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Recent Developments and Advancements in Solar Air Heaters: A Detailed Review

Author

Listed:
  • Varun Pratap Singh

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun 248007, India)

  • Siddharth Jain

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun 248007, India)

  • Ashish Karn

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun 248007, India)

  • Ashwani Kumar

    (Technical Education Department Uttar Pradesh, Kanpur 208024, India)

  • Gaurav Dwivedi

    (Energy Centre, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal 462003, India)

  • Chandan Swaroop Meena

    (CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee 247667, India
    Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India)

  • Nitesh Dutt

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India)

  • Aritra Ghosh

    (Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy (ESE), Renewable Energy, Electric and Electronic Engineering, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK)

Abstract

The scientific literature extensively mentions the use of a solar air heater (SAH) by utilizing solar energy for heating purposes. The poor heat-transfer rate of an SAH with a flat plate is caused by developing a laminar sub-layer near the heated base plate. The plate temperatures improve significantly, resulting in losses and a decrease in performance. The passive approach entails the placement of fins/turbulators/pouring material/ribs to the surface where the boundary layer forms to disrupt it. Artificially roughened SAH for gathering and efficiently using solar radiations for thermal purposes is extensively described in the literature. This paper includes a thorough literature overview of the history, basics, roughness evolution, forms of SAH, and recent breakthroughs in thermal performance improvement techniques for SAH compiled by several researchers. This paper uses a comparative evaluation of several roughness geometries and kinds of SAH to uncover thermohydraulic performance factors that may be considered in future research to pick the optimal configuration.

Suggested Citation

  • Varun Pratap Singh & Siddharth Jain & Ashish Karn & Ashwani Kumar & Gaurav Dwivedi & Chandan Swaroop Meena & Nitesh Dutt & Aritra Ghosh, 2022. "Recent Developments and Advancements in Solar Air Heaters: A Detailed Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-55, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12149-:d:925098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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