Effect of Buoyancy on the Perfomance of Solar Air Collectors with Different Structures

Abstract

In order to study the effect of buoyancy on the performance of solar air collector, the theoretical analysis and experimental tests of four solar air collectors with different structures under natural convection and mixed convection are carried out. The results show that the air temperature rise of the protrusion-corrugated plate air collector is the highest in the natural convection, which is 9.17 Chigher than that of the flat plate collector, and the air outlet velocity is 0.19 m/s, increasing by 16.88% than that of the flat plate collector. Observing the effects on the heat transfer performance of mixed convection, it can be found, in addition to the protrusion-corrugated plate air collector, the buoyancy plays a positive role on the other three solar air collectors in the upward flow, while the buoyancy plays a negative role on the other three solar air collectors in the downward flow, and the enhanced degree of the buoyancy to the corrugated plate air collector is the largest, while the enhancement degree of the flat plate collector is the least.