Parametric study on the performance of solar air heater equipped with louvered fins

A theoretical model is developed in this study to investigate the performance of solar air collector equipped with louvered fins. Parameters, such as mass flow rate, fin spacing, louvered pitch ratio (w/Lp), and louvered angle, are considered. The governing equations are solved using a computer code that employs an iterative solution procedure, and the obtained results are compared with that using plain solar air heater. The thermal efficiency of the plain solar air heater is enhanced from 43.14 % to 76.79 % by employing louvered fins with fin spacing values of 5 and 1 cm at a constant mass flow rate of 0.020 kg/s. However, the pressure drop effect becomes dominant that decreases the effective efficiency by 9.4 % at a high mass flow rate of 0.083 kg/s.