Experimental Study of Solar Air Heating System Based on Unglazed Transpired Collector

Author(s):  
Lixin Gao ◽  
Hua Bai ◽  
Xiumu Fang

An experimental rig was set up to test the thermal performance of a solar air heating system based on an unglazed transpired collector of 2.5 m2. The experiment was carried out at Harbin Institute of Technology in the city of Harbin, which is located in northeastern China, at latitude 45°41′ N and longitude 126°37′ E. The tests were spread over a number of days, in which the 4-day experimental data within the period were selected as the sample for analysis. Experimental results show that solar collector’s surface temperature and exit air temperature increase with increasing solar irradiation. The influence of ambient temperature on surface temperature and exit temperature is negligible. Temperature rise decreases with increasing air flow rate, while collector efficiency increases with increasing air flow rate. For an air flow rate of 100 m3/h in Test 1, the average air temperature rise and collector efficiency were 28.86°C and 72% respectively; for an air flow rate of 235 m3/h in Test 2, the average air temperature rise and collector efficiency were 11.52°C and 78% respectively. Higher airflow rate tends to operate the collector at lower surface temperature, which results in lower overall heat losses from the collector to the surroundings, therefore increasing airflow rate reduces air temperature rise and enhances the collector efficiency. The average efficiency of the experimental solar air heating system in the 4-day experiment period was 72%, 78%, 61%, and 72% respectively, which are higher than most conventional glazed flat-plate solar air collectors. With better coordination with architectural design at early stage in a project, this building-integrated solar air heating system can be both aesthetically and technically viable.

Author(s):  
Andrea V Mahn ◽  
Paola Antoine ◽  
Alejandro Reyes

Drying kinetics of broccoli florets in a tunnel dryer was studied. Effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) and activation energy for moisture diffusion (E0) were estimated. The effect of air temperature, air flow rate and particle size on antioxidant capacity, greenness and texture were calculated through a 23 factorial design. Air flow rate and temperature significantly affected drying time. Deff fluctuated between 2.82 x 10-10 and 2.00 x 10-9 (m2/s), and E0 was around 42 KJ/mol, agreeing with values reported in literature. The maximum antioxidant activity was obtained at 60°C, air flow rate of 4 m/s and 1.5 cm particle diameter, resulting in a 70 percent reduction in free radical scavenging ability and a 29 percent increase in total reductive capability. Air temperature had significant effect on greenness, and air flow rate significantly affected texture. The optimization of convective drying of broccoli allows maximizing antioxidant activity and minimizing cost by saving energy and time.


Author(s):  
Kang Li ◽  
Hao Gao ◽  
Peng Jia ◽  
Lin Su ◽  
Yidong Fang ◽  
...  

In electrical vehicles, replacing positive temperature coefficient heater as heat source with an air source heat pump could improve the driving range and decrease energy consumption in cold climate. Design of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module for heat pump system has a significant influence on its performance in each working mode. A newly designed heat pump heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module was introduced in this paper. The air flow characteristics of the heat pump heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module in four working modes were analyzed, and the air flow rate and wind resistance were obtained by numerical simulation. Experiments were also conducted for validating its airflow rate in each working mode. Results of these experiments show that some unfavorable phenomena such as flow maldistribution and vortex inside the heat pump heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module exist, which could lead to insufficient utilization of the heat exchange area of heat exchangers and the generation of aerodynamic noise. Furthermore, the air flow rate of the original heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module was also measured for comparison, and the designed heat pump heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning module shows nearly 15–20% decrease in each working mode.


Author(s):  
Deepak Kumar ◽  
Tushar Sikroria ◽  
Kushari A ◽  
Pramod Kumar ◽  
Sriganesh G

In Fluidized Bed Catalytic Cracking (FCC) process, hydrocarbon feed undergoes vapour phase cracking in presence of hot regenerated catalyst to produce valuable products like LPG, Gasoline and Diesel. FCC feed injection system is most critical hardware component of FCC unit in order to get desired product yield by minimizing the undesirable dry gas and coke yield. Typically, twin-fluid nozzles (hydrocarbon and stream) are used to atomize the feed. In the present study, a twin-fluid injector, with an internal impactor to minimize the droplet size and velocity, is designed, developed and characterized. The performance of the feeding injector was evaluated using water and air as operating fluids and the droplet size and velocity were measured 150 mm downstream of the injector tip using a PDPA system for different water and air flow rates. The average droplet size (D32) showed an increase while the droplet velocity remained almost constant with the increase in the liquid flow rate for a given flow rate of air, consistent with the increase in droplet size with decreasing air-liquid ratio for twin–fluid atomizers. But, for a given liquid flow rate, the droplet SMD decreased and the droplet velocity increased with increasing airflow rate, which can be attributed to the increase in overall kinetic energy due to the increase in air flow rate. The flow rate of liquid was seen to be independent of air flow rate unlike conventional twin-fluid atomizers. The droplet size was found to be a function of ALR and the local volume flux of the droplets was found to be a function of the liquid flow rate.


2013 ◽  
Vol 706-708 ◽  
pp. 1814-1817
Author(s):  
Zhi Zhuang ◽  
Jing Xue ◽  
Hai Ye

The thermal performance of a new Solar air Collector with Colored Fins (SCCF) used for heating was studied. A macroscopic model was proposed based on the law of mass and energy conservation. The effects of the parameters such as dimensions of SCCF, fin angle and material of the fins on the outlet air temperature, airflow rate, effective energy and thermal efficiency were discussed. The results indicate that thermal performance of SCCF can be obviously improved by the increases of aspect ratio, fin angle and vent size. The air flow rate is the dominated factor affecting effective energy and thermal efficiency of SCCF. All these study can be used for guiding the design of SCCF.


2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Gu Lee ◽  
Chang Sun Choi ◽  
Yoon Ah Jang ◽  
Suk Woo Jang ◽  
Sang Gyu Lee ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 728 ◽  
pp. 341-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weeranuch Sukaraseranee ◽  
Sukasem Watcharamaisakul ◽  
Boris Golman ◽  
Jintamai Suwanprateeb

The effects of drying air temperature and flow rate, spraying air flow rate and slurry feed rate were investigated on the morphology, size distribution, density and flowability of spray-dried hydroxyapatite granules. The granules were of good spherical shape and smooth surface, but low flowability. The granules of uniform size distribution were obtained at high spraying air flow rate and granules of small sizes were collected at high spraying and drying air flow rates, high slurry feed rate and low drying air temperature. Thus, by adjusting the spray drying conditions we can control the granule properties.


Author(s):  
Greg Barker ◽  
Kosol Kiatreungwattana

Transpired solar collectors are simple and cost-effective devices suited for preheating ventilation air for buildings. They work by drawing outside air through a south-facing perforated metal absorber. The absorber is heated by solar radiation, heat is transferred to the air as it is drawn through the perforations in the absorber, and the pre-heated air is delivered to the building. Often overlooked in the design of transpired collector systems is the effect on collector efficiency of pressure drop across the absorber. The pressure drop is a function of the air flow rate through the perforations, the overall porosity of the absorber, and the properties of the air. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted a series of laboratory tests to characterize the pressure drop as a function of the relevant parameters for six commercially-available absorber configurations; three porosities in aluminum and three in steel. Each absorber material is roll-punched to one of three depths to create absorbers with three different porosities. Pressure drop, air flow rate, air temperature, and air relative humidity data were collected during the tests. The data were fit to a model that can be used to predict pressure drop across the absorber as a function of air properties and flow rate. Use of these correlations is expected to aid designers in ensuring that transpired collector systems are designed for optimal thermal efficiency and cost effectiveness.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document