A Study Thermal Efficiency of Solar Air Heater with Wire Mesh Stainless Installation: Using Solar Simulator

This research was purposed to study thermal efficiency of solar air heater with wire mesh stainless installation. In experimental, solar irradiance for solar air heater testing was used solar simulator in the laboratory. This research consists of two main parts. First part: solar simulator testing. Solar irradiance used 4 halogen lamps with 1,500 W. The EN-12975-2 standard was evaluated the solar simulator performance for steady-state efficiency test. Experimental result, solar irradiance was good homogeneity at distance 70 cm with solar irradiated 980.4 W/m² and the uniformity value was lowest as 6.84%. It was suitable to test the solar air heater. Second part: a study thermal efficiency of solar air heater. Solar air heater performance was evaluated with the ASHRAE 93-86 standard. In experimental, wire mesh stainless was varied pores per inch (PPI) at 4, 8 and 12 PPI and constant layer at 11 layers. Air mass flow rate was constant at 0.037 kg/s and average solar irradiance about 980.4 W/m². A comparison between solar air heater with and without wire mesh stainless was conducted. It was found that, thermal efficiency of solar air heater with installing wire mesh stainless was increased and greater than without wire mesh stainless about 5.10 %, 16.75 % and 34.81 %, respectively. (paper)