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Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284

2013 ISES Solar World Congress

Thermal evaluation and modeling of a double-pass solar
collector for air heating
Silvina Mariana Gonzáleza, Silvana Flores Larsena*, Alejandro Hernándeza,
Graciela Lesinoa
a
INENCO – Universidad Nacional de Salta – CONICET, Avda. Bolivia 5150, 4400 (Salta), Argentina

Abstract

This paper shows the experimental study of the thermal efficiency of a counter-flow double-pass solar air heater and
the theoretical thermal model developed to describe its thermal behavior. The prototype was designed and
manufactured at INENCO, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Argentina, The useful collection area is 2m2, and a
channel height of 0.025m. The edge and bottom surfaces are thermally insulated with a 0.05 m thick glass wool layer.
The air flow is forced by a tangential fan installed in a 0.18m diameter pipe that is connected to the flow outlet. The
collector was mounted with a slope of 40° facing north, in order to maximize the intensity of solar irradiance during
winter. Experimental outdoor tests were carried out during a winter period, with maximum solar irradiance on the
collector plane around 1050 W/m2. A semi-empirical thermal model was developed in order to simulate the air
temperature at the collector outlet under different outdoor climatic conditions and air flow. Experimental results and
the predictions of the theoretical model were found to be in good agreement.

©2014
© 2013 TheThe Authors.
Authors. Published
Published byLtd.
by Elsevier Elsevier
This is Ltd.
an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of ISES
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of ISES.

Keywords: solar air collector; double pass collector; air heating

1. Introduction

The global energy crisis and the consequences on the environment of the greenhouse gases due to
fossil fuel burns, call both, for technology to produce clean energy and for measures to reduce the energy
demand. Renewable energies can provide part of the solution, and a great effort is currently made in this
field. In Argentina, and according to the Greenhouse Effect Gases Inventory, for the year 2000, 91% of
CO2 emissions from the energy sector were originated by fuel burning, the remaining 9% was due to
fugitive emissions. Residential sector was responsible for 14.4% of those emissions. Between 1990 and

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +54-387-425-5578; fax: +54-387-4255389.

E-mail address: seflores @unsa.edu.ar.

1876-6102 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of ISES.
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.10.235
2276 Silvina Mariana González et al. / Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284

2000 there was a 28% emissions’ increase, with an accumulated annual rate of 2.5%. The two sectors
with higher shares in the total net consumption were the residential one (which rose from 13.6% CFT –
total final consumption – in 1970 to 19.4% in 2003) and the commercial and public one (2.6% in 1970 to
6.7% in 2003). These consumption rates are directly related to meeting energy household and services’
needs and they had increased, mostly, due to the use of natural gas, which substituted other sources and
increased the specific consumption related to caloric use (cooking, water heating, and air heating).
Regarding fuels’ share in CO2 emissions in the residential sector, natural gas takes up 81.1%. In the last
years, the high consumption levels of natural gas during winter caused a strong restriction, between 20
and 50%, of the gas delivered to the industrial sector and to the power stations, in order to supply it to the
top priority residential sector. In this context, the use of renewable energies to provide air heating to
buildings is of great importance, linked to an improvement of the thermal conditions in the households,
both efforts being still incipient in Argentina. The situation is worst for those regions away from the local
electrical and gas grids.

The evolution of solar air collector´s study, allowed getting a better relationship between thermal
efficiency and cost. There are several types of solar collectors, from which the double-pass type showed
to be between the more efficient ones. Efficiency values over 75% in normal operating conditions were
found by [1] for a double-pass solar air heater. Several studies were conducted in order to increase the
heat transferred to the working fluid, by enhancing the turbulence with flaps, barriers and baffles fixed to
the absorber plate [2-5]. The obtained efficiencies were also above 75% [6]. Transpired collectors that not
include a cover glass have lower construction costs and were studied by several authors giving also good
results [7-11]. The comparison between the thermal efficiency of single-pass and double-pass air heaters
were made by [12] with and without matrix absorber on the second channel. They found that the thermal
efficiency of a solar air collector of double pass is 10% higher than that of a single pass, and that the
double pass collector with absorber matrix is 25% higher than that collector without matrix. The authors
found that for solar radiation levels ranging from 550 W/m2 to 850 W/m2, the efficiency varies between
65% and 75% for a double-pass collector with matrix absorber, between 45% to 50% for a double-pass
collector without matrix, and between 35% to 40% for a single pass collector.

A great effort was conducted on this subject by the researchers of INENCO (Instituto de
Investigaciones en Energía No Convencional, Universidad Nacional de Salta) in the last decades. Several
collector types were developed, mainly for agro-industry [13-15] and households [16, 17]. The purpose of
this paper is to describe the experimental study of the thermal efficiency of a double-pass solar air heater
that was designed and manufactured at INENCO for house air heating and the theoretical thermal model
developed to describe its thermal behavior. The experimental tests were performed during the winter
season (June, 2012).

2. Design and construction of the solar air collector

The scheme of the studied solar air double flow collector is shown in Fig. 1. The useful area is 0.83m x
2.4m, giving a collection area of 2m2. At the entrance of the collector an extension of the channel made of
galvanized sheet was added to provide a rigid support for an electrical resistance connected to a voltage
regulator to vary the temperature of the air entering the collector. Thus a better distribution of points on
the collector curve efficiency is obtained. Also it minimizes the turbulent effect of wind on the collector
entrance.
 Silvina Mariana González et al. / Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284 2277

Resistor
First Step
Polycarbonate Absorber Plate
Inlet Air
Cover

Second Insulation
Step

Tangential
Fun

Oulet Air

Fig. 1. Scheme of the studied double-pass solar air collector.

The channel has a rectangular shape (0.025 m high and 0.78 m wide). The collector cover is a 4mm
transparent polycarbonate alveolar sheet, while the absorber plate is a metal sheet treated with a black
paint for high temperature. Air enters from the outside and warms up as it moves along the channel. The
air circulates between the transparent cover and the absorber plate (upper channel) and then it turns back
flowing between the absorber plate and the collector base (bottom channel). The air flow is forced by a
tangential fan (220V and 2750 rev/min) installed in a 0.18m diameter pipe that is connected to the flow
outlet. The edge and bottom surfaces of the collector were thermally insulated with a 0.05 m thick glass
wool layer. The cover was designed so as to be easily removable for cleaning.

3. Instantaneous efficiency of the solar collector

The instantaneous efficiency of a solar collector is defined as the ratio of the useful gain to the incident
solar energy, that is:

Qu
Ki
AcGT (1)

where Qu is the useful gain in W, Ac is the collector area in m2, and GT is the solar irradiance on the
collector plane in W/m2 [18].

The useful gain Qu is calculated from inlet and outlet air temperatures and mass flow:

Qu  c p (To  Ti )
m
(2)

where Ti and To are the inlet and outlet air temperatures in °C, m
 is the mass flow in kg/s, and cp is the
specific heat at constant pressure in J/(kg °C). From (1) and (2) we find:

m c p ª (To  Ti ) º
Ki
Ac «¬ GT »¼ (3)
2278 Silvina Mariana González et al. / Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284

Eq. (3) shows a linear relationship between Ki and [(T0-Ti)/GT], with a positive slope given by ( m
 Cp)/
A c.
Also the efficiency of the collector can be written as a function of its thermal coefficients [18]:

ª (Ti  Ta ) º
Ki FR « WD U L
GT »¼
av
¬ (4)

where UL is the overall heat loss coefficient in W/(m2K), (WD)av is the effective transmittance-
absortance product, and FR is the collector heat removal factor that relates the actual useful energy gain to
the useful gain if the whole collector surface were at the fluid inlet temperature. In this case Eq. (4) shows
a linear relationship between Ki and (Ti-Ta)/GT, whit a negative slope of [-(FR UL)/GT] and the origin order
at FR WD .

4. Methodology

The collector was mounted in the INENCO experimental campus, with a slope of 40° facing north, in
order to maximize the intensity of solar irradiance during winter. The experimental tests were performed
during four cloudless days on June, 2012. The measurement equipments were a photovoltaic pyranometer
LI-200 for measuring solar radiation, HOBO U12 data-loggers to measure inlet and outlet air
temperatures, and a TSI 8345 hot wire anemometer with temperature compensation for measuring air
velocity at the collector inlet. The pyranometer was placed on the plane of the collector to sense the
global solar irradiance. Records of temperature and solar irradiance were registered automatically at 5
minutes time steps, while measurements of air speed were taken manually.

Fig. 2 (a) Photo of the air inlet collector with the electric resistor, (b) Photo of the collector during the experience.
 Silvina Mariana González et al. / Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284 2279

5. Experimental Results

The experimental results from June 21st to 24th, 2012. In the Figs. 3 and 4 it can see the most
representative day, which is June 23th.

T (°C), RH (%) Radiation W/m2

100 1200
90
80 1000
70 800
60
50 600
40
30 400
20 200
10
0 0
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
Time (hour)

Ta (°C) RH (%) GT (W/m2)

Fig. 3. On the primary axis: measured outdoor air temperature Ta (ºC) and relative humidity RH (%). On the secondary axis: solar
irradiance on the collector plane GT (W/m2).

Temperature (°C) Solar Irradiance,

GT (W/m2)
90 1100
80 1000
900
70
800
60 700
50 600
40 500
30 400
300
20
200
10 100
0 0
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
Time(hour)
Ti (°C) Ta (°C) (To-Ti) To (°C) Radiation (W/m^2)

Fig. 4. On the primary axis: air temperature at the collector inlet (Ti) and outlet (To), temperature difference (To-Ti), and outdoor air
temperature Ta. On the secondary axis: solar irradiance on the collector plane GT (W/m2).

Figure 3 shows the outdoor air temperature (Ta) and relative humidity (RH), and the solar irradiance on
the collector plane (GT), during the measurement period (10:30AM to 16:30PM). The solar irradiance
incident on the collector plane reaches values between 600 W/m2 to 1100 W/m2, with maximum values at
solar noon of around 1086 W/m2. Outdoor temperatures oscillated between 8°C and 23°C and the mean
2280 Silvina Mariana González et al. / Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284

daily value was 17,5°C. The average relative humidity is 34% for the first day and around 45% for the
other days.

Figure 4 shows the inlet (Ti) and outlet (To) air temperatures, the temperature difference (To-Ti) for a
most representative day. The temperature of the air entering the collector was varied with the thermal
resistance, with values between 12°C to 40°C. The periods when the resistance was turned can be clearly
identified when inlet temperatures suddenly increase. The air at the collector output reached temperatures
between 45 °C and 80 °C. When the resistance is turned on, the difference (To-Ti) decreases, due to the
increase of the collector thermal losses. A mean difference (To-Ti) of 50ºC was measured at the solar noon
when the solar irradiance is maximum for air entering the collector at outdoor temperature. This
difference is around 40ºC when the air is heated by the electrical resistance.

Efficiency (%)
60%
55% y = -7.3603x + 0.4965
50% R² = 0.8645
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025
(Ti-Ta)/GT

Fig. 5. Experimental instantaneous efficiency Ki versus (Ti-Ta)/GT. Air velocity in the collector was averaged for the whole period,
corresponding to an air mass flow of 0.02 kg/s.

Figure 5 shows the instantaneous efficiency Ki depending on the variable (Ti-Ta)/GT, estimated through
Eq. (3) for the experimental data. An average air velocity was used. The obtained efficiency range is 31%
to 51%, with a linear behavior and a correlation coefficient R2=0.86. As expected, the slope p is negative.
The obtained empirical expression is

(Ti  Ta )
Ki 7.3603  0.4965
GT (5)

Replacing the slope by p and the origin by q, we obtain:

(Ti  Ta )
Ki p q
GT (6)
 Silvina Mariana González et al. / Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284 2281

Combining equations (6) and (3), we find the expression for T0 as a function of inlet air temperature Ti
and the ambient temperature Ta:

To (1  pO )Ti  pOTa  qGT O (7)

where the variable O is defined as

Ac Ac
O
v Ae U C p m C p
(8)

Replacing in Eq. (7) the values of p, q and O of our prototype, the model for the tested counterflow
double-pass solar collector is:

To = 0.2569 Ti + 0.7431 Ta + 0.0501 GT (9)

If the inlet temperature is the same outdoor temperature (Ti=Ta), then Eq. (9) gives:

To=Ta+0.0501GT (10)

Clearly these results are valid for the working conditions previously shown. Fig. 6 shows the outlet
temperature (To) predicted by Eq. (9) and the corresponding experimental values. The standard deviation
of the model is 1.88ºC and the mean square error is 11.7%. The maximum difference between predicted
and measured values is about 4.8°C.

Temperature (°C)

90

80

70

60

50

40

30
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
Time (hour)

T0, Measured T0, Simulated

Fig. 6. Outlet air temperature predicted by Eq. (9) and experimental data.
2282 Silvina Mariana González et al. / Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284

This model allows developing an air solar collector to a desired air outlet temperature of, knowing the
solar irradiance on the collector plane, the outdoor temperature and the air inlet temperature to the
collector.

6. Influence of the air mass flow on the collector efficiency

To know the outlet air temperature for different air flows, a thermal model was previously developed
by the authors by using the electrical-thermal similarity and SIMUSOL software [21]. This model was
described in previous papers and it allows obtaining the air outlet temperature of the collector with an
error of 12% and a standard deviation of 1.8 °C. The collector was simulated for a solar irradiance of
1000 W/m2, and outdoor and inlet air temperatures of 18ºC, corresponding to a typical winter day in
Salta. The air mass flow is varied from 0.015 kg/s to 0.26 kg/s (in the experience, the average air mass
flow was 0.020 kg/s).

Efficiency Outlet Temperature (°C)

Oulet air
90% 90 Inlet air Flow air Efficiency
temperature
velocity (m/s) mass (Kg/s) (%)
80% 80 (°C)
0.6 0.015 74 38%
70% 70
0.8 0.020 66 44%
60% 60 1 0.025 60 48%
50% 50 1.2 0.030 55 52%
1.4 0.035 51 55%
40% 40 1.6 0.040 48 57%
30% 30 1.8 0.045 46 59%
2 0.051 44 61%
20% Efficiency 20 3 0.077 36 67%
10% 10 4 0.103 32 70%
Oulet Temperature (°C) 5 0.129 30 72%
0% 0 6 0.155 28 73%
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28
8 0.207 26 75%
Mass flow rates (Kg/seg) 10 0.260 24 76%

Fig. 7 (a) Variation of the efficiency and outlet temperature with the mass flow, (b) Idem in table (calculated for solar irradiance of
1000 W/m2 and inlet air temperature of 18°C).

Fig. 7 shows the variation of the efficiency and the outlet air temperature for different mass flow rates.
The thermal efficiency of the collector increases with the air mass flow: from 0.015 kg/s to 0.025 kg/s the
increase is more pronounced, while from 0.025 kg/s to 0.26 kg/s the there is a slow increase of the
efficiency with the air mass flow, reaching a value of around 80%. The curve representing the outlet air
temperature decreases asymptotically down to 18ºC (the inlet temperature). In the monitored collector,
the measured average air mass flow was 0.020 kg/s (air velocity of 0.8 m/s), marked in the figure with
orange dotted lines. This working point is far away from the optimum, thus, increasing the air mass flow
is a good strategy to improve the efficiency of the collector. A conservative value for the air mass flow in
0.045 kg/s, allows counterbalancing the improvement of the efficiency against higher electric
consumption, higher pressure drops and noise generation and lower outlet termperatures. To this air mass
flow, the corresponding mean outlet air temperature is 46ºC and the thermal efficiency is around 60%
(green dotted lines).
 Silvina Mariana González et al. / Energy Procedia 57 (2014) 2275– 2284 2283

7. Conclusions

The experimental study of the thermal efficiency of a double-pass solar air heater that was designed
and built at INENCO, Universidad Nacional de Salta, and the theoretical thermal model developed to
describe its thermal behavior, were described. This model allows estimating the air temperature at the
collector outlet from known values of the outdoor temperature and solar irradiance on the collector plane.
The prototype was experimentally characterized during four cloudless winter days, with maximum solar
irradiance on the collector plane of around 1100 W/m2 and outdoor air temperatures ranging from 8ºC to
23ºC. Experimental results were performed for a winter period and the predictions of the theoretical
model were found to be in good agreement with the monitored data.

Air outlet temperatures reached 80ºC at solar noon by using an electrical resistor, and 75°C without it,
with a daily average temperature rise of 40 °C between inlet and outlet for an air mass flow of 0.020 kg/s.
An average daily efficiency of 42% was measured with maximum instantaneous values reaching 50%.
These values are low when compared with the 75% efficiencies reached in the literature [12]. This low
efficiency was caused by the low air mass flow rate and it can be increased up if the air mass flow is
increased.

With regard to the study of air mass flow optimal one can say the following: for a typical winter day
with an outdoor temperature of 13°C at solar noon, air temperatures at the collector outlet should be of at
least 45 °C to ensure fast heating of indoor spaces. Given this assumption and considering that the higher
the inlet air mass flow, the greater the electric power consumption of the fan, an air mass flow value of
0.045 kg/s was selected, providing an air outlet temperature of around 46°C. For these conditions, an
efficiency of around 60% is obtained.

Aknowledgements

This research was partially supported by Universidad Nacional de Salta (CIUNSa) and ANPCYT
PICTO 2009-0192. The authors want to thank Dr. Gonzalo Durán for his valuable contributions to this
research.

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