Enhanced Solar Air Heaters For Crop Drying

Abstract

Solar air heaters are placed on farms to provide heat for the drying of grain and crop harvesting and harvesting. The results of the thermal study showed that solar air heaters are capable of providing a sufficient increase in air temperature under the majority of crop drying circumstances studied. The restricted thermal capacity of air, as well as the low heat transfer coefficient between the absorber plate and the air flow via the ducting system, both contribute to the overall thermal efficiency of solar air heaters. Solar air heaters must be more efficient in order to be more affordable. This may be accomplished by increasing the heat transfer coefficient between the absorber plate and the air flow passing through the duct. More heat transfer coefficients can be increased by using either active or passive approaches. In most situations, it may be cost-effective to use solar air heaters and incorporate artificial roughness on the absorber plate. The rate of heat transmission from the solar air heater’s duct to the fluid flow may be increased by creating artificial roughness on the surface of the duct. The study focused on several roughness element geometries for solar air heater ducts, and the results indicated that there is a link between the two. This paper attempts to find ways to artificially increase the heat transfer capacity of solar air heaters’ ducts by using element geometries which have been utilised in solar air heaters’ heat transfer devices.