EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF A CONVERGENT NOZZLE FOR THERMAL HOMOGENIZATION OF AIR

This study employed a 2 kW<sub>th</sub> solar air tower simulator system for experimental validation, explicitly focusing on the effectiveness of a custom-designed mixer assembly under conditions of even and uneven heat flux distribution. Non-uniform heat dispersion within the absorbers can create localized hotspots and temperature disparities, resulting in thermal stress within the pipeline system. To address this challenge, a mixer assembly was devised to equalize the temperature differential in the heated air. The study concentrates on scrutinizing the temperature variance along both the axial and azimuthal axes within the mixer assembly, examining scenarios with aperture power of 1000 W and 1500 W, as well as mass flow rates of 6.37 g/s and 14.87 g/s. Notably, the study identified a maximum temperature differential of 7°C at the mixer's outlet when the initial temperature variance at the inlet stood at 37°C.