The effect of metal foam fins on the thermo-hydraulic performance of a solar air heater

Sally Q Hussien, Ammar A. Farhan

Abstract


The metal foam porosity helps the air to penetrate through the fins and extracted more heat gain from the absorber plate. In this experimental study, the effect of metallic foam fins on the thermohydraulic efficiency is investigated through a test rig built for this purpose. Fins with different metal foam pore density (PPI), and three different configurations (longitudinal, corrugated, and staggered) are attached to the back surface of the absorber plate. The experiments are conducted under Baghdad climatic conditions for February, March and April 2018. The results showed that the presence of metal foam fins provided a large surface area for convective heat transfer so that, the air temperature difference and thermal efficiency of the solar collector are increased. The maximum temperature difference for corrugated, staggered, longitudinal metallic foam, and solid longitudinal fins at an air flow rate of 0.01 m3/s is 31, 27, 23, and 17 ℃, respectively. Metal foam fins with higher PPI exhibited higher air temperature difference due to higher heat transfer surface area. The highest value of the thermal and effectiveness efficiencies for corrugated metal foam fins are 86 %, and 79 %, respectively.

Keywords


solar energy

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References


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DOI (PDF): https://doi.org/10.20508/ijrer.v9i2.9276.g7651

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