Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New Zealand
This study investigates the thermal efficiency of a solar air heater (SAH), when it was mounted on a custom-made support frame, and was operated under different air mass flow rate. This SAH is composed of a transparent polycarbonate cover plate, a felt absorber layer, a perforated aluminium back pla...
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doaj-fe956ce436d74f93981590d7548b20692020-11-25T03:29:28ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732020-03-01136141510.3390/en13061415en13061415Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New ZealandYu Wang0Mikael Boulic1Robyn Phipps2Manfred Plagmann3Chris Cunningham4School of Built Environment, Massey University, Auckland 0632, New ZealandSchool of Built Environment, Massey University, Auckland 0632, New ZealandSchool of Built Environment, Massey University, Auckland 0632, New ZealandBRANZ, Porirua 5381, New ZealandResearch Centre for Maori Health and Development, Massey University, Wellington 6021, New ZealandThis study investigates the thermal efficiency of a solar air heater (SAH), when it was mounted on a custom-made support frame, and was operated under different air mass flow rate. This SAH is composed of a transparent polycarbonate cover plate, a felt absorber layer, a perforated aluminium back plate and an aluminium frame. The ambient inlet air of this SAH is heated as it passes through the perforated back plate and over the felt absorber layer. The heated air is blown out through the outlet. Studies of SAHs with a similar design to this SAH were not found in the literature. The experiment was carried out at Massey University, Auckland campus, NZ (36.7° S, 174.7° E). The global horizontal solar irradiance, the ambient temperature and the wind speed were recorded using an on-site weather station. Temperature and velocity of the air at the outlet were measured using a hot wire anemometer. During the experiment, the air mass flow rate was between 0.022 ± 0.001 kg/s and 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. Results showed that when the SAH was operated at the airflow between 0.0054 kg/s and 0.0058 kg/s, the inlet air temperature and the wind speed (between 0 and 6.0 m/s) did not impact the temperature difference between the outlet air and the inlet air. The thermal efficiency of the SAH increased from 34 ± 5% at the airflow between 0.021 kg/s and 0.023 kg/s, to 47 ± 6% at the airflow ranging from 0.032 kg/s to 0.038 kg/s, to 71 ± 4% at the airflow of 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. The maximum thermal efficiency of 75% was obtained at the airflow of 0.057 kg/s. The effective efficiency of the SAH was 32 ± 5% at the airflow between 0.021 kg/s and 0.023 kg/s, 42 ± 6% at the airflow ranging from 0.032 kg/s to 0.038 kg/s, and 46 ± 11% at the airflow of 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/6/1415solar air heatingporous absorber layerperforated back platethermal efficiency |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Yu Wang Mikael Boulic Robyn Phipps Manfred Plagmann Chris Cunningham |
spellingShingle |
Yu Wang Mikael Boulic Robyn Phipps Manfred Plagmann Chris Cunningham Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New Zealand Energies solar air heating porous absorber layer perforated back plate thermal efficiency |
author_facet |
Yu Wang Mikael Boulic Robyn Phipps Manfred Plagmann Chris Cunningham |
author_sort |
Yu Wang |
title |
Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New Zealand |
title_short |
Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New Zealand |
title_full |
Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New Zealand |
title_fullStr |
Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New Zealand |
title_full_unstemmed |
Experimental Performance of a Solar Air Collector with a Perforated Back Plate in New Zealand |
title_sort |
experimental performance of a solar air collector with a perforated back plate in new zealand |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Energies |
issn |
1996-1073 |
publishDate |
2020-03-01 |
description |
This study investigates the thermal efficiency of a solar air heater (SAH), when it was mounted on a custom-made support frame, and was operated under different air mass flow rate. This SAH is composed of a transparent polycarbonate cover plate, a felt absorber layer, a perforated aluminium back plate and an aluminium frame. The ambient inlet air of this SAH is heated as it passes through the perforated back plate and over the felt absorber layer. The heated air is blown out through the outlet. Studies of SAHs with a similar design to this SAH were not found in the literature. The experiment was carried out at Massey University, Auckland campus, NZ (36.7° S, 174.7° E). The global horizontal solar irradiance, the ambient temperature and the wind speed were recorded using an on-site weather station. Temperature and velocity of the air at the outlet were measured using a hot wire anemometer. During the experiment, the air mass flow rate was between 0.022 ± 0.001 kg/s and 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. Results showed that when the SAH was operated at the airflow between 0.0054 kg/s and 0.0058 kg/s, the inlet air temperature and the wind speed (between 0 and 6.0 m/s) did not impact the temperature difference between the outlet air and the inlet air. The thermal efficiency of the SAH increased from 34 ± 5% at the airflow between 0.021 kg/s and 0.023 kg/s, to 47 ± 6% at the airflow ranging from 0.032 kg/s to 0.038 kg/s, to 71 ± 4% at the airflow of 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. The maximum thermal efficiency of 75% was obtained at the airflow of 0.057 kg/s. The effective efficiency of the SAH was 32 ± 5% at the airflow between 0.021 kg/s and 0.023 kg/s, 42 ± 6% at the airflow ranging from 0.032 kg/s to 0.038 kg/s, and 46 ± 11% at the airflow of 0.056 ± 0.005 kg/s. |
topic |
solar air heating porous absorber layer perforated back plate thermal efficiency |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/6/1415 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT yuwang experimentalperformanceofasolaraircollectorwithaperforatedbackplateinnewzealand AT mikaelboulic experimentalperformanceofasolaraircollectorwithaperforatedbackplateinnewzealand AT robynphipps experimentalperformanceofasolaraircollectorwithaperforatedbackplateinnewzealand AT manfredplagmann experimentalperformanceofasolaraircollectorwithaperforatedbackplateinnewzealand AT chriscunningham experimentalperformanceofasolaraircollectorwithaperforatedbackplateinnewzealand |
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