ARTIFICIAL SOLAR AIR DUCT

(Mechanical Department)
Ranjit Singh (1730955)
Maninder Jit Singh (1730951)
Jaspteet Singh (1730949)
Sukhpal Singh(1730960)
Jaspreet Singh (1632684)
 INTRODUCTION
• Solar energy is the major source of non-conventional energy but
is used in very small proportion (approx 2%) compared to other
sources of energy. Solar air heater consists of an absorber plate
to capture insolation (incident solar radiation) and transfers
thermal energy to the air by heat transfer.
 LITERATURE
• The Solar air heater is widely used as an alternative to other
conventional air heaters. However it’s low efficiency is still a
challenge. The efficiency of a solar air heater is affected by duct
ratio, motor power, the geometry of absorber plate, etc. These
factors affect the rate of heat transfer in the air passing through
the duct. So an extensive literature survey is made to define the
experimental parameters, to give an optimum model of solar air
heater. The literature survey has been carried out mainly in two
areas viz parametric studies and effect of artificial roughness on
absorber plate.
 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
• Rectangular Duct – For artificial solar air duct , rectangular hollow
duct is used . For duct material is sheet metal of aluminium. And the
top surface of duct is colour with black paint to increase the
absorbtivity.
STANDARD DATA FOR PROJECT WORK
• Blower- Blower is used to force the air from one end of duct and air
leaves from other end . The air at ambient temperature enters and
leaves with higher temperature .
• Manometers- Two manometers are used one is at inlet of duct and
another is at outlet of duct . Manometers are used to know the
velocity of air as well as pressure of air.
• Surface Roughness- The inside surface of duct is rough by means of
mesh or by means of small wires to increase the heat transfer rate.

ROUGH SURFACE OF DUCT

• Thermocouple- A thermocouple is an electrical device consisting
of two dissimilar electrical conductors forming electrical
junctions at differing temperatures. A thermocouple produces a
temperature-dependent voltage as a result of the thermoelectric
effect, and this voltage can be interpreted to measure
temperature.

Thermocouple
 FORMULATION
• The designing of artificial solar air duct is based on the concept of
HEAT TRANSFER .
• In artificial solar air duct following modes of heat transfer-
• Conduction
• Convection
• Radiation
• Black body or top surface of duct absorbs heat by means of radiation.
• And the heat transfer through top surface of duct to opposite surface
of duct is done by conduction .
• Fourier’s equation of heat conduction:
• Q = -k A dT / dx (heat flow rate by conduction (W)
•
‘k’ is the thermal conductivity of body material (W·m−1·K−1)
•
‘A’ is the cross-sectional area normal to direction of heat flow
(m2) and
•
‘dT / dx’ is the temperature gradient (K·m−1)
• And we will using the less thickness of aluminium to increase the heat
transfer by conduction.
• The heat is transferred from inside surface of duct to air by means of
convection.
• Convection Heat Transfer Equation
• q = hc A dT (1)
• where
• q = heat transferred per unit time (W, Btu/hr)

• A = heat transfer area of the surface (m2, ft2)

• hc = convective heat transfer coefficient of the process (W/(m2oC,)

• dT = temperature difference between the surface and the bulk fluid
(oC, F)
• Heat transfer = (mass)(specific heat)(temperature
change)
• Q = mcΔT
• Q = heat content in Joules
• m = mass
• c = specific heat, J/g °C
• T = temperature
• ΔT = change in temperature
• And the mass per second is calculated from density relation.
• p=m/V, or density (p) is equal to mass (m) divided by volume
(V).
• Mass per second = Density x volume per second
• Volume per second = Area x velocity
• And mass per second = Density x area x velocity
• Reynolds Number = Inertia Force / Viscous Force
• Re= pvd / u
• Where,
V is the velocity of the fluid,
ρ is the density of fluid,
μ is the viscosity of fluid,
L is the length or diameter of the fluid.

•
 OBJECTIVE
• To design a artificial solar air duct by using concept of heat transfer.
• To find the heat transfer coefficient .
• To increase the efficiency of solar air duct.
• Find the overall heat exchange between air and duct.
APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL SOLAR AIR
DUCT

The Solar Air Duct has an important place

among solar thermal systems as it is widely used in
many commercial applications such as to supply
hot air to buildings, agricultural and industrial
drying