With the recent advances in the economic and industrial sectors in India, the energy demand has been reaching its peak. The conventional methods of power generation using fossil fuels are not only adequate, but also leading to environmental pollution. The predominance of fossil fuels in Indian electric power generation leads to 40 percent contribution to the total carbon emissions cite{Ghosh02}. So in order to suffice the growing energy demand with minimal emission of the greenhouse gas (GHG), alternative renewable energy technologies are the optimal choice cite{Garg12,Teddy12}. As they are pollution-free and naturally available, better standard of life is possible by switching to them. Among the various renewable resources, solar energy is
…show more content…
Because of its geographical location, India is gifted with an annual solar radiation of 5000 TWh. Utilization of a small fraction of this energy could resolve the energy demand in India. It is observed that low and moderate temperature thermal applications are consuming a significant portion of energy, which is about 40-50 \% of the total thermal energy utilized in most of the commercial and industrial sectors in India. Solar thermal technologies are the most suitable option to replace the conventional power source for operating most of these heating and drying applications cite{Garg12,Tiwari02}. Solar air heater (SAH) is one of the promising solar thermal technologies. Other added benefits of SAH are simpler in design, easy to install and cheaper to operate cite{Tiwari02, MNRE,Duffie13}. Unlike solar photovoltaics, the SAHs produce heated air directly from solar radiation with no complex energy …show more content…
Sodha et al. cite{sodha1984investigations} experimented a SAH with glazed and blackened rectangular metallic tray filled with water. The air was allowed to pass underside of this tray, exchanging heat stored. It yielded an outlet temperature ranged from 33degree C to 61degree C. Bhargawa et al.cite{bhargava1985investigation} theoretically and experimentally investigated a double glazed SAH in series with rock bed collector cum storage unit. The outlet air temperature of the heater reached up to 46degree C. Sharma et al.cite{sharma1991thermal} presented the experimental results of a double pass, FP-SAH with packed bed (blackened wire screen matrices) collector. As a result, the system efficiency was increased up to 61\%. Chauhan et al.cite{chauhan1996comparative} conducted a comparison analysis of performance of a coriander drier coupled to SAH and SAH cum rock bed storage. The drier with rock bed storage showed better efficiency with decrease in drying rate. Enein et al.cite{aboul2000parametric} experimentally compared the performance of a single pass, FP-SAH with three different storage material, such as sand, granite and water. The system performed better when using sand compared to granite and water. El-Sebaii et al.cite{el2007year} conducted a study on a double glass, double pass SAH with limestone and gravel mixture as packed bed sensible thermal storage. The thermal
Because of its geographical location, India is gifted with an annual solar radiation of 5000 TWh. Utilization of a small fraction of this energy could resolve the energy demand in India. It is observed that low and moderate temperature thermal applications are consuming a significant portion of energy, which is about 40-50 \% of the total thermal energy utilized in most of the commercial and industrial sectors in India. Solar thermal technologies are the most suitable option to replace the conventional power source for operating most of these heating and drying applications cite{Garg12,Tiwari02}. Solar air heater (SAH) is one of the promising solar thermal technologies. Other added benefits of SAH are simpler in design, easy to install and cheaper to operate cite{Tiwari02, MNRE,Duffie13}. Unlike solar photovoltaics, the SAHs produce heated air directly from solar radiation with no complex energy …show more content…
Sodha et al. cite{sodha1984investigations} experimented a SAH with glazed and blackened rectangular metallic tray filled with water. The air was allowed to pass underside of this tray, exchanging heat stored. It yielded an outlet temperature ranged from 33degree C to 61degree C. Bhargawa et al.cite{bhargava1985investigation} theoretically and experimentally investigated a double glazed SAH in series with rock bed collector cum storage unit. The outlet air temperature of the heater reached up to 46degree C. Sharma et al.cite{sharma1991thermal} presented the experimental results of a double pass, FP-SAH with packed bed (blackened wire screen matrices) collector. As a result, the system efficiency was increased up to 61\%. Chauhan et al.cite{chauhan1996comparative} conducted a comparison analysis of performance of a coriander drier coupled to SAH and SAH cum rock bed storage. The drier with rock bed storage showed better efficiency with decrease in drying rate. Enein et al.cite{aboul2000parametric} experimentally compared the performance of a single pass, FP-SAH with three different storage material, such as sand, granite and water. The system performed better when using sand compared to granite and water. El-Sebaii et al.cite{el2007year} conducted a study on a double glass, double pass SAH with limestone and gravel mixture as packed bed sensible thermal storage. The thermal