Thermal Performance Study of a Flat Plate Solar Air Heater Using Different Insulating Materials

This study focuses on evaluation of thermal interpretation of a flat plate solar air heater (SAH), one of the most important uses of solar thermal energy. In this work, a simulation using the MATLAB software is carried out to study the behaviour of various parameters which influences the thermal performance of the SAH. The range of parameters that are chosen are mass flow rate (m = 0.042–0.068 kg/s), thickness of insulation (ti = 0.02–0.08 m), absorber plate area (Ap = 1–2.5 m2), overall heat loss coefficient (0–10 W/m2) and collector tilt (β = 0°–60°). Also, an investigation is carried out on different insulating materials, namely thermocol, pine wood, sugarcane bagasse and bubble wrap that can be used to prevent losses from the bottom and side walls of the SAH. The simulation findings showed that as the mass flow rate rises, the heat transfer coefficient (h) increases linearly. When insulation thickness is increased the side and bottom loss coefficients fall, with materials having high thermal conductivity have higher side and bottom loss coefficients. Additionally, a linear relationship between the variation in collector efficiency factor (F) and insulation thickness (ti) is evident from this study.