Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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

Review on solar air heating system with and without thermal energy storage
system
V.V. Tyagi a, , N.L. Panwar b , N.A. Rahim a , Richa Kothari c
a
Centre of Research UMPEDAC, Level 4, Engineering Tower, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
b
Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001, India
c
School of Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, U.P. 226025, India

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

Article history: In order to produce process heat for drying of agricultural, textile, marine products, heating of buildings
Received 8 April 2011 and re-generating dehumidify agent, solar energy is one of the promising heat sources for meeting energy
Accepted 18 December 2011 demand without putting adverse impact of environment. Hence it plays a key role for sustainable devel-
Available online 21 February 2012
opment. Solar energy is intermittent in nature and time dependent energy source. Owing to this nature,
PCMs based thermal energy storage system can achieve the more popularity for solar energy based heat-
Keywords:
ing systems. The recent researches focused on the phase change materials (PCMs), as latent heat storage
Solar air heater
is more efcient than sensible heat storage. In this paper an attempt has been made to present holistic
Thermal energy storage
PV/T air heater
view of available solar air heater for different applications and their performance.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2289
2. Classication of air heaters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2290
3. Thermal performance of solar air heater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2290
3.1. Energy analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2290
4. Exergy analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2290
4.1. Solar air heaters without thermal energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2291
4.2. Solar air heater with thermal energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2295
5. Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar air heater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2300
6. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2302
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2302

1. Introduction

The continuous increasing pressure of energy demand, the and industrialization. The growth of world population coupled with
degradation of environment through greenhouse gas emissions rising material needs has escalated the rate of energy usage. Rapid
and the rise in fuel prices are the main driving forces behind the increase in energy usage characteristic of the past 50100 years
efforts for more effectively utilizing various sources of renewable cannot continue indenitely as nite energy resources of earth are
energy. Renewable technologies are considered as clean energy exhaustible [1]. Therefore, there is a need to explore the renewable
sources and optimal use of these resources minimizes environmen- energy sources to meet out the energy demand in present context
tal impacts and produces minimum secondary wastes, and such [2]. Solar energy is the one most abundant renewable energy source
resources are sustainable based on current and future economic and emits energy at a rate of 3.8 1023 kW, of which, approximately
and social societal needs. Energy in various forms has been playing 1.8 1014 kW is intercepted by the earth [3]. The primary forms of
an increasingly important role in worldwide economic progress solar energy are heat and light. Sunlight and heat are transformed
and absorbed by the environment in a multitude of ways [4].
One of the most potential applications of solar energy is the
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9313045738. supply of hot air for the drying of agricultural, textile, marine prod-
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (V.V. Tyagi), ucts, heating of buildings to maintain a comfortable environment
[email protected] (N.L. Panwar). especially in the winter season [5] and re-generating dehumidify

1364-0321/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.rser.2011.12.005
2290 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303

different air heating system with and without storage systems and
Nomenclature its potential applications are presented.

A surface area of absorber plate (m2 )

2. Classication of air heaters
Cp specic heat of air (J/kg K)
CPo specic heat of air at the outlet (J/kg K)
Solar air heater is a device in which energy transfer is from
CPi input specic heat of air (J/kg K)
a distant source of radiant energy to air. Solar air heaters can be
Ec exergy received by collector (W)
used for many purposes, including crop drying, space heating, and
Ef exergy received by uid (W)
for re-generating dehumidifying agents [810]. It is a difcult task
Ho output enthalpy (kJ)
to classify solar air heaters in proper manner. There are numbers
Hi input enthalpy (kJ)
of congurations and many of which are empirical constructions.
h0 output specic enthalpy (kJ/kg)
They can be classied on the basis of mode such as active, hybrid
hi input specic enthalpy (kJ/kg)
and passive. A comprehensive review on various designs, construc-
h heat transfer coefcient (W/m2 K)
tion and operation principles of a wide variety of solar air heater
I intensity of solar radiation (W/m2 )
for drying is given by Ekechukwu and Norton [11]. Here we are
k thermal conductivity of air (W/m K)
trying to classify the solar heater on the basis of energy storage,
L length of test section of duct or long way length of
numbers of covers, extended surface and their tracking axis and it
mesh
is presented in Fig. 1. Hot air is generated at different places and
m mass ow rate (kg/s)
direct it to end use in the active solar air heating systems but it can
Qu useful heat gain (W)
be more expensive to construct in comparison of passive systems.
Qc energy incident on the dryer/evacuated tube (W)
Simultaneously, active solar air heating systems are easier to design
qu useful heat ux (W/m2 )
because of their forced air operation. Energy storage materials are
si input entropy (J/kg K)
widely used in active type solar air heater to supply hot air during
S0 output entropy (J/kg K)
off sunshine hours. Passive air heaters are generally regarded and
Ta ambient temperature (K)
used as daytime heaters.
Ti inlet temperature (K)
T0 outlet temperature (K)
3. Thermal performance of solar air heater
TS temperature of source (K)
Tpm mean plate temperature (K)
3.1. Energy analysis
Tam mean air temperature (K)
UL overall heat loss coefcient (W/m2 K)
Heat and energy transfer phenomenon with in air heater is illus-
trated in Fig. 2. The brief analysis of thermal performance of such
Greek letters
system is described by Grag and Prakash [12].
I rst law efciency of the collector system
Thermal performance of solar air heater can be computed with
II second law efciency of the system
the help of HottelWhillierBliss equation reported by Dufe and
absorptance of inner surface of evacuated tube col-
Beckman [13].
lector
 transmittance of the collector tube Qu = AC FR [I()e UL (Ti Ta )]

or
Qu
agent. Unlike other sources of energy, solar energy can play a sig- qu = = FR [I()e UL (Ti Ta )]
nicant role for air heating system because the warm air is also the AC
nal receiver of energy. This energy possesses a thermal conversion The rate of valuable energy gain by owing air in the course of
mode which necessitates a simple technology which is adapted to duct of a solar air heater can be intended as follows:
the site and to the particular region for many applications. All these
systems are based on the solar air collectors. Solar energy collec- Qu = mCp (To Ti ) = hAC (Tpm Tam )
tors are employed to gain useful heat energy from incident solar The value of heat transfer coefcient (h) can be increased by
radiation. They can be concentrating or at plate type [6]. Solar applying articial roughness on the on the surface of absorber plate.
air heater can be used in a wide variety of applications, but it is a Basically it represent in nondimensional form of Nusselt number
limited resource. (Nu) reported by Dufe and Beckman [13].
Solar energy is intermittent in nature and time dependent
energy source. Conversion of solar energy into thermal energy is the hL
Nu =
easiest and the most widely accepted method. Due to this nature, k
thermal energy storage system can play an important role in popu- Thermal efciency of solar air heater can be expressed by the
larization of the solar energy based systems. Thermal energy can be following equation:
stored as sensible heat, latent heat or chemical energy. Latent heat
qu
  T T 
i a
storage systems using phase change material (PCM) is a particu- th = = FR ()e UL
I I
larly attractive technique, since it provides a high energy storage
density and has the capacity to store heat as latent heat of fusion at
a constant temperature. Thermo-physical properties of the storage 4. Exergy analysis
material (PCMs) at this temperature are important in determining
the suitability of the material [7]. The recent researches focused on The rate at which exergy is collected by the solar collector can
the phase change materials based air heating systems, because it be increased by increasing the mass ow rate of the working uid.
has high energy storage density compared to sensible heat stor- Since, the collector is the most expensive component of solar air
age and suitability for optimum thermal performance of solar air heating system. Here we are considering in the case of evacuated
heater. In this present communication, a generous holistic view on tube collector for air heating. In order to reduce the capital cost, we
 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303 2291

Fig. 1. Classication of solar air heaters.

need to optimize the dryer area, as the fuel (sunlight) is free. Again, While the entropy difference has been calculated using the fol-
for large mass ow rates, the uid outlet temperature is very low lowing set of equations [1820]:
and requires more power to pump/blow air/uid through it. On
CPi = a + k Ti (9)
the other hand, low ow rate results in high outlet temperature
of the working uid with high specic work potential. But due to CPO = a + k TO (10)
the nature of entropy generation, exergy losses increase due to the
dq Cp dT
 dT  adT
temperature differences and hence, the optimum mass ow rate is ds = = = (a + bT ) = + kdT (11)
required. The exergy received by collector is given by [1420]: T T T T

  T  Using Eqs. (9) and (10), the values of constants a and k can be
a calculated and hence, the entropy difference thereafter using Eq.
Ec = QC 1 (5)
TS (11). The second law efciency of the system can be written as
[811,2325]:
The exergy received by uid is written as [811,2325]:
Ef m[(hO hi ) TO (sO si )]
II = = (12)
Ef = m(EO Ei ) = m[(hO hi ) Ta (sO si )] (6) EC QC (1 TO /TS )
and rst law efciency can be written as [19]:
The output specic enthalpy of the uid is given by [1820]:
m(hO hi )
I = (13)
ho = CPo TO (7) QC
 KJ 
The specic enthalpy of inlet air is given by [1820]: HO = m ho (14)
sec
 KJ 
hi = CPi Ti (8)
Hi = m hi (15)
sec
QC = 4AIs cos 45  (16)

where a and k are constants, I is the rst law efciency and II is
the second law efciency of the solar collectordryer system.

4.1. Solar air heaters without thermal energy storage

Various types of solar air-heaters are being used for different

applications; among them at-plate collectors are extensively used
in low-temperature solar energy, because they are relatively sim-
ple, easy to operate and have low capital costs [21]. Solar air heaters
have many attractive advantages over liquid heaters regarding the
problems of corrosion, boiling, freezing and leaks [22]. Solar air
heater without thermal storage is extensively used for drying agri-
culture products. Basically most of the agriculture products are
getting dried at low temperature (5060 C) and this can be easily
achieved in at plate type solar air heater. Further hot air gener-
ated by air heater can be delivered by natural convection by force
Fig. 2. Conventional solar air heater. convection. Solar air heater with natural convection mode is found
2292 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303

Fig. 4. Variations of temperature rise and efciency of the collector with mass ow
rate for single and double glazings.

Fig. 3. Construction details of the test air heaters. has an optimum plate thickness (i.e. 0.05 m). (4) The glazing on the
top and insulation at the bottom has equal importance in porous
types of air heaters. Analytical and experimental studies have been
most suitable in rural area of developing and under developing carried out on the thermal performance of cross-corrugated solar
nations where electricity is either not available or available for short air-heaters for several congurations and operating conditions by
duration of time [23]. A widespread literature reviewed various Gao et al. [30]. Air heater used for this study consisted of a wave-like
types of solar air heater without thermal storage and presented in absorbing-plate and a wave-like bottom-plate, which are cross-
this section. wise positioned to form the air ow channel. Two types of heaters
A bare plate roof air heater was fabricated from corrugated alu- were considered. The type 1 heater has a wave-like shape of the
minum sheet roof in farm shed to provide hot air for agricultural absorbing plate, which is along the ow direction and that of the
use by Choudhury et al. [24] as shown in Fig. 3. The performance bottom plate is perpendicular to the ow direction as shown in
efciency of such a roof air heater is observed to be strongly inu- Fig. 5, while in the type 2 heater, it is the wave-like shape of the
enced by the design parameters of the system. It was reported that bottom plate as well as along the ow direction, and that of the
higher air temperature, lower air mass ow rate through air heater absorbing plate is perpendicular to the ow direction. The follow-
and longer air channel is desirable. The performance of the cylindri- ing conclusions were made: (1) The thermal performance of the
cal matrix type solar air heater with the effect of single and double type 2 heater is just slightly superior to that of the type 1 heater;
glazing was evaluated by Bansal and Singh [25]. It was noted that both these cross-corrugated solar air heaters have a signicantly
for high ow rates of the air, the efciency reaches a high value superior thermal performance to that of the at-plate one, with
up to 70% as shown in Fig. 4. It was also reported that, radial size the achievable efciencies of 58.9%, 60.3% and 48.6% for the type 1,
of the cylindrical matrix naturally alters the performance of the type 2 and at-plate solar air-heaters, respectively, under the typi-
system. The relevance of porous material in the erection of the cal congurations and operating conditions. (2) The use of selected
solar energy collectors is well known. The heat transfer in a porous coatings on the absorbing plates of all the heaters considered can
plate, subjected to solar radiation, is highly effective in both heat- substantially enhance the thermal performances of the heaters and
ing the working uid and improving the absorption characteristics therefore its use is strongly recommended in practical applications,
of the plate [26,27]. The experimental studies on two non-porous whereas such a selected coating is not recommended for the bot-
solar absorber solar air heaters with and without ns have been tom plates and the glass covers. (3) The experimental results also
reported by Indrajit et al. [28]. During experiments it was found support the conclusion that the use of the cross-corrugated wave-
that air heaters with ns are seen more efcient in comparison to like absorbing-plate and bottom-plate does signicantly improve
the air heater without ns for air ow rates 0.0388 kg/s/m2 . the thermal performance of a solar air heater.
Singh and Bansal [29] fabricated solar air heater from broken Bhargava and Rizzi [31] designed cost-effective solar air heaters,
glass pieces and evaluated with four typical cases (i) top surface where a partial ow channel between two glazings increases the
blackened, (ii) all glass pieces blackened and (iii) bottom surface efciency of the system. Proposed design helps to eliminate the
blackened. The general conclusions drawn from the results are (1) need for insulation material, at least on the two sides of the space
The efciency of all three systems goes on increasing with increas- between two glazings. It was concluded that the upper glazing
ing mass ow rate. (2) Porous types of air heaters always give better should be as transparent as possible while the lower glazing should
performance over the nonporous types, since the bottom absorb- have higher absorptance. A solar air heater was designed, fabri-
ing type of air heater is better than the top absorbing type of air cated with locally available low-cost materials and its performance
heater. (3) For the case of non-porous types of air heating collec- was assessed in the perspective of an emerging/developing country
tors, the thin and thick absorbing plates are better for absorption with a huge energy demand like Bangladesh by Wazed et al. [32].
at the top and bottom, respectively, while a porous type air heater The air temperature obtained in the test room was noteworthy. In
 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303 2293

Fig. 5. Schematic description of the type 1 solar air heater (a) cross-section view perpendicular to the ow direction; (b) cross-section view along the ow direction; and (c)
schematic description of the cross-corrugated absorbing plate and bottom plate.

forced circulation, the maximum room temperature obtained was as shown in Fig. 6. It was concluded that the shorter length of the
45.5 C and the maximum difference from ambient was 12.25 C. channel of the order of 1.52.5 m is desirable to get higher ef-
In case of natural circulation, the maximum room temperature ciency. The depth of the channel in such an air heater should be
obtained was 41.75 C and the maximum difference from ambient as narrow as possible. A little advantage in heat gain was obtained
was 8.5 C. The room temperature is higher in forced circulation, when the depth of the upper and lower channels were equal. Thus,
because the total volume of air circulates for more times in this case. the absorber plate should be located at the center in the collector.
The difference between ambient and room temperatures was also Energy and exergy analysis of three different types of designed at-
higher. The efciency was also higher in case of forced circulation plate solar air heaters as shown in Fig. 7, two having ns (type II
than that of natural. and type III) and the other without ns (type I), one of the heater
A unique jet impingement concept to achieve higher heat trans- with a n had single glass cover (type III) and the others had double
fer from the absorber plate to the owing air stream with an glass covers (type I and type II) was carried out by Alta et al. [36].
intention to increase the amount of the collected energy, and The energy and exergy output rates of the solar air heaters were
hence, to improve the efciency of an air-based solar collector evaluated for various air ow rates (25, 50 and 100 m3 /m2 h), tilt
was introduce by Choudhury and Garg [33]. The gain in air tem- angle (0 , 15 and 30 ) and temperature conditions versus time.
perature increment and performance efciency of the jet concept Based on the energy and exergy output rates, heater with double
air heater (without cross ow) over that of a conventional par- glass covers and ns (type II) is more effective and the difference
allel plate air heater with channel length 2 m and depth 10 cm between the input and output air temperature is higher than of the
was 15.52.5 C and 26.519%, respectively, for air ow rates in others. Besides, it was found that the circulation time of air inside
the range 50250 kg/hm2 . The efciency of the jet plate air heater the heater played a role more important than of the number of
without cross ow remains insensitive to the change in duct length, transparent sheet. Lower air ow rates should be preferred in the
whereas with cross ow, an increase in length results in a decrease applications, in which temperature differences are more important.
in the system efciency. The pumping pressure in a solar air heat- Yeh and Ho [37] investigate theoretical efciency of solar air
ing system has signicant inuence on efciency through the heat heaters with external recycle as shown in Fig. 8. They found that
transfer coefcient. there are two major problems associated with the use of external-
On-farm crop drying is frequently essential to prevent mold recycle in solar air heaters. One is the desirable effect of increasing
growth and spoilage of mechanically harvested crops. Keeping this uid velocity to decrease the heat transfer resistance. The other is
in view suspended-plate solar air heaters were installed on farms the undesirable effect of decreasing the driving force (temperature
in Tennessee by Womac et al. [34] to supply heat for grain and difference) of heat transfer, due to the remixing at the inlet. They
crop drying. Designs included a wrap-around heater, a portable
heater and a multipurpose barn. The heaters were telemetrically
monitored to determine thermal performance and to allow subse-
quent analyses of economic feasibility. Thermal analysis of system
revealed that solar air heaters provide a suitable air temperature
rise during most crop drying conditions. The heaters operated with
average thermal efciencies in the range of 5070%. Economic anal-
yses indicated that solar air heaters are economically feasible if they
are used at least 2 months per year assuming not more than 14%
annual interest and at least 4% annual fuel ination. Similar type of
suspended plate solar air heater was studied by Pawar et al. [35] Fig. 6. A cross sectional view of developed air heater.
2294 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303

Fig. 9. Photograph of the solar air heater.

experimentally evaluated by Ozgen et al. [39]. The absorbing plate

of SHA was made of aluminum cans into the double-pass channel.
It substantially improves the collector efciency by increasing the
uid velocity and enhancing the heat-transfer coefcient between
the absorber plate and air. These types of collectors had been
designed as a proposal to use aluminum materials to build absorber
plates of SAHs at a suitable cost. During the study the collector was
covered with a 4-mm single glass plate, in order to reduce convec-
Fig. 7. Construction details of type I, type II and type III. tive loses to the atmosphere. Three different absorber plates were
designed and tested for experimental study. In the rst type (type I),
cans had been staggered as zigzag on absorber plate, while in type
reported that considerable improvement in collector efciency is II they were arranged in order. Type III is a at plate (without cans).
obtainable if the operation is carried out with an external recycle, Experiments were performed for air mass ow rates of 0.03 kg/s and
where the desirable effect overcomes the undesirable effect. The 0.05 kg/s. The highest efciency was obtained for type I at 0.05 kg/s.
enhancement increases with increasing reux ratio, especially for In similar manner other experiments on single and double pass
operating at lower air ow rate with higher inlet air temperature. solar air heater with ns attached and using a steel wire mesh as
An economic analysis of a roof-integrated solar air heating sys- absorber plate were investigated by Omojaro and Aldabbagh [40].
tem as shown in Fig. 9, for drying fruit and vegetables was carried Schematic of single and double pass solar air heater is presented
out by Sreekumar [38]. The system was found efcient and econom- in Fig. 11. During the experiments it was found that, the efciency
ically viable and it was experimentally proved for drying pineapple. increases with increasing air mass ow rate. For the same ow rate,
Economic analysis showed that the cumulative present worth of the efciency of the double pass is found to be higher than the single
annual savings for drying bitter gourd over the life of the solar pass by 719.4%. Maximum efciency obtained for the single and
dryer turned out to be approximately 17 million rupees. The capital double pass air heater was 59.62% and 63.74%, respectively for air
investment of the dryer was Rs. 550,000 and the payback period of mass ow rate of 0.038 kg/s. The temperature difference between
the dryer was found to be 0.54 year, which is very short consider- the outlet ow and the ambient, temperature difference, reduces as
ing the life of the system. The cost of drying pineapple in the solar the air mass ow rate increases. The result of a single or double solar
dryer was only about 20% of drying it in electric dryer. The life of air heater using steel wire mesh arrange in layers as an absorber
the system was expected to be 20 years, because the material used plate and packing material when compared with a conventional
in the construction is corrosion proof. The thermal performance of solar air heater shows a much more substantial enhancement in
a double ow solar air heater (SHA) as illustrated in Fig. 10, was the thermal efciency.

Fig. 8. An actual panel of solar air heater.

 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303 2295

Fig. 10. Schematic assembly of the SAH system.

Mohamad [41] presented a novel type of solar air heater with change material is a solid and melted which stores energy. The
an idea to minimize heat losses from the front cover of the collec- melting temperature may be xed or may vary over a small range.
tor and to maximize heat extraction from the absorber. This can The stored energy is recovered upon solidication of the liquid. In
be done by forcing air to ow over the front glass cover (preheat this system, solar energy stored in thermal energy storage system
the air) before passing through the absorber. Hence, this design (TESS), during sunny days and recovered later at night or during
needs an extra cover to form a counter-ow heat exchanger. Porous cloudy days. Different phase change materials (PCMs) are available
media forms an extensive area for heat transfer, where the volu- for this temperature range, usually hydrated salts (such as cal-
metric heat transfer coefcient is very high. The thermal efciency cium chloride hexahydrate, Glaubers salt), parafns, non-parafns
of this type of collector is signicantly higher than the thermal and fatty acids [4548] are very popular materials. Potential phase
efciency of conventional air heaters and it exceeds 75% under change materials for air heating system are given in Table 1. A com-
normal operating conditions. An analytical model for double pass prehensive review has been made in this regard and presented in
at and v-corrugated plate solar air heaters for Tanta (latitude, this section.
30 47 N) weather conditions was presented by El-Sebaii et al. [42]. Jurinak and Abdel-Khalik [49] have presented a parametric
The results showed that the double pass v-corrugated plate solar study to determine the optimum physical properties of phase-
air heater is 1114% more efcient compared to the double pass change energy storage materials for solar air-heating systems. They
at plate solar air heater. It was also reported that the peak values used simulation techniques to determine the system performance
of the thermo hydraulic efciencies of the at and v-corrugated over the entire heating season for different space heating load. They
plate solar air heaters are obtained when the mass ow rate of [50] also described the transient behavior of phase-change energy
the owing air is 0.02 kg/s. Naphon [43] developed a mathemati- storage (PCES) units and presented simulation techniques to use
cal model to evaluate thermal performance and entropy generation in conjunction with these models to determine the performance
of the double-pass at plate solar air heater with longitudinal ns of solar heating systems utilizing PCES. They used sodium sulfate
as shown in Fig. 12. This model was based on study conducted by decabydrate and parafn wax as a storage media for air heating sys-
Naphon and Kongtragool [44] with the assumption that (a) ow tem and calculated optimum ranges of storage sizes, the variation
of air is steady, (b) air-side convective heat transfer coefcient is of the solar supplied fraction of load with storage size and collector
constant along the length of solar air heater, (c) tube-side convec- area for systems.
tive heat transfer coefcient is constant along the length of solar Hammou and Lacroix [51] proposed a hybrid thermal energy
air heater and (d) thermal conductivity of n is constant along the storage system (HTESS), using phase change materials for man-
length of solar air heater. The predictions were done at air mass aging simultaneously the storage of heat from solar and electric
ow rate ranging between 0.02 and 0.1 kg/s. It was found that the energy as shown in Fig. 13. A schematic diagram of the HTESS
thermal efciency increases with increasing the height and num- is given in gure. They stored solar heat during sunny days and
ber of ns. The entropy generation is inversely proportional to the released later at night or during cloudy days and, to smooth power
height and number of ns. demands, electric energy is stored during off-peak periods and later
used during peak periods. The results of this study indicate that,
4.2. Solar air heater with thermal energy storage by using a HTESS, the electricity consumption for space heating is
reduced by 32%. Also, more than 90% of the electricity is consumed
Solar air heater with PCM based thermal storage system is the during off-peak hours. For electricity markets where time-of-use
solar energy collection for its off sunshine hours use. A phase rate schemes are in effect, the return on the investment in such a
2296 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303

Fig. 11. Single and double pass solar air heater showing: (a) schematic diagram of the experimental setup, (b) lower pass channel, and (c) upper pass channel.

storage system is very attractive. Qi et al. [52] studied on solar heat system is smaller comparatively with central solar heating system
pump heating system with seasonal latent heat thermal storage with seasonal storage system.
(SHPHSLHTS). They develop a mathematical model for the sys- Kaygusuz [53] investigated experimentally and theoretically the
tem and the simulated operating performances of the system. The performance studies of a solar heating system with a heat pump.
simulation results suggested that the temperature of the PCM in Experimental studies show that the parallel heat pump system
a storage tank was much lower than that of water in a central saved more energy than the series heat pump system, because it
solar heating system with hot-water heat storage, and could be uses both air and solar as a heat source for the evaporator while
maintained at around the melting point of the PCM. The losses the series system uses only solar energy stored in the storage tank.
of the system from the storage tank to ambient are reduced in In this experimental study, they used CaCl2 6H2 O as a PCM and con-
SHPHSLHTS system and the storage volume of a SHPHSLHTS cluded that it is technically preferable as a storage material in this
region. The experimental results of this study indicate that high
collector efciencies ranging from 62 to 70% can be realized with
30 m2 at-plate water cooled collectors over the heating period for
the solar assisted series heat pump with energy storage as illus-
trated in Fig. 14, while the collector efciency of the parallel heat
pump system ranged from 54 to 60%. However, energy storage ef-
ciencies were less than the collector efciencies. The average net
storage efciency is 63% for both systems. The average seasonal
heating performance values are 4.0 and 3.0 for series and parallel
heat pump systems, respectively. In this study, a thermodynamic
model has been developed for a solar assisted series heat pump sys-
tem with latent heat energy storage. The system parameters were
determined from experimental data. It was found that the model
Fig. 12. Schematic diagram of the solar air heater. agreed well with the experimental results. Nallusamy et al. [54]
 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303 2297

Table 1
Potential phase change materials for air heating system.

Materials Melting point ( C) Latent heat (k J/kg)

Organic materials
Capric acid 36 152
Eladic acid 47 218
Lauric acid 49 178
Pentadecanoic acid 52.5 178
Tristearin 56 191
Myristic acid 58 199
Palmatic acid 55 163
Stearic acid 69.4 199
Acetamide 81 241
Inorganic materials
Zn(NO3 )2 6H2 O 36.1 134
FeCl3 6H2 O 37.0 223
Mn(NO3 )2 4H2 O 37.1 115
Na2 HPO4 12H2 O 40.0 279
CoSO4 7H2 O 40.7 170
KF2H2 O 42 162
MgI2 8H2 O 42 133
CaI2 6H2 O 42 162
K2 HPO4 7H2 O 45.0 145
Zn(NO3 )2 4H2 O 45 110
Mg(NO3 )4H2 O 47.0 142
Ca(NO3 )4H2 O 47.0 153
Fe(NO3 )3 9H2 O 47 155
Na2 SiO3 4H2 O 48 168
K2 HPO4 3H2 O 48 99 Fig. 13. Schematic of the hybrid thermal energy storage system.
Na2 S2 O3 5H2 O 48.5 210
MgSO4 7H2 O 48.5 202
Ca(NO3 )2 3H2 O 51 104
experimentally investigate the thermal behavior of a packed bed
Zn(NO3 )2 2H2 O 55 68
FeCl3 2H2 O 56 90
of combined sensible and latent heat thermal energy storage (TES)
Ni(NO3 )2 6H2 O 57.0 169 unit. A TES unit is designed, constructed and integrated with con-
MnCl2 4H2 O 58.0 151 stant temperature bath/solar collector to study the performance of
MgCl2 4H2 O 58.0 178 the storage unit. The TES unit contains parafn as phase change
CH3 COONa3H2 O 58.0 265
material (PCM) lled in spherical capsules, which are packed in an
Fe(NO3 )2 6H2 O 60.5 126
NaAl(SO4 )2 10H2 O 61.0 181 insulated cylindrical storage tank. Charging experiments are car-
NaOHH2 O 64.3 273 ried out at constant and varying (solar energy) inlet uid tempera-
Na3 PO4 12H2 O 65.0 190 tures to examine the effects of inlet uid temperature and ow rate
LiCH3 COO2H2 O 70 150
of HTF on the performance of the storage unit. They concluded that
Al(NO3 )2 9H2 O 72 155
Ba(OH)2 8H2 O 78 265
in the case of constant inlet HTF temperature, the mass ow rate has
only a small effect on the rate of charging, as the surface resistance
is not signicant compared to the varying resistance offered inside

Fig. 14. Schematic of experimental setup solar at plate collector with PCM capsules based heating system.
2298 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303

time for the PCM unit has been predicted for each mass ow rate,
the freezing time of the PCM cylinders was related inversely to the
mass ow rate, and took longer time approximately (8 h) with ow
rate of 0.05 kg/s.
Jain and Jain [58] presented a transient analytical model for
an inclined multi-pass solar air heater with in-built thermal stor-
age and attached with the deep-bed dryer. This study was done
for a day of the month of October for the climatic condition of
Delhi (India). They studied the effect of change in the tilt angle,
length and breadth of a collector and mass ow rate on the tem-
Fig. 15. Cross section of the solar air collector with PCM cylinders.
perature. The grain temperature increases with the increase of
collector length, breadth and tilt angle up to typical value of these
the PCM capsules and the rate of heat transfer increases in direct parameters. The thermal energy storage also affects during the off-
proportion with the increase in inlet temperature of the HTF. In the sunshine hours and is very pertinent for crop drying applications.
case of the storage unit integrated with solar at plate collector, the The proposed mathematical model is useful for evaluating the ther-
mass ow rate has signicant effect on the heat extraction rate from mal performance of a at plate solar air heater for the grain drying
the collector, which in turn affects the rate of charging of the TES applications. It is also useful to predict the moisture content, grain
tank. Experiments are conducted for continuous discharging and temperature, humidity of drying air and drying rate in the grain bed.
batch wise discharging for both SHS system and combined storage Fath [59] designed and analyzed thermal performance of a simple
system. It is concluded that the combined storage system gives bet- design solar air heater with built-in thermal energy storage system.
ter performance than the conventional SHS system where there is The heater absorber consists of a corrugated set of tubes lled with
a direct mixing of the HTF with the hot water in the storage tank. a phase change material (parafn wax) as a thermal energy stor-
Mettawee and Assassa [55] designed and studied of a compact age material. In this study, the absorber projected area was used
phase change material (PCM) solar collector based on latent heat 1.0 m2 , the length being 150 cm and the width 67 cm. The depth of
storage material. In this collector, the absorber plate-container unit the heater is taken to be equal to 7.5 cm. The system shows a 63.35%
performs the function of both absorbing the solar energy and stor- daily average efciency an air ow rate of 0.02 kg/s, and the hot air
ing this heat into the PCM. The parafn wax was used as a PCM for outlet temperature (5 C above ambient temperature) extended for
solar heat and was discharged to cold water owing in pipes located about 16 h, as compared to 38.7% and 9 h, respectively, for the con-
inside the wax. The experimental apparatus was designed to sim- ventional at plate air heater. For an air ow rate of 0.01 kg/s, the
ulate one of the collectors sectors, with an apparatus-absorber hot air outlet temperature continues for 21 h of the 24 h/day.
effective area of 0.2 m2 . The time-wise temperatures of the PCM Tyagi et al. [20] experimentally studied the solar air heating sys-
were recorded during the processes of charging and discharging. tem with and without thermal energy storage (TES) material for
The experimental results showed that in the charging process, the energy and exergy analyses (see Fig. 16). The parafn wax as latent
average heat transfer coefcient increases sharply with increas- heat storage and hytherm oil for sensible heat storage were used
ing the molten layer thickness, as the natural convection grows in this study. They calculated the rst law and the second law ef-
strong. Zhao et al. [56] studied on a solar air heating system for ciencies on basis of the experimental observations with respect to
building heating season (from November to March) and hot water the available solar radiation for three different arrangements, viz.
supply all year around in North China. Total ve different work- one arrangement without heat storage material and two arrange-
ing modes were designed based on different working conditions: ments with THES, viz. hytherm oil and parafn wax, respectively.
(1) heat storage mode, (2) heating by solar collector, (3) heating They found fruitful observation in case of air heater with out and
by storage bed, (4) heating at night and (5) heating by an auxiliary with heat storage material/uid some are given below: they noted
source. These modes can be operated through the on/off control of that the uctuation in both the efciencies which is mainly due to
fan and auxiliary heater and through the operation of air dampers the fact that solar radiation also uctuates throughout the day. In
manually. They used solar fraction of the system as the optimiza- addition, as time increases, both the efciencies rst increase and
tion parameter. They used TRNSYS program to analyze the solar then decrease in case without temporary storage material and the
collector area, installation angle of solar collector, mass ow rate similar trend is found for solar radiation. In case of without THES
through the system, volume of pebble bed, heat transfer coefcient material, the efciency increases with time, attains its peak in the
of the insulation layer of the pebble bed and water storage tank, rst half in general and then decreases after that. However, in cases
height and volume of the water storage tank. The results of system where temporary heat storage material is used, both the efcien-
showed that the designed solar system can meet 32.8% of the ther- cies increase with time, attain their peaks at approximately 16:30 h
mal energy demand in the heating season and 84.6% of the energy with a small uctuation with ow rate and then decrease smoothly.
consumption in non-heating season, with a yearly average solar On the other hand, the results obtained in this study will be very
fraction of 53.04%. useful and informative for real-life applications using PCMs stor-
Alkilani et al. [57] achieved indoor prediction for output air tem- age in both the solar collector and in the thermal energy utilities
perature due to the discharge process in a solar air heater integrated for better performance.
with a PCM unit, for eight different values of mass ow as shown Benli and Durmus [60] studied the thermal performance of
in Fig. 15. This system consists of a single-glazed solar air collec- solar air collectors heating system with phase change material for
tor integrated with a PCM unit which is divided into cylinders as space heating of a greenhouse. CaCl2 6H2 O was used as PCM in
an absorber-container installed in the collector in a cross ow of thermal energy storage with a melting temperature of 29 C. In
pumped air. An indoor simulation supposed that the PCM initially this system, the hot air delivered by 10 pieced solar air collector
at liquid phase (50 C) heated by solar simulator while the pumped was passed through the PCM to charge the storage unit. The stored
air over the cylinders at room temperature (28 C), the mass ow heat was utilized to heat ambient air before being admitted to a
rate, output air temperature, and the freezing time of PCM, repre- greenhouse (see Fig. 17). Through this study, they concluded that
sent important factors, eight steps of mass ow rate were started by the solar air collectors and PCM system created 69 C temperature
0.050.19 kg/s. The PCM consists of parafn wax with mass fraction difference between the inside and outside the greenhouse. The
0.5% aluminum powder to enhance the heat transfer, the freezing system worked more efciently in day with high solar radiation
 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303 2299

Fig. 16. (a) Cross-sectional view of ETC tube with THES and (b) schematic of the experimental set-up.

air temperatures. The proposed size of collectors integrated PCM evaluation of a single-glazed at plate collector passive solar air
provided about 1823% of total daily thermal energy requirements heating system integrated with a phase change material (PCM)
of the greenhouse for 34 h, in comparison with the conventional heat storage assembly, which has potential applications in crop
heating device. Enibe [61] designed and carried out performance drying (see Fig. 18). The PCM is prepared in modules, with the

Fig. 17. Schematic views of green house heating system with thermal energy storage unit.
2300 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303

lower inlet air temperature increases the heat transfer rates

and shortens the freezing time.

5. Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar air heater

Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels generally produce electricity in

the 520% efciency range, depending on the type of solar cell
and the rest being dissipated in thermal losses [64]. To recover
the thermal losses hybrid photovoltaic thermal systems (PV/T) are
recommended. Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (or simply PV/T) solar
collector produces both thermal energy and electricity simultane-
ously [65,66]. A PV/T collector typically consists of a PV module;
on the back of which an absorber plate (a heat extraction device) is
attached as shown in Fig. 20. The purpose of the absorber plate is
Fig. 18. Photograph of the air heating system (A: collector assembly with energy
twofold. Firstly, to cool the PV module and thus improve its elec-
storage and air-heating subsystems; B: heated space). trical performance (electrical efciency losses amount to 0.4% for
each degree of increase of cell temperature with reference to stan-
dard test conditions (STC): 25 C, q = 1000 W/m2 ) and secondly to
modules equispaced across the absorber plate. The spaces between collect the thermal energy produced, which would have otherwise
the module pairs serve as the air heating channels, the channels been lost as heat to the environment [67]. The most available liter-
being connected to common air inlet and discharge headers. They ature on hybrid photovoltaic thermal systems (PV/T) is presented
tested experimentally air heating system under daytime no-load here.
conditions at Nsukka, Nigeria, over the ambient temperature range Sarhaddi et al. [68] developed the thermal and electrical model
of 1941 C, and a daily global irradiation range of 4.919.9 MJ m2 . to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters of a typical PV/T
Peak temperature rise of the heated air was about 15 K, while the air collector. It was predicted that, the electrical efciency of a
maximum airow rate and peak cumulative useful efciency were PV/T air collector has a slight change with respect to operating and
about 0.058 kg/s and 22%, respectively. These results of the system design parameters. The overall energy efciency of a PV/T air collec-
show that the system can be operated successfully for crop drying tor is always greater than the thermal efciency of a solar collector
applications. or the electrical efciency of a PV module. When inlet air temper-
Saman et al. [62] studied the thermal performance of a phase ature or wind speed or duct length increases, the overall energy
change thermal storage unit based solar roof integrated heating efciency and thermal efciency of system decrease. While inlet
system. The storage unit was a component of a roof integrated solar air velocity is increasing, the overall energy efciency and thermal
heating system being developed for space heating of a home as efciency of a PV/T air collector increase. It was also found that
shown in Fig. 19 [63]. The storage unit consists of several layers of while increasing the solar radiation intensity, the overall energy
phase change material (PCM) slabs with a melting temperature of efciency and electrical efciency of a PV/T air collector increase
29 C. The warm air was circulated in a roof integrated collector and initially and then decrease after attaining solar radiation intensity
passed through the spaces between the PCM layers to charge the of about a maximum point.
storage unit. The stored energy in form of heat was utilized to heat
ambient air before being admitted to a living space. They concluded
some useful remarks for this study.
For heating purpose, system showed a signicant warming
effect during the initial periods of delivering air to the living space.
This is advantageous from the thermal comfort point of view.

(1) The effect of sensible heat is perceived in the initial periods

of both melting and freezing. The effect is reected in sharp
increase in the outlet air temperature in the initial periods of
melting and a sharp decrease in the initial periods of freezing.
(2) A higher inlet air temperature increases the heat transfer rates
and shortens the melting time. Conversely, during freezing, a

Fig. 20. PV/T collector (a) cross section of a PV/T collector and (b) schematic of an
Fig. 19. Solar roof integrated heating system with storage unit. absorber plate showing the various dimensions [64].
 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303 2301

Fig. 22. Comparison of values of various efciencies and the rise in air and cell
temperatures for a solar PV/T system with and without ns.

absorptance of the collectors and decreasing the collector losses

through use of a heat-mirror coating, like ITO (indium tin oxide),
above the cells. On the strength of the simulation results, the
following conclusions can be drawn: (1) For photovoltaic cells
covering more than 65% of the total collector area, a selective
absorber actually reduces the collector thermal efciency when
used with a gridded-back cell (one that transmits insolation above
a wavelength of 1.1 m). (2) The requirements of a heat-mirror
Fig. 21. (a) Cross-sectional view of studied PV/T air collector. (b) Photograph of
coating, like ITO, based on trade-offs between decreasing emissiv-
experimental setup. ity and decreased solar transmittance, are an infrared emissivity of
less than 0.25 and solar transmissivity of greater than 0.85. (3) The
optimum combination of an air PV/T collector was found to consist
Photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems refer to the incorporation
of gridded-back PV cells, a nonselective secondary absorber, and
of photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies into one single
a high transmissivity/low emissivity heat-mirror cover above the
structure, by which both useful heat and electricity energy can be
photovoltaic cells. Performance of photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T)
produced. Direct-coupled PV/T air collector was designed, built, and
solar air heater with a double pass conguration and vertical ns in
tested at a geographic location of Kerman, Iran by Shahsavar and
the lower channel under steady state conditions was investigated
Ameri [69]. In this system panels were connected in parallel and
by Kumar and Rosen [73]. They reported that the thermal and
mounted on the air channel and above a thin metal (aluminum)
electrical efciencies are signicantly improved by the addition of
sheet (TMS). This aluminum sheet was suspended at the middle
ns on the back side of the absorber surface as illustrated in Fig. 22.
of air channel as a secondary absorber plate and used to improve
Huang et al. [74] evaluate the performance of the integration of
heat extraction from the panels (by increasing heat exchange sur-
solar photovoltaic and thermal systems (IPVTS). The experimental
face) and consequently achieving higher thermal and electrical
results comprehensively compared with the conventional solar
outputs. The air channel casing built from Medium Density Fiber-
water heater. Schematic of IPVTS is shown in Fig. 23, the polycrys-
board (MDF) wood as illustrated in Fig. 21. This PV/T system was
talline PV module has been integrated with the thermal collector
tested in natural convection and forced convection (with two, four
made from a corrugated polycarbonate panel with sheet and tube
and eight fans operating). During the experiments it found that
heat collecting plate made of copper. They concluded that the
in the case of forced convection, air mass ow rate decreases by
solar PV/T collector made from corrugated polycarbonate panel
setting glass cover on photovoltaic panels. On the other hand, in
produced good thermal efciency. They suggested that further
free convection mode, setting glass cover leads to air mass ow
improvement can be achieved by proper insulation for the PV/T
rate increases. Thermal efciency increases with increasing the
design.
air mass ow rate due to increased heat transfer coefcient. Set-
ting glass cover on photovoltaic panels leads to an increase in
thermal efciency and a decrease in electrical efciency of the
system.
Energy and exergy efciencies of a hybrid photovoltaicthermal
(PV/T) air collector Srinagar (India) condition were estimated by
Joshi and Tiwari [70]. It was found that there is an increase of about
23% exergy due to thermal energy in addition to its 12% electri-
cal output from PV/T system, which makes an overall electrical
efciency of about 1415% of PV/T system. A numerical study of
various PV/T of concepts was conducted by Zondag et al. [71] and
it was found that the uncovered sheet and tube collectors present
a poor thermal performance due to the large top heat losses to the
environment. On the other hand, they explained that the electri-
cal efciency of sheet and tube collectors is dramatically reduced
due to the reduced transmittance of radiation reaching the PV
cells.
Cox and Raghuraman [72] performed computer simulations
to optimize the design of at-plate photovoltaic/thermal solar
collectors so as to yield the highest values of both electrical and
thermal efciencies. They concluded that increasing the solar Fig. 23. Schematic diagram of PV/T collector.
2302 V.V. Tyagi et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012) 22892303

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