Thermal characteristic in solar air heater fitted with plate baffles and heating corrugated surface

This paper presents a numerical investigation of heat transfer and friction factor characteristics in a solar air heater channel fitted with upper corrugated surface/wall and baffle series placed on a lower wall along the length of the channel. The corrugated surface/wall characterized by heating corrugated surface ratio (HCSR) varied from 0 to 0.5. The baffle series defined by blockage ratio (BR) fixed in 0.5. The fluid flow and heat transfer behaviors are presented for Reynolds numbers based on the hydraulic diameter of the channel ranging from 8000 to 20000. The computations are based on the finite volume method, and the SIMPLE algorithm has been implemented. The present results show that the heat transfer rate and friction factor increase with the raise of Reynolds number. The best thermal performance factor observed at HCSR=0.5 tends to 2.7 at highest Reynolds number.