Title: Thermal performance modelling of solar collector with heat storage

Authors: Guy Bertrand Tchaya; Martin Kamta; Michel Havet; César Kapseu

Addresses: Renewable Energy Department, Higher Institute of the Sahel, The University of Maroua, P.O Box 46, Cameroon ' Electric Department, University Institut of Technologie, University of Ngaoundéré, P.O Box 455, Ngaoundéré, Cameroon ' Department of Food Process Engineering, ONIRIS, UMR CNRS GEPEA, Géraudière, Street, CS 82225, 44322 NANTES Cedex 03, France ' ENSAI, Department of Process Engineering, University of Ngaoundéré, P.O Box 455, Ngaoundéré, Cameroon

Abstract: Solar drying is used to reduce post-harvest losses. An indirect solar dryer with oriented air is presented. It provides the ability to store energy. This work predicts the outlet temperature at the collector in the single-face and bifacial modes of collector. The heat balance applied to each element is determined taking into account the temporal term which characterises storage in the material. The simulation is done using Matlab software. Both models of the collector are validated by comparing the experimental and theoretical curves. The results show that the two curves of outlet temperatures have the same profile when the global heat transfer coefficient loss is 2.94 W.m⁻².K⁻¹, the contact resistance between the absorber and the insulator is 0.025 W⁻¹.m².K and the velocity is 0.2 m.s⁻¹. The contact resistance has a significant influence on the outlet air temperature but not accessible for controlling temperature compared to the velocity.

Keywords: indirect solar dryers; solar collectors; heat transfer; mathematical modelling; thermal performance; modelling; heat storage; post-harvest losses; energy storage; outlet temperature; contact resistance; velocity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESMS.2017.081748

International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation, 2017 Vol.9 No.1, pp.53 - 62

Received: 29 Sep 2015
Accepted: 05 Jun 2016
Published online: 24 Jan 2017 *

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