses engendered by the uid ow through the ns/promoters. Therefore, the advantage of the collectors with ns/promoters may be diminished when a comparison is made on the basis of the power consumptions by fans. For instance, in the study carried out by Pottler et al. [20], due to higher pressure losses offset strip ns showed reduced net energy gains compared to optimally spaced continuous ns. Hence, a comprehensive performance analysis of collectors including pressure/friction loss evaluation is required to determine their potential benets, and it is necessary to check whether these techniques have advantageous in terms of energy savings or not. Fig. 7 gives the comparison of the efciencies for four collectors on the basis of the rst and second law analysis. The values of second law efciency computed using Eq. (14) varies from 0.27 to 0.64. The second law efciency changed between 46% and 64% for collector-I, between 45% and 61% for collector-II, between 34% and 60% for collectorIII, and between 27% and 34% for collector-IV. The maximum collector efciency was 64%, 61%, 60%, and 34%, respectively. The range of variation of the resulting values is due to mainly variations of climatic conditions and conguration of the collectors. 5. Conclusions In the present study, four solar air collectors were tested and a comparison is made among them on the basis of rst and second law efciencies. The following conclusions can be derived:

  

The efciency of the solar air collectors depends signicantly on the solar radiation and surface geometry of the collectors. The efciency decreases as the reduced temperature parameter increases, meaning, at higher reduced temperature parameter, the overall loss is lower. The efciency of all solar air collectors is proved to be higher. The highest collector efciency and air temperature rise were achieved by the nned collector with angle

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of 751, whereas the lowest values were obtained for the collector without ns, i.e. the base collector. The values of second law efciency varied from 0.27 to 0.64. The effectiveness order of the collectors was determined as collector-I, collector-II, collector-III, and collector-IV, i.e., the nned collector with angle of 751, the nned collector with angle of 701, the collector with tubes, and the base collector.

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