The Theoretical and Experimental Research on Thermal Performance of Solar Air Collector with Finned Absorber

The theoretical analysis and experimental research on the thermal performance of the solar air collector with finned absorber are made in this paper. The effects of setting angle, medium flow and air inlet mode on solar air collector performance are analyzed, and the theory calculation model of it is confirmed by experimentation. The results show that the error between the theory calculation model and the experiment test maintains at around 9%. The results of calculation and analysis on thermal performance of this collector through theory calculation model indicate that setting angle has no influence on the thermal efficiency, while medium flow has a positive relation with it. In addition, heat-collecting efficiency can be improved by the negative pressure in the collector, but it is dropped along with the pressure going up. In sum, the fin plat solar air collector can be widely applied because it can be the medium-low temperature heat source for the solar drying systems.