Abstract:
Experimental investigations on the performance of a flat plate solar air heater (SAH) with brown sand as absorber and clear HDPE paper as top cover was done. The efficiency, heat gain factor and heat loss coefficient were determined for the collector. The effects of air mass flow rate and thermal efficiency was also studied. The SAH model was placed outdoors and tests were conducted in an open field between 0900 and 1500 Hrs. and parameters including solar radiation, temperature and air mass flow rates were recorded after every 20 minutes for 100 hours. Results show that, the efficiency increase with increasing air mass flow rate. The highest efficiency obtained was 54% at air mass flow rate of 1.22xl0-5 Kg/s. The temperature difference between the outlet flow and the ambient reduces as the air mass flow rate increases with a maximum difference of 31°C at air mass flow rate of 6.83X10 -6 Kg/s which occurred at 1240 Hrs.
