Solar air heaters (SAHs) form the foremost component of solar energy utilization system. These air heaters absorb the irradiance and convert it into thermal energy at the absorbing surface and then transfer this energy to a fluid flowing through the collector. SAHs are inexpensive and most used...

An indirect type natural convection locally made solar dryer, consisting of a flat-plate solar air heater connected to a drying chamber, has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The system is used for drying fruits and vegetables such as seedless grapes, figs, green peas, tomatoes...

The possibility of cooking during off-sunshine hours using phase change materials (PCMs) as storage media has been investigated experimentally. For this purpose, two concentric cylindrical vessels were constructed with 2-cm gaps. This gap was filled with stearic acid or magnesium nitrate...

A transient mathematical model was presented for a single pass flat plate solar air heater. This model was based on an analytical solution of the energy balance equations for various elements of the heater. The flowing air temperature was assumed to vary only in the flow direction. The thermal...

We have designed and constructed a box-type solar cooker with multi-step inner reflectors. The inner reflectors were arranged in a three-step fashion to create different angles with respect to the horizontal. A transient mathematical model is presented for the cooker. It is based on an...

A transient mathematical model is presented for a box-type solar cooker with a one-step outer reflector hinged at the top of the cooker. It is based on analytical solution of the energy-balance equations using Cramer's rule for different elements of the cooker. The various heat-transfer...

The thermal performance of a double-glass double-pass solar air heater with a packed bed (DPSAHPB) above the heater absorber plate was investigated experimentally and theoretically. Suitable computer program was developed for the analytical solution of the energy-balance equations for the...

In this paper, the double pass flat and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Analytical models for the air heater with flat and v-corrugated plates are presented. Numerical calculations have been performed under Tanta (latitude, 30° 47′ N)...

A box-type solar cooker with one (Model I) or four (Model II) cooking pots was constructed and tested under Tanta prevailing weather conditions. Experiments were performed during July 2002 using the cooker with or without load. The obtained results were employed to calculate the two figures of...

A transient analytical model is presented for a flat-plate solar air heater with and without thermal storage. The flowing air temperature is assumed to vary with time and space coordinates. Analytical expressions are obtained for various temperatures of the air heater elements as well as for the...