Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Performance evaluation of a novel flat-plate solar air collector with

micro-heat pipe arrays (MHPA)
Tingting Zhu, Yanhua Diao ⇑, Yaohua Zhao, Cheng Ma
The Department of Building Environment and Facility Engineering, The College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, No. 100, Pingleyuan,
Chaoyang District, Beijing 100124, China

h i g h l i g h t s

A novel flat-plate solar air collector based on micro-heat pipe arrays is proposed.

The collector separates the heat collecting section from the air heat exchange.
2

The instantaneously efficiency is 69% at a flow rate of 0.054 kg/m s.

The frictional factor and time constant has been determined in the present study.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper proposes a new type of a flat-plate solar air collector (SAC) with micro-heat pipe arrays
Received 14 November 2016 (MHPA), which consist of a heat collection and transfer section and an air ventilation and heat exchange
Revised 13 February 2017 section. In the unique structure, the heat exchange of air is separated from heat collection and transmis-
Accepted 17 February 2017
sion. This work experimentally and theoretically investigates the heat transfer and friction factor charac-
Available online 24 February 2017
teristics of the proposed MHPA-flat plate solar air collector. Numerical simulation and experimental
results are compared to show the instantaneous performance of the collector under quasi-steady state
Keywords:
conditions. Efficiency, time constant, inlet temperature, outlet temperature, absorber temperature, and
Micro-heat pipe arrays
Flat-plate
glass cover temperature are obtained. The effects of weather condition, and operational parameters are
Solar air collector evaluated on the basis of thermal efficiency, outlet temperature, heat loss, and heat transfer. Results
Thermal performance reveal that the average efficiency is approximately 69% at a flow rate of 290 m3/h. In the testing range
of the air flow rate, the frictional coefficient varies from 0.05 to 0.18.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Solar collectors have been extensively investigated as a wide
range of solar thermal utilization devices. In solar air collector
(SAC) development, the performance of various flat-plate SACs
has been improved. Flat-plate SACs mainly consist of a glass cover,
an absorber plate, a thermal insulation board, and a backboard.
Some types of flat-plate SACs are shown in Fig. 1.
The main drawback of an air collector is that the heat transfer
coefficient between the absorber plate and the airstream is low
and heat losses to environment is high, which results in a lower
thermal efficiency. The thermal performance of flat-plate SACs
can be improved by setting several roughness elements (Fig. 1a)
on an absorber board to increase the area of heat transfer or by
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: diaoyanhua@bjut.edu.cn (Y. Diao).
increasing turbulence in air flow to enhance heat transfer (Fig. 1b).
Thus, these processes can improve heat transfer. As the heat trans-
fer coefficient increases, thermal efficiency is increased.
Roughness elements on the underside of an absorber plate are
used to improve the thermal performance of a solar air heater
effectively and economically [1–5]. Obstacles, such as fins and ribs,
are also utilized to enhance the heat transfer caused by flow sepa-
ration and reattachment between ribs. Tanda proposed different
performance evaluation criteria to assess the heat transfer and fric-
tion characteristics of collectors with various rib configurations [6].
Results show that repeated ribs are a good technique to improve
the performance of a solar air heater. Longitudinal fins can be
attached to an absorber plate of a natural-convection solar air hea-
ter to enhance heat transfer effectively [7]. In this manner, approx-
imately 66% increase in heat transfer area and 20% enhancement in
heat transfer may be achieved in the investigation. Yang et al. [8]
numerically optimized a heater with offset rectangular fins on an
absorber plate and found that instantaneous thermal efficiency

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.02.076
1359-4311/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16

Nomenclature

m_ mass flow rate of air, kg/s l length of the air duct, m

Ac collecting area de hydraulic diameter, m
To outlet air temperature, °C f friction factor
Ti inlet air temperature, °C
cp specific heat of air, kJ/kg K Greek Symbols
Qu useful energy gain, W/m2 q density of air, kg/m3
Q_ air volume flow rate, m3/h g thermal efficiency
Tm average temperature, °C geff effective efficiency
Ta ambient temperature, °C
I radiation on tilted surface, W/m2 Abbreviations
ΔT air temperature increase (T o  T i ), °C
MHPA micro-heat pipe array
ΔP pressure drop in test length, Pa SAC solar air collector
ΔI solar radiation difference, W/m2 STC standard test conditions
v air velocity, m/s
Afin area of fins

Fig. 1. Representative flat-plate SACs with roughness elements (a) or increased turbulence (b).
 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16
can exceed 0.40 even at a low airflow rate of 100 m3/h. Hans et al.
[9] investigated the effects of the roughness of multiple V-shaped
ribs on heat transfer coefficient and friction factor in an artificially
roughened solar air heater duct. Ebrahim Momin et al. [1] also
explored the effects of the geometrical parameters of V-shaped ribs
on heat transfer and on the fluid flow characteristics of a rectangu-
lar duct of a solar air heater with an absorber plate containing V-
shaped ribs on the underside. They found that the effect of Rey-
nolds number on Nusselt number and friction factor is stronger
than that of the angle of attack. Absorber shape factor has been
considered as a new parameter in studies involving triangular col-
lectors [10]. The optimum angle of a triangular collector ranges
from 50° to 60°, and the efficiency factor of a triangular solar air
heater is higher than that of longitudinal fin solar air heater. Akpi-
nar and Koçyiğit [11] experimentally evaluated and compared four
flat-plate SACs with several obstacles (Types I, II, and III) and with-
out obstacles (Type IV). They demonstrated that obstacles ensure a
good air flow over and under absorber plates, create turbulence,
and reduce the number of dead zones in collectors. However, most
of these collectors mentioned above, did not solve the critical point
about the relationship between the enhancement of heat transfer
and pressure drop, as well as the heat loss for the flat plate type
solar air collector. On one hand, when using these obstacles
attached on the absorber, the frictional losses have been increased.
That means, the fan power in put is increased when a higher heat
exchange coefficient is achieved. Thus, more energy consumption
during the runtime is needed. On the other hand, the heat transfer
mode between the absorber and the air flow is a kind of direct way
for the collectors, which can enhance the heat transfer between
them by increasing air flow rate but accompanied with more heat
losses.
In common types of flat-plate solar air collectors, the uneven
flow and heat exchange between air and an absorber plate poses
a problem. To resolve this problem, Ammari [12] proposed a solar
air heater with metal slats running along a circulated air passage
linking the absorber plate to the bottom plate and thus improve
the thermal performance of SACs. Theoretical investigations have
been performed to determine the effects of volume airflow rate,
collector length, and spacing between the absorber and bottom
plates on the thermal performance. While, the structure of the col-
lector became complicated.
Different kinds of single-pass and double-pass air collectors
have also been explored. Three-layer absorber plates have been
used in a novel flat plate solar air heater [3]. Air is allowed to flow
simultaneously and separately over and under different obstacle
absorbing plates to increase the available heat-transfer area. Four
types (three types with different obstacles and one type without
obstacles) of absorber plates were used in the study. In Type I
(without obstacles) flat plate collector, a small amount of absorbed
solar energy can be used in the exergy analysis. A theoretical model
to predict the thermal performance of flat-plate SACs was pre-
sented by Ong [13]. The temperatures and heat transfer coeffi-
cients of four types of solar air heaters, including three types of
signal pass and one type of double pass, have been revealed. A solar
collector with a double heat transfer area (upper and lower absorb-
ing surfaces) is designed to compensate for the heat loss on the
surface when the inlet-air temperature is higher than the ambient
temperature [14]. At the same flow rate, the efficiency of the dou-
ble pass with a steel wire mesh layer is 34–45% higher than the sin-
gle pass with a steel wire mesh layer [15]. Heat transfer
performance is limited for these collectors, and the thermal effi-
ciency is low, generally.
But above all, in normal flat-plate SACs, the direct heat
exchange between air and an absorber causes a low thermal effi-
ciency and an uneven heat transfer. Hence, absorbers have been
improved to enhance the performance of flat-plate SACs. However,
3
increased pressure drop and complex structure have also been
observed. The heat-collecting surface of existing flat-plate SACs
should strengthen the heat transfer of air flow and simultaneously
reduce the convection heat loss, which form a pair of insurmount-
able contradictions. In the same air medium, heat insulation and
heat transfer cannot be simultaneously enhanced. As such, heat
transfer and thermal insulation should be improved by employing
separate processes.
This paper proposed a new type of flat-plate SAC with micro-
heat pipe arrays (MHPA) [16], which comprise two sections: (1) a
heat collecting and transfer section and (2) an air ventilation and
heat exchange section. Air flow is not in direct contact with the
heat absorber plate in the new MHPA flat-plate SAC. MHPA can
provide a large area for heat absorption and a high-efficiency heat
release of condensation. The new SAC is different from traditional
SACs because the proposed SAC separates the heat exchange of air
from heat collection and heat transmission section. Thus, the struc-
ture achieves the physical isolation and mechanical separation
between the absorber and the airstream. The new design can avoid
the problem exist in the common flat plate SACs is that the
enhancement heat transfer accompanied with increment of heat
loss. The unique structure can greatly improve the absorption effi-
ciency of solar energy, enhance heat transfer, and reduce air flow
resistance. This new collector is characterized by low cost, high
efficiency and modularity, which shows better performance than
the common one.
2. Experimental system
2.1. Descriptions of the collector
The new MHPA flat-plate SAC studied in this paper is shown in
Fig. 2. The new air collector consists of a number of MHPAs [16,17]
with V-shaped fins attached to the heat release (condenser) sec-
tion, absorber film, insulation board, bottom plate, and air ventila-
tion and heat exchange section. The body size of the collector is
1300 mm  1800 mm with 15 MHPAs, and the effective heat
absorber area is 1.8 m2. The collector components include the
toughened glass cover, air layer (35 mm) [18], MHPA-absorber
plate, thermal insulation layer, and the back board (Fig. 2).
MHPA-absorber plate is made up with absorber plate and MHPA,
and the contact position between them is a silicone layer with
the thickness of 1.0 mm. Silicone can connect them together and
can also decrease the contact thermal resistance between them.
The structures of the V-shape fins are shown in Fig. 3. MHPA looks
like a thin aluminum sheet and there are several independent
micro heat pipes in it, and in each heat pipe is the liquid working
medium, which is acetone with the volume filling ratio of 20%. It
is made up of aluminum alloy with one-time extrusion. It is a
high-efficiency heat transfer component that relies on a phase
change in the working liquid to transfer heat. The MHPA used in
the present paper with the size of 1750 mm  80 mm  3 mm.
Some picture and schematic diagram of MHPA is shown in Fig. 4.
The properties of the acetone used in the MHPA are listed in
Table 1. And the parameters of the collector components are listed
in Table 2. Fig. 5 shows that the response time of the MHPA is less
than 320 s in different testing conditions, and the temperature uni-
formity is well. The results revealed that MHPA has a high thermal
respond speed. Therefore, the MHPA exhibits excellent heat trans-
fer performance and can serve as a dominant component of the
new flat plate SAC.
The new collector is illustrated in Fig. 6. Fig. 6a shows an image
of the collector without heat preservation, and Fig. 6b displays an
image of the collector with heat preservation. The structure of
the new flat plate MHPA SAC comprises the heat collecting and
4 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16

Fig. 2. Flat-plate SAC with MHPA.

Fig. 3. Diagram of the V-shaped fins.

Fig. 4. Working principle of the MHPA flat-plate SAC.

 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16 5

Table 1
The properties of material in MHPA.

Category Name Properties

Density Thermal conductivity Boiling point (101.325 kPa)
Working medium Acetone(CH3COCH3) Ratio of liquid 20% 0.788 kg/m3 0.177 W/m K 56.48 °C

Table 2
Parameters of the collector components.

Component Parameters
Absorber board 1500 mm  1200 mm Absorption 91%
Emissivity 9%
Glass cover Toughened glass Transmittance 93%
Thermal conductivity 1.2 W/(m K)
Specific heat capacity 0.82 kJ/kg
V-shaped fins 165  80  8: mm Height 8.0 mm
Thickness 0.3 mm
Spacing 4.0 mm
MHPA 1750  80  3: mm Medium Acetone
Ratio of liquid 20%
Insulation board Thickness:50 mm Density 40 kg/m3
Thermal conductivity 0.024 W/(mK)
Air duct 200  100  2600: mm3

transfer section and the air ventilation heat transfer section. The
heat collecting and transfer section is composed of a toughened
glass cover, a heat preservation and insulation air layer, a high-
efficiency absorber, and an MHPA-evaporator section. The air ven-
tilation heat transfer section consists of an air duct, a fan, and an
MHPA-condenser section. The MHPA-condenser section was set
in the air duct, which was completely isolated from the heat col-
lecting and transfer section. The external portion of the MHPA-
condenser section was welded with V-shaped aluminum fins,
and the fins were parallel to the direction of the wind. The fan
was set in the side of the air duct. Welding technology was applied
to connect the MHPA condenser and the V-shaped fins, which
greatly reduced the contact thermal resistance between these
components.
pipe effect on the MHPAs. Heat is released into the air in the air
ventilation and heat exchange section of the collector, while air
is eventually warmed. Simultaneously, the working medium in
the MHPA undergoes a continuous phase transition cycle and con-
tinuously transfers solar radiation heat to air in the air duct with
high efficiency. The MHPA heat-absorbing plate core can realize
the whole area of heat absorption, high efficient heat transmission,
and large surface of heat release. The plate can simultaneously
achieve high efficiency. The air collector can achieve high efficiency
and reduce heat loss with several advantages, including the low
flow resistance, low operating cost, and easy installation, among
others.
2.3. Experimental set-up

2.2. Working principle An experimental system was constructed and examined in

terms of thermal performance in Beijing (latitude: 39.9°N, longi-
The basic working principle is shown in Fig. 4. Solar energy is tude: 116.3°E) to test the thermal efficiency of the new collector
absorbed by the MHPA evaporator section with the organic combi- and the influence of various factors on the performance of the
nation of the high-efficiency absorber film, which elicited a heat MHPA flat-plate SAC [19]. The system can be divided into two

Fig. 5. Thermal response test of MHPA.

6 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16

Fig. 6. New MHPA-solar air collector.

1, MHPA-flat plate SAC; 2, air duct; 3, fan; 4. speed-control switch; 5, AC power source; 6, Agilent
34970A; 7, computer; 8, automatic weather station data collection system; 9, inlet temperature
detectors; 10, outlet temperature detectors; 11, air volume cover.

Fig. 7. Experimental setup of the new collector.

sub-systems: collector ontology and meteorological parameters
testing systems. The Pt100 temperature thermal resistors and T
type thermocouples were used to evaluate the performance of
the collector. Data were recorded by using an Agilent 34970A data
acquisition system. Meteorological parameters, including solar
irradiation intensity, ambient temperature, humidity, wind speed,
and direction, were provided by the weather stations in the study
area. The measurement of air volume flow rates was completed by
the cooperation of the air volume cover and speed-control switch.
The schematic of the constructed MHPA air collector experimental
system is shown in Fig. 7.
During the test, inlet and outlet air temperatures of the collec-
tor, different temperature points, air flow rate, ambient tempera-
ture, and solar radiation were measured under different
conditions. The inlet and outlet air temperatures were determined
by using four thermal resistors installed on the cross section of the
air duct, respectively. Thermocouples were regularly positioned on
the absorber plate, MHPA, glass cover, and V-shaped fins of the col-
lector. The arrangements of the testing points are shown in Fig. 8.
2.4. Data reduction
The experimental data of the new MHPA-FPSAC at various
working conditions were recorded at a given air volume flow rate
of air. The physical meaning of instantaneous efficiency of the SAC
is the ratio of useful energy (Qu) to the total radiation energy (I)
 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16 7

Fig. 8. Arrangement of temperature testing points.

received by the collector, which corresponds to real-time values. variables V1, V2, . . ., Vn and if w1, w2, . . ., wn are the uncertainty
For SAC, Qu can be represented as: intervals in variables, the uncertainty intervals for R and WR, which
yields the same odds for each variable, are obtained as follows
Q u ¼ Q_ qcf ðT o  T i Þ=3600 ð1Þ [22]:
The instantaneous efficiency of the air collector can be repre- "
2
2
2 #1=2
sented as follows [15,20]: @R @R @R
WR ¼ w1 þ w2 þ ... þ wn ð4Þ
@V 1 @V 2 @V n
Q
g¼ u ð2Þ
Ac I where R = R (V1, V2, . . ., Vn).
The effective (thermohydraulic) efficiency may be expressed as The relative uncertainty of g can be determined by using the
follows [21]: following equation:
"
2
2
2
2 #1=2
Q u  P fan @g _ @g @g @g
geff ¼ ð3Þ Dg ¼ DQ þ DT o þ DT i þ DI
IAc @ Q_ @T o @T i @I
where ð5Þ
Q_ is the air volume flow rate, in m3/h;
q is the density of the air, in kg/m3; where Dg, DQ_ , DT o , DT i , and DI are the uncertainty of g, Q_ , T o , T i , and
cf is the heat capacity of the air, in J/ (kg °C); I, respectively. Therefore, the uncertainty value in this experiment is
To is the inlet temperature, in °C; 8.84%.
Ti is the outlet temperature, in °C;
g is the instantaneous efficiency of the SAC; 3. Numerical investigation
Ac is the effective heating area, in m2;
I is the solar radiation intensity, in W/m2; 3.1. Physical modeling
Pfan is the power of the fan, in W.
In this section, a 3D CFD simulation of MHPA collecting unit is
2.5. Uncertainty analysis investigated. This model is designed to obtain the essential fea-
tures of the experimental prototype of the new MHPA-flat plate
The data recording type and uncertainty analysis based on the SAC (Fig. 9). The convection heat transfer effect between the glass
precision of the equipment used during experimentation are sum- cover and ambient air and the forced convection heat transfer
marized in Table 3. If the result R is a function of n independent between the fins and the air in the air duct are considered. During

Table 3
Information and uncertainties about the test instruments

Device name Model Accuracy Uncertainty values

Fan TSKN0150 — —
Data acquisition instrument Agilent 34970A — —
Total radiation meter TRT-2 <2% 0.50%
Thermocouple WRNK-191 I 0.42%
Thermoresistance Pt100WZPK-293 A, 0.15 °C 0.25%
Air volume cover TSI8371 ±5% 2.66%
Differential manometer Testo512 5% 4.00%
Anemovane WS-8SX Speed:±0.3 m/s 3.00%
Direction: ±3° 0.83%
8 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16

I Outlet

Inlet
35mm

Y
X
Z
Fig. 9. Physical model of MHPA-flat plate SAC.

Table 4
List of thermo-physical properties

Thermo-physical properties Air layer Backboard Aluminum fin Glass cover

q (kg/m )
3
Boussinesq 30 2719 2500
Cp (J/kg K) 1006.43 1380 871 840
k (W/m K) 0.024 0.04 202.40 0.76

simulation, the coefficient of the thermal conductivity of MHPA is
105 W/mK [23]. Simulation using consistent with the experimen-
tal conditions of geometrical structure and the meteorological
parameters, physical parameters of each component for the collec-
tor in Table 4.
The physical model of the MHPA-flat plate was established on
the basis of the essential features of the experimental prototype
(Fig. 9). For the total solar energy received by the collector, some
energy was transferred to the air flow in the air duct as useful
energy; the remaining energy was lost mainly through the glass
cover, frames, bottom plate, and air duct. This finding suggested
that the absorber plate was in good contact with the MHPA, and
the heat loss through the frames and air duct was negligible
because of the good thermal insulation. Therefore, the MHPA was
considered the highly efficient heat transfer component and the
wall of each MHPA was composed of thin sheet aluminum.
According to the heat balance principle, heat transferred to the
glass cover from the absorber board is equal to heat transferred to
ambient air from the glass cover. The heat transferred to the absor-
ber from the solar radiation is also equal to the sum of the heat
transferred to the glass cover and to the MHPA. Disregarding the
heat from the air duct, we assume that heat exchange between
the air and the fins is equal to the heat absorbed by the airflow.
The heat flow through the limited space of the parallel interlayer
was the comprehensive result of natural convection heat transfer
between hot and cold walls. Heat transfer between these two walls
occurs in the coupling interface.
3.2. Basic control equation
According to the regulations of GB/T 4271-2007 [26], when the
solar air collector working under this condition: solar radiation is
more than 700 W/m2(Permissible range is ±50 W/m2) and ambient
temperature ranged at ±0.5 °C, controlling the temperatures of
inlet and outlet temperatures (±0.5 °C), we call this state as ‘‘Quasi
steady state”. This state can be seen as steady-state. Thus, we made
a steady state model to deal with the simulation investigation.
Steady-state equations were solved by using commercially avail-
able CFD software (ANSYS.V14-Fluent). Fluid flow and heat trans-
fer, including forced convection flow and heat exchange inside
the collector air duct and natural convection flow and heat
exchange inside the closed cavity [24–25]. The air natural convec-
tion inside the closed cavity is consistent with Boussinesq hypoth-
esis stating that the direction of gravity is [x, y] = [1, 1]. The
flow and heat transfer of the calculation domain are described by
the following classical governing equations:
Continuity equation
!
rv ¼0 ð6Þ
Momentum conservation equation
! ! ! !
ðq v rÞ v ¼ q g rp þ r  s ð7Þ
Energy conservation equation
!
qcp v rT ¼ r  ðkrTÞ þ Sk ð8Þ
!
where v is the velocity, m/s; q is the density, kg/m3; pis the pres-
! !
sure, Pa; g is the gravitational acceleration, m/s2; s is the stress ten-
sor, N/m2; cp is the specific heat at constant pressure, J/kg·K; T is the
temperature, K; k is the coefficient of thermal conductivity, W/m·K;
and Sk is the volume heat source term, W.
3.3. Turbulence model
This study involves a larger Reynolds number of air flow, which
belongs to the turbulent flow. As such, an appropriate flow calcu-
lation model is necessary, and a widely used standard k  e model
is selected in the present study.
3.4. Boundary conditions
Four types of boundary conditions were considered:
 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16 9

Glass cover
Air duct
Outlet

Backboard
MHPA
V-shaped fins
Inlet

(a) Schematic of the model

(b) Side view of the model mesh

(c) Section view of the model mesh

Fig. 10. Mesh of the model.

(1) The glass cover is set as constant heat flux and natural con-
vection boundary (h ¼ 5:7 þ 3:8v ).
(2) Solar radiation energy is converted as the constant heat flux
of heat absorption plate core (I = 800 W/m2).
(3) Air inlet is designated as the velocity inlet (4 m/s–290 m3/h)
and air outlet is set as the free flow boundary conditions.
(4) The bottom and the frame surface of the collector are
assumed to have good heat preservation conditions and
are set as the adiabatic wall.
10 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16

Air duct
MHPA Glass cover

Backboard V-shaped fins

(d) Section view of the model mesh

Fig. 10 (continued)

tor efficiency under steady-state conditions can be written as fol-

3.5. Solution method and grid independence study
The grid of the calculation domain was generated by using the
pre-processing software Gambit. The mesh is shown in Fig. 10.
The finite volume method was applied to solve the governing
equations: pressure–speed coupling equations were solved by
using a SIMPLE algorithm and a second-order upwind scheme
was selected to solve the momentum, energy, and turbulent flow
equation. The solution was considered to be converged when the
residuals were 10–3 for continuity, momentum, and turbulence
quantities and 10–6 for energy.
A grid independence study was conducted to determine the
accuracy of the numerical results and to identify the appropriate
grid size for the simulations. Thermal efficiency was analyzed as
the parameter of the MHPA-flat plate SAC. The simulation case
involving a velocity inlet of 4 m/s and an irradiance of 800 W/m2
was considered in the grid independence study. The parameters
of the different meshes and the corresponding calculated efficien-
cies are illustrated in Table 5. Cells and Nodes respectively denote
the total number of cells and nodes used in this study. And Dg is
the change rate of the efficiency solution on the mesh grid. The
number of grid continuously increased, the efficiency change rate
was very low, and the results did not remarkably improve when
the grid cells reached 2878398 (Mesh 3). Mesh 2 (1889199) grid
number was selected for the simulated calculation to ensure the
accuracy of the calculation and reduce the amount of calculation.
In the following study, steady-state conditions were set to com-
pare the numerical results with the experimental results as a part
of investigation on basis of thermal efficiency. The curve of the
compared results is described in the following section.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Comparative analysis of the simulation and experimental results
A series of experiments was conducted under outdoor condi-
tions to show the instantaneous efficiency of the collector under
quasi-steady state conditions [26]. The instantaneous solar collec-
lows [27]:
Qu ðT i  T a Þ
g¼ ¼ F R ðsaÞe  FR UL ð9Þ
Ac I I
where FR is the heat removal factor and UL is the heat loss coeffi-
cient of the collector [W (m2 K)1].
During the quasi-steady test, an air–water heat exchanger was
used to control the inlet air temperature of the collector with sev-
eral working conditions (Fig. 11). Five groups of tests were carried
out at inlet temperatures of 7 °C, 11 °C, 19 °C, 29 °C, and 33 °C.
The least square method was used on the basis of the experi-
mental results. The intercept is F R ðsaÞe and the slope is F R U L
[Eq. (9)]. The instantaneous thermal efficiency g is a function of
temperature ðT i  T a Þ=I for the MHPA-flat plate SAC at air flow
rates of 290 m3/h (Fig. 12), where Ta is the ambient temperature,
FR is the heat transfer factor of the collector, UL is the total heat loss
coefficient, and ðsaÞe is the product of the effective transmission
rate and the absorption rate. The linear relation between g and
ðT i  T a Þ=I is obtained as follows:


Ti  Ta
g ¼ 0:705  6:474 ð10Þ
I
The instantaneous efficiency curve intercept is 70.1% and the
slope is 6.473. The thermal efficiency decreases as ðT i  T a Þ=I
increases. This phenomenon occurs because an increase in
ðT i  T a Þ=I causes a decrease in the temperature difference in heat
exchange, which in turn increases the absorber temperature. The
absorber temperature then triggers heat losses. Thus, the efficiency
of the collector is decreased.
The linear relation between g and ðT i  T a Þ=I is obtained on the
basis of the simulation results as follows:


Ti  Ta
gsim ¼ 0:685  5:645 ð11Þ
I
The experimental F R ðsaÞe is 0.705 and F R U L is 6.474. The simu-
lated F R ðsaÞe is 0.685 and F R U L is 5.645. The heat transfer condition
of the individual collecting unit is more efficient than the entire
heat transfer condition. As such, g obtained from the simulation
is higher than that determined from the experiment. Inside the

Table 5
Grid independence test for the MHPA-flat plate SAC configuration

Type/mesh number Cells Nodes Interval size (mm) Dg

Mesh 1 1379466 965372 3 –
Mesh 2 1889199 1271470 1.5 0.62%
Mesh 3 2878398 1824392 1 0.16%
 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16 11

Air-water heat
exchanger
Air in Air out
Inlet of the
MHPA-flat
plate SAC

Waterbath
inlet

Cross section view of

Air-water heat
exchanger
Waterbath
outlet

Fig. 11. Air-water heat exchanger used in the test under quasi-steady state conditions.

where
C A is the total heat capacity of the collector;
Gcp is the product of the mass flow rate and fluid volume;
T f is the average temperature of the fluid;
T f ;e is the outlet temperature of the fluid;
and s is the time required when the temperature difference
between the inlet and the outlet reaches 0.368 times the initial
temperature difference under the shaded condition.

In this study, the time constant of the new MHPA-flat plate solar
air collector was examined in accordance with ISO 9806-1. In this
standard, the time constant s of the collector is defined as the time
taken for the collector outlet temperature to increase by 63.2% of
the total increase from ðT f ;o;s  T a Þ0 to ðT f ;o;s  T a Þ1 following the
step increase in solar irradiance at time 0. The testing process is
described as follows:

Fig. 12. Curve of the experimental and numerical instantaneous efficiencies of the (1) Solar radiation on the surface of the collector should be
MHPA FP SAC.
greater than 800 W/m2.
(2) The heat transfer fluid should be circulated through the col-
MHPA-SAC air duct, the heat exchange ability declined as the heat lector at the same flow rate as that used during the collector
transfer temperature difference decreased because of the increase thermal efficiency tests.
in air flow temperature. Thus, the simulation results are higher
than the experimental results. Comparing the experimental and
simulation results (Fig. 12), we obtained a maximum error of
8.91% for g. This finding suggested that the numerical simulation τ
and experimental results are basically matched. Therefore, this 0.9
model is designed correctly.
τ =750 S
time constant τ

4.2. Time constant 0.6

T f ,o ,τ −Ta
τ= =0.632
The time constant of the solar air collector should be deter- T f ,o , ∞ −Ta

mined to evaluate the transient behavior of the collector. The gov-

0.3
erning equation for the transient behavior of a solar collector is
expressed as follows [19]:
KcA τ
s¼ ð12Þ 0.0
GcP
0 300 600 900 1200
dT f dT f ;e time/s
¼K ð13Þ
ds dt
Fig. 13. Time constant curve of the new collector.
12 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16

(3) The aperture of the collector should be protected from solar 1000 250
radiation by using a solar-reflecting cover, and the tempera- 900
I 245
Ti
ture of the heat transfer fluid at the collector inlet should be To 240
800
set at approximately equal to ambient air temperature. The 235
3
cover should be removed when a steady state is reached. 700 2015/9/12-290m /h eff

230
Measurements should be performed until steady-state con- 600 225

t(
ditions are obtained again. For the purpose of this test, a Fluctuation point
500 220

I
steady-state condition is assumed to exist when the outlet

)
temperature of the fluid varies by less than 0.05 °C per 400 69.7% 80
minute.
300 60
(4) The collector time constant is the time needed from 0 to 62%
0:632½ðT f ;o;s  T a Þ1  ðT f ;o;s  T a Þ0 , where, T f ;o;t is the tem- 200 40

perature of air leaving the collector at a specified time and 100 20

T a is the ambient temperature. At the beginning of the spec- 0 0
ified period, the temperature of the air leaving the collector 10:19 11:19 12:19 13:19 14:19 15:19 16:19
is equal to ambient temperature [28]. Fig. 13 illustrates the time
change in the time constant curve of the collector. The time
Fig. 15. Inlet/outlet temperature and thermal efficiency versus time on September
constant of the collector is about 12.5 min at an air volume
12, 2015.
flow rate of 290 m3/h.

4.3. The instantaneous experimental results and discussions of MHPA- 120 3

2015/9/12-290m /h T101
SAC 110 T102
T103
100 T104
The experimental data were recorded under different operating
90 T105
working conditions. This section presents the test results of the T106
collector and the comparisons between different operating condi- 80 T107
T108
tions. The experiments were performed with clear sky conditions 70 T109
since April 14th, 2015. The SAC was oriented towards the south, Tg
T/

60 Ta
and the angle between the collector and horizontal line was chosen
50
to be 45°. Figs. 14 to 19 show the respective operating conditions
and experimental results with two air volume flow rates (290 40
and 240 m3/h) on different days. 30
The experimental results at an air volume flow rate of 290 m3/h 20
on September 2, 2015 are presented in Fig. 14. The solar radiation
10
during the test (9:30–17:00) was between 174 and 905 W/m2, the 10:19 11:19 12:19 13:19 14:19 15:19 16:19
inlet temperature fluctuated between 28.7 °C and 37.2 °C, the out- Time
let temperature ranged between 33.9 °C and 46.5 °C, the solar radi-
ation peak was observed at 12:47, and the outlet temperature Fig. 16. Different temperature testing points on the absorber versus time.

reached its peak at 13:02. These findings can be attributed to the

thermal inertia of the solar collector. In the curve of Fig. 14, the
120
solar radiation fluctuated between 13:05 and 14:05, which caused
110 3 T110
the sudden fluctuation of the efficiency and revealed that efficiency 2015/9/12-290m /h T111
significantly depends on solar radiation. The fluctuations in the 100 T112
meteorological parameters contributed to the scatter in the exper- 90 T113
Td
iment results. After 10:00, the thermal efficiency curve became 80 Tfin
stable and didn’t change obviously, and the average thermal effi-
70
60
T/

1000 250 50
I
900 Ti 245
40
To 240
800 η 30
235
3
700 2015/9/02-290m /h 20
230
600 225 10
t (°C)

10:19 11:19 12:19 13:19 14:19 15:19 16:19

500 220
I

Fluctuation point Time

400 80
69% Fig. 17. Different temperature testing points on the MHPA versus time.
300 60

200 40
ciency is 69% approximately. When the solar radiation dropped
100 ΔΤ=8.5 20 below 500 W/m2, the efficiency inversely increased after 15:30,
0 0 which can be attributed to the thermal capacity of the collector
10:25 11:25 12:25 13:25 14:25 15:25 16:25 components.
time
To compare and show the performance of the collector in
Fig. 14. Inlet/outlet temperature and thermal efficiency versus time on September greater detail, another set of data are presented with the same vol-
2, 2015. ume flow rate. Figs. 15 to 17 show the testing data on September
 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16 13

900 16:19, the glass cover temperature (Tg) is lower than the ambient
Fluctuation point
I
280 temperature (Ta); a possible reason for this trend is radiation loss.
800
Ti The changes in different temperature testing points in the back
To 270
700
η
portion of the collector and the points in the air duct are shown in
600 3
Fig. 17. T110–T113 illustrate the curves of the MHPA evaporator
2015/9/03-240m /h 260
section temperature versus time. The value of T110 is very similar

t(
500 to T111 because these two points are on the same MHPA (No. 1),
250
and the difference within evaporator section is less than 1.1 °C.
I

); η%
400 90
75
The value of T112 is also very close to that of T113, which are on
300 67%
60
another evaporator section of the MHPA (No. 2), and the difference
200 45 within this evaporator section is less than 1.6 °C. However, the
30 temperature difference between Nos. 1 and 2 in the evaporator
ΔΤ=9.8
100
15 section of MHPA is approximately 12 °C, which is attributed to
0 0 the No. 2 MHPA located at the upstream of the air duct. The tem-
10:50 12:30 14:10 15:50 perature difference between the air flow and fins of the No. 2
time
MHPA is higher than that of No. 1 when the air flows by the fins.
Fig. 18. Inlet/outlet temperature and the thermal efficiency versus time on Thus, the evaporator section temperature of No. 2 is relatively
September 3, 2015. lower than that of No. 1.
Figs. 18 and 19 show the variation of the solar radiation and the
inlet and outlet temperature in terms of the collection efficiency
900 135 versus time with an air flow volume rate of 240 m3/h on typical
I
Ti 120 different days. Figs. 18 and 19 reveal that the average thermal effi-
800
To ciency is approximately 67% at a flow rate of 240 m3/h (0.044 kg/
m2 s). The effective or thermohydraulic efficiency of the collector
3
700 2015/9/23-240m /h η 105
ηeff
90 can reach 59.2%. Compared with the result in Figs. 14 and 15, the
600
average efficiency is slightly decreased under the same weather
t(

500 75 conditions. This change is caused by the decreased air flow rate.
66.8%
); η%
I

400
59.2%
300
200
100
0 0
9:43 10:43 11:43 12:43 13:43 14:43 15:43 16:43
time
Fig. 19. Inlet/outlet temperature and thermal efficiency versus time on September
23, 2015.
12, 2015 (290 m3/h). These figures present the data of a minute-
long interval that can clearly demonstrate the thermal behavior
of the new MHPA collector. As shown in Fig. 15, all of the solar
radiation values before 15:00 were greater than 600 W/m2; the
efficiency curve is relatively stable and the average value of the
thermal efficiency is 69.7%. In this period, the difference between
the inlet and outlet temperatures can reach 9.1 °C at the maximum
air volume flow rates of the four different flow rates in the exper-
iments (80, 160, 240, and 290 m3/h). The effective or thermohy-
draulic efficiency reached 62% under this working condition at an
air flow rate of 290 m3/h (0.054 kg/m2 s).
The changes in the different temperature testing points in the
front portion of the collector are shown in Fig. 16. T101–T109 pre-
sent the curves of the absorber temperature versus time. The max-
imum value of the absorber is 110.3 °C at 12:15, and the glass
cover temperature reached 47.5 °C. The temperature difference
between the glass cover temperature (Tg) and ambient tempera-
ture (Ta) can reach 21.3 °C during the testing period. Combined
with the abovementioned thermal analysis of heat transfer, the
heat loss through the glass cover occupies the largest proportion
when the temperature of the glass cover is particularly high. The
heat transfer between the glass cover and the ambient air was
enhanced, with a high temperature difference of 21.3 °C, which
led to the high heat loss. Therefore, the efficiency curve is probably
stable when the solar radiation is continuously increased. After
60
A high flow rate can generally give rise to a high Reynolds number,
and the convective heat transfer between air and the fins can be
45 enhanced. When the flow rate decreased, the temperature differ-
30
ence between inlet and outlet usually increases.
A typical efficiency curve obtained from the experiment results
15 and its comparison with different weather conditions at a flow rate
of 80 m3/h is shown in Fig. 20. The inlet temperature range was
22.1–29.1 °C and 24.2–33.5 °C on May 5 and April 30, 2015, respec-
tively. Given the low air flow rate (80 m3/h), the heat transfer
between the airflow and the fins is weakened; thus, the outlet tem-
perature can reach 52 °C, and the thermal loss increased under this
condition. The efficiency at this air volume flow rate is relatively
lower than at other air volume flow rates. The comparison of differ-
ent working conditions indicated that the thermal efficiency of the
collector decreases as solar radiation is reduced.
The resulting properties of the new MHPA SAC with four differ-
ent air flow rates are shown in Fig. 21. Under the given operating
conditions, the solar radiation, air volume flow rate, and the
weather conditions were comprehensive factors that influenced
the thermal properties of the collector. Under the same weather
conditions, the air volume flow rate is the primary parameter that
affects the efficiency. As indicated in Fig. 21, heat transfer enhance-
ment can be achieved with a high volume flow rate. The highest
efficiency (69%) was achieved with the highest flow rate (290 m3/
h). When the air volume flow rate decreased, the efficiency obvi-
ously decreased. Given the four air volume flow rates (80, 160,
240, and 290 m3/h), the efficiency values were 38.5%, 53.3%,
64.9%, and 68.4% on May 18, 26, 25, and 23, 2015, respectively.
Fig. 22 illustrates the effective efficiency of the collector with four
different flow rates corresponding to those in Fig. 21. At 80, 160,
240, and 290 m3/h, the effective efficiency values were 31.1%,
45.2%, 56.6%, and 60.2% in the stable stage, respectively. Figs. 21
and 22 reveal that the effective efficiency increased as the air vol-
ume flow rate increase under the same solar radiation. At 80 m3/h,
the efficiency and effective efficiency of the collector are less than
those under other working conditions at a high air volume flow
rate. This finding is attributed to the weakening of the heat
exchange condition between the fins and the air when the air flow
rate is low.
14 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16

Ti η Ti η
900 To I 900 To I

750 750

600 600

450 450

300 300

90 90
75 75
3 3
60 2015/5/03-80m /h 60 2015/4/30-80m /h
45 45
30 30
15 15
0 0
10:39 12:19 13:59 15:39 10:39 12:19 13:59 15:39
time of day time of day

Fig. 20. Solar radiation and thermal efficiency versus time with low air flow rate (80 m3/h).

3
May.18th-80m /h I-May.18th 150
900 3
May.25th-160m /h I-May.25th
0.8
3 I-May.26th
May.26th-240m /h 135
3 I-May.23rd
800 May.23rd-290m /h η May.18th 0.7
η May.25th 120
η May.26th
700 η May.23rd 0.6
105

600 90 0.5
η /%
I

75 0.4
500
60 3
400 0.3 290 m /h
45 3
240 m /h
300
0.2 3
30 160 m /h
3
0.1 80 m /h
200 15

10:19 11:19 12:19 13:19 14:19 15:19 16:19 0.0

550 600 650 700 750 800
time I
Fig. 21. Solar radiation and thermal efficiency versus time with different air flow Fig. 23. Solar radiation and thermal efficiency versus time with low air flow rate at
rates. different air flow rates.

tively stable stage for different groups of data. As shown in

120 ηeff 290m3/h -May.23rd
Fig. 23, the efficiency varied as the solar radiation intensity fluctu-
ηeff 240m3/h-May.26th
ated under different air flow rates. The efficiency gradually
100 ηeff 160m3/h-May.25th
ηeff 80m3/h-May.18th
80
ηeff /%

0.7
60

0.6
40

0.5
20
η

0.4
0

10:19 11:19 12:19 13:19 14:19 15:19 16:19 0.3

time
0.2 The double pass v-corrugated plate SAC
The double pass flat plate SAC
Fig. 22. Effective thermal efficiency versus time with different air flow rates.
The MHPA-flat plate SAC
0.1

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

The variation in the thermal efficiency of the MHPA-based air 2
Mass flow rate(kg/s.m )
collector with solar radiation was plotted at various air flow rates
(Fig. 23). These data were collected before noon, which is a rela- Fig. 24. Thermal efficiency as a function of air mass flow rate.
 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16
increased as the radiation intensity increased. Simultaneously, the
collection efficiency of the collector increased as the air flow rate
increased. At 290 m3/h, the highest collection efficiency was
achieved. The increased collection efficiency was less evident than
that at 240 m3/h. At the minimum air flow rate of 80 m3/h, the effi-
ciency of the collector was low, and the heat transfer between the
air and the air duct fin was inadequate. The efficiency was stable
when the solar radiation intensity was greater than 700 W/m2
because the temperature of the absorber board surface increased
as solar radiation increased. As a result, the temperature of the
glass cover increased and the convective heat loss between the
glass cover and ambient air increased. Thus, the increase in effi-
ciency was not evident. The efficiency of the MHPA flat-plate SAC
was 12% higher than that of the double-pass SAC [29]. At a mass
flow rate of greater than 0.035 kg/s m2, the efficiency of the MHPA
flat-plate SAC was higher than that of the double pass V-corrugated
SAC [29], as shown in Fig. 24.
4.4. Friction factor
The air duct section of the collector is 200 mm high, 100 mm
wide, and 2500 mm long. The duct height to width ratio is W/
H = 2, and the air duct hydraulic de is 2WH/(W + H) = 0.133 m.
The pressure loss can be represented as:
l qv 2
DP ¼ f  
d 2
The actual tests revealed that the pressure loss of the air inside
air duct under the four flow rates of 290, 240, 160, and 80 m3/h
were 10.4, 7.0, 4.2, and 2.4 Pa, respectively. The available frictional
resistance coefficient of air flow (f) is:
d 2
f ¼ DP  
l qv 2
d 2
f ¼ DP  
l q  ½Q =3600A2
The four volume flow rates of air were 290, 240, 160, and 80 m3/
h, with a Reynolds number (Re ¼ qQd=l) of 36,216, 30,015, 19,950,
and 9975, respectively. The corresponding relationship of the fric-
tional coefficient and Re is shown in Fig. 25. The figure shows that
the friction resistance coefficient declined with the increasing Re.
In the present study, the collector described in a previous study
[30] was selected to compare the pressure drop, which involves a
0.20
0.15
f
0.10
0.05
0.00
8000 16000 24000 32000
Reynolds number
Fig. 25. Corresponding relationship between frictional coefficient and Reynolds
number.
15
120
100
80
ΔP Pa
60
40
Pressure drop of SAC in Ref.(Romdhane, 2007)
Pressure drop of MHPA-flat plat SAC
20
0
20 40 60 80 100 120
3 2
Air flow rate (m /h/m )
Fig. 26. Pressure drop as a function of the air flow rate.
similar air volume flow rate range with that of the MHPA-flat plat
SAC investigated in our study. The pressure drop (Fig. 26) was
much smaller than that of the collector described in a previous
study [30].
The new MHPA-flat plat SAC with the prefabricated structure,
ð14Þ which can be easily processed mainly with collecting units and
the basic blocks (glass cover and air duct). Thus, the collector has
a simple structure with modularity, and easy to fabricated. If using
it in the room heating system to provide warm air, which can
achieve modularity design in the actual utilization of the rural
countryside. Besides, the MHPA as a kind of patented products
has achieved mass production and commercialization, which with
ð15Þ
the characteristics of low cost. In the popularization and applica-
tion process, the new solar air collector will be a favorable one.
ð16Þ 5. Conclusions
The proposed SAC separated the heat exchange of air from heat
collection and heat transmission. The unique structure improved
the performance of the collector and reduced the air flow resis-
tance. The high-efficiency heat conductivity component MHPA
was applied to the flat-plate air collector, and the combination of
MHPA and the absorber film played a vital role. The structure of
the collector with the external air duct form can reduce the flow
resistance.
(1) MHPA can be used to separate the heat collecting and trans-
fer section from the air ventilation heat exchange section.
f Thus, the heat exchange of air is separated from heat collec-
tion and heat transmission. A combination of the absorber
and MHPA replaces traditional absorbers to avoid an uneven
heat exchange. The unique structure greatly improved the
performance of the collector. The increased heat transfer
area and enhanced absorption contributed to the increased
efficiency of the new collector.
(2) Experimental results showed that the efficiency of the MHPA
flat-plate SAC is 69% at a flow rate of 0.054 kg/m2s and the
effective (thermo-hydraulic) efficiency can reach 62%. The
temperature difference in the evaporator section is less than
1.1 °C under the given experimental condition. The time
constant of the collector is about 12.5 min at an air volume
40000
flow rate of 290 m3/h. The pressure drop is less than
10.4 Pa when the flow rate is less than 290 m3/h. Our study
revealed that the frictional coefficient ranges from 0.05 to
0.18 in the testing range of the air volume flow rate.
16 T. Zhu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 118 (2017) 1–16
(3) The experimental F R ðsaÞe is 0.705 and F R U L is 6.474. The
simulated F R ðsaÞe is 0.685 and F R U L is 5.645. The heat trans-
fer condition of the individual collecting unit is more effi-
cient than the entire heat transfer condition.
(4) Heat loss through the glass cover accounts for the largest
proportion of the total heat loss of the collector. In the test-
ing period, the thermal efficiency increases but fails to
increase as the intensity of solar radiation increases because
of the increased heat loss. Hence, the effect of the different
variables on the collector efficiency and the characteristic
parameters of the solar collector must be considered.
Acknowledgements
The project was financially supported by the National Key Tech-
nology Research and Development Program of the Ministry of
Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2012BAA13B02) And
Scientific Research Project of Beijing Educational Committee (Grant
No. 004000546315527). The authors are grateful for the support of
these sponsors.
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