Performance evaluation of a flat-plate solar collector filled with porous metal foam: Experimental and numerical analysis

Experimental and numerical investigations on the effect of porous metal foam on the performance of a flat-plate solar collector have been carried out in this study. The numerical solution is based on the control-volume approach and local thermal equilibrium assumption between the fluid-porous material phase to get the optimum thickness of the porous medium and also evaluate the thermal performance and pressure drop in the porous channel collector. The numerical results exhibit that the maximum thermal performance is obtained in a porous layer dimensionless thickness greater than 0.8, which the fully filled channel is selected in the present study. In the experimental section, an ASHRAE standard is used to examine the effects of metal foam on the solar collector performance at different flow rates. The numerical solution results have been validated against the experimental results, and a reasonable agreement has been achieved. The numerical and experimental results have shown that using the porous medium enhances the maximum thermal efficiency and Nusselt number up to 18.5% and 82%, respectively.