A review of the performance of double pass solar air heater

Improvement of the thermal performance of a solar air heater can be obtained by enhancing the rate of heat transfer. The thermal efficiency of double pass solar air heater is higher in comparison to single pass with the concept involved of doubling the heat transfer area without increase in the system cost. Numbers of studies have been carried out on the performance analysis of double pass solar air heater provided with heat transfer augmentation techniques viz, using extended surfaces, packed bed, corrugated absorber were reported in the literature and found more increase in the thermal efficiency in comparison to conventional double duct solar air heater. These studies includes the design of double pass solar air heater, heat transfer enhancement, flow phenomenon and pressure drop in duct. This paper presents an extensive study of the research carried out on double pass solar air heater. Based on the literature review. it is concluded that most of the studies carried out on double pass solar air heater integrated with porous media and extended surfaces. Few studies were carried out with corrugated absorber. Further no study has been reported so far on double pass solar air heater with absorber plate artificially roughened from both the sides. Mathematical models based on energy analysis of some configurations of solar air heater have been discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.