Enhancing the performance of an unglazed solar air collector using mesh tubes and Fe3O4 nano-enhanced absorber coating

In the current article, it is intended to improve the performance of an unglazed solar air collector using mesh tubes as extended heat transfer surfaces and nano-enhanced black paint as a thermal conductivity booster of the absorber coating material. In this regard, three types of unglazed solar air collectors have been designed, produced and simultaneously tested containing a conventional (unmodified) system, a system with only mesh tube modification and a system with combined usage of mesh tubes and nano-enhanced absorber coating. It should be stated that Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been utilized within the scope of this work. Integrating nanoparticles to the absorber coating material (industrial matt black paint) averagely improved the thermal conductivity as 0.031 W/ mK. The experimental process was tested at fixed air flow rate (0.0115 kg/s) in winter climatic conditions. As result of the experimental analysis, average thermal efficiency values were attained between 45.11 and 63.36%. Combined usage of mesh tubes and nano-enhanced black paint upgraded the mean thermal performance as 40.45% in comparison to the unmodified system. Also, obtained exergetic efficiencies are in the range of 5.49-9.96%. In addition to the energy-exergy analysis, enviro-economic survey was performed within the scope of the current work. Payback periods of the analyzed systems were found between 0.31 and 0.34 years.

Automated summary

The current study aimed to enhance the performance of an unglazed solar air collector by using mesh tubes for extended heat transfer surfaces and nano-enhanced black paint as a thermal conductivity booster. Three types of unglazed solar air collectors were designed, produced, and tested, showing that the combined usage of mesh tubes and nano-enhanced absorber coating improved the mean thermal performance by 40.45% compared to the unmodified system. Energy-exergy analysis and an enviro-economic survey were also conducted in this research. Rating: 8 out of 10.