Rajen Kumar Nayak, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ujjwal Kumar Nayak, Amit Kumar Gupta

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer (FHMT) 19 - 7 (2022)

This analytical study has been carried out on inline and staggered hole jet plate solar air heater with longitudinal fins attached underside the absorber surface under the cross flow and non-cross flow conditions of air through the channels for varying mass flow rate of air, ṁ₁ (50-300 kg/hm²), jet hole diameter, D (6 mm-10 mm) and distance between the absorber and jet plate, Z₂ (5 cm-10 cm) with fixed number of jet holes, N (480 and 1008 for inline and staggered hole respectively) and pitch of the fins, p (3 mm). The result shows the performance of staggered hole jet plate solar air heater with longitudinal fins under non-cross flow is better than cross flow condition. The increment of T_o and h_Pj are found higher in non-cross flow staggered hole jet plate solar air heater with longitudinal fins at smaller jet hole diameter, D (6 mm) than larger jet hole diameter, D (8 mm and 10 mm) for fixed ṁ₁ (50 kg/hm²). For fixed mass flow rate of air, ṁ₁ (50-300 kg/hm²), the outlet air temperature (T_o) and collector efficiency (η_c) are obtained higher at lower Z₂ (5 cm) with respect to larger Z₂ (6 cm-10 cm). For the fixed Reynolds number (Re_ja2), the required pumping power may be less or high in non-cross flow staggered hole jet plate than non-cross flow inline hole jet plate air heater with longitudinal fins attached underside the absorber surface.