Energy and exergy analysis of a cross flow solar air heater for thermohydraulic performance augmentation

This study numerically examines the enhancement of thermo-hydraulic efficiency of a cross flow solar air heater (SAH) for Reynolds number ranging from 3000 to 21000. The thermal performance is investigated for various perforation hole diameters of absorber plate and varying number of rows of holes. Discrete Ordinates radiation model is used to simulate the solar radiation heat interactions within the computational domain. Maximum thermo-hydraulic efficiencies of 86.51% and 85.15% are observed for configurations with 3 rows and 4 rows of perforation holes with hole diameter ratio of 0.06 and 0.07 respectively. The maximum exergy efficiency is found to be 5.28%. The system's enviro-economic analysis shows that the CO₂ mitigation rate is 1.12 t CO₂/annum, whereas the environmental cost is 16.31 $/year. The exergo-economic parameter is computed as 1.18 kWh/$, while the energy cost is calculated as 0.049 $/kWh. Additionally, it is determined that the energy payback period is 5 months while the exergy payback period is 22 years. The heat map for the various configurations shows the economical operating range of the air heater. The envisaged SAH has the advantage of completely decimating the laminar sublayer throughout the absorber plate due to cross flow movement of air through the absorber plate unlike the conventional SAH.