Thermal performance of V-trough solar air heater with the thermal storage for drying applications

Abstract

It was analysed the thermal performance of V-trough solar air heater with the thermal storage for drying applications. An active V trough solar air heater having concentration ratio of 1.5 with the thermal energy storage is designed and fabricated by using the flat plate non-selective surface embedded by paraffin wax based thermal energy storage. The developed system is tested by thermal performance test at site having the latitude of 12.97° N and longitude of 77.57° E over the period of time with and without the thermal storage. It was found that the incorporation of thermal storage is gives 10% higher thermal performance than without the thermal storage and other existing flat plate air heater. The total cost of the system is INR.30834/- and it saves conventional fuels and saves environment. It was concluded that the proposed system will be more economical if it was hybridized with utilization of the renewable energy sources of heat or waste heat.