TY - JOUR
T1 - Systematic review of solar air collector technologies
T2 - Performance evaluation, structure design and application analysis
AU - Zhang, Ji
AU - Zhu, Tingting
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation Programs of China (Grant No. 51906177) and the Tianjin Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 18JCQNJC77400). The authors are thankful to Technical University of Denmark for providing the publication access. We acknowledge the journal publishers for providing permission to reuse the images.
Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation Programs of China (Grant No. 51906177 ) and the Tianjin Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 18JCQNJC77400 ). The authors are thankful to Technical University of Denmark for providing the publication access. We acknowledge the journal publishers for providing permission to reuse the images.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - A solar air collector (SAC) is a main device of a solar-thermal air system, which can absorb solar radiation and transfer the absorbed thermal energy to the air. This paper presents a systematic review of three basic types of SAC, namely, the flat-plate SAC (FPSAC), the evacuated tube SAC (EVTSAC), and the concentrated SAC. High efficiency, low heat loss and simple structure have always been the goals of SACs development and research. Enhancement methods applied in the SACs, including enhanced-surface technology, absorber materials, airflow reorganization, internal heat transfer component and integrated systems of energy storage and PV/T, are reviewed. Performance comparisons among the different SACs of each type are conducted. The analysis indicates that the FPSACs, with the groove absorber and half conical, enable a performance evaluation criterion of about 2. An evacuated tube SAC with micro-heat pipe arrays can provide a thermal efficiency up to 73 %. Among the concentrated SACs, the linear concentrating SAC with an open Brayton cycle can achieve a highest outlettemperature of 350 ◦C, corresponding to 75% thermal efficiency. It is recommended to consider the use of high-efficiency heat transfer component in the optimal design of SACs. Some suggestions for future research are proposed.
AB - A solar air collector (SAC) is a main device of a solar-thermal air system, which can absorb solar radiation and transfer the absorbed thermal energy to the air. This paper presents a systematic review of three basic types of SAC, namely, the flat-plate SAC (FPSAC), the evacuated tube SAC (EVTSAC), and the concentrated SAC. High efficiency, low heat loss and simple structure have always been the goals of SACs development and research. Enhancement methods applied in the SACs, including enhanced-surface technology, absorber materials, airflow reorganization, internal heat transfer component and integrated systems of energy storage and PV/T, are reviewed. Performance comparisons among the different SACs of each type are conducted. The analysis indicates that the FPSACs, with the groove absorber and half conical, enable a performance evaluation criterion of about 2. An evacuated tube SAC with micro-heat pipe arrays can provide a thermal efficiency up to 73 %. Among the concentrated SACs, the linear concentrating SAC with an open Brayton cycle can achieve a highest outlettemperature of 350 ◦C, corresponding to 75% thermal efficiency. It is recommended to consider the use of high-efficiency heat transfer component in the optimal design of SACs. Some suggestions for future research are proposed.
KW - UT-Hybrid-D
U2 - 10.1016/j.seta.2022.102885
DO - 10.1016/j.seta.2022.102885
M3 - Article
SN - 2213-1388
VL - 54
JO - Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments
JF - Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments
M1 - 102885
ER -