Experimental and CFD Analysis of Solar Air Heater with Rectangular Shaped Hollow Bodies

Solar air heater (SAH) is an important device to convert solar energy into heat energy economically. This experimental work has been carried out to improve the thermal performance of solar air heater with hollow rectangular shaped (turbulators) placed on the absorber plate. Experimental results have been compared with the performance of conventional solar air heater without projecting bodies (turbulators). An improvement of 11.44% in thermal efficiency of SAH has been recorded with air mass flow rate of 0.012 kg/s. The maximum raise in air temperature was obtained 16.2°C with rectangular bodies as compared to 10.2°C without turbulators. Therefore, the improvement in the performance of modified solar air heater has been recorded. CFD simulation using ANSYS has also been carried out and validate with experimental results.