Comparative Study on the Performance of a Solar Air Heater Using Aluminum Soda Cans with “Different Arrangements”

The comparison of experimental performance was studied for soda cans: longitudinal, transverse, diagonal, and smooth cases to improve the heat transfer rate and thermal performance of the solar air heater, in this study using a frame which has 1.5 m × 0.5 m × 0.05 m dimensions, the arrangements were placed on the absorber plate inside the channel, raising the air’s exit temperature as it passed by. The work was carried out for 4 cases in January in Baghdad, Iraq, under specific conditions to compare them to reach the ideal case and the best performance evaluation. When the collector was tilted 350 to the horizontal facing south, The range of mass flow rate was from 0.012 to 0.049 kg/s, and the range of Re was from 2000 to 10,000. The results show that the best Nusselt number in the diagonal AL cans case was increased to 112 at Re = 10,000. Then the thermal efficiency increased to 98% accompanied by a moderate decrease in the fraction factor to reach 0.435. Aluminum cans also provide good economic support for solar systems due to their low cost, in addition to their recycling and reducing pollution.