Solar Energy 74 (2003) 319329

Heat transfer and friction factor correlations for packed bed solar air heater for a low porosity system
N.S. Thakur a , J.S. Saini b , *, S.C. Solanki b
a

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur ( H.P.) -177005 ( H.P.), India b Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, I.I.T. Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India Received 11 October 2001; accepted 21 April 2003

Abstract An experimental investigation has been carried out on a low porosity packed bed solar air heater. This investigation covers a wide range of geometrical parameters of wire screen matrix, i.e. wire diameter 0.795 to 1.40 mm, pitch 2.50 to 3.19 mm and number of layers from 5 to 12. The correlations have been developed for the Colburn j factor and friction factor for a low range of porosities from 0.667 to 0.880 and packing Reynolds number range from 182 to 1168. It is observed that both the heat transfer coefcient and the friction factor are strong functions of geometrical parameters of the porous packed bed. A decrease in porosity increases the volumetric heat transfer coefcient. 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. INTRODUCTION A solar air heater is a simple device to heat air by utilizing solar energy. It nds applications in drying agricultural products, such as seeds, fruits, vegetables and in space heating as a low temperature energy source. Several designs of solar air heaters with different conguration such as Chiou et al. (1965) and Hamid and Beckman (1971) have been proposed to enhance the thermal performance of a solar air heater. There is a signicant interest in a packed bed solar air heater because of some exclusive advantages of such a system over a conventional system. The packed bed solar air heater absorbs the solar radiation in depth and has a higher ratio of heat transfer area to volume and a high heat transfer coefcient. Several experimental studies in the past have attempted to obtain detailed information on the heat transfer mechanism by using the porous packings in the air ducts (Chiou and El-Wakil, 1966; Chiou et al., 1965; Coppage and London, 1956; Tong and London, 1957). The main objective of these studies was to determine the

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail address: sainifme@iitr.ernet.in (J.S. Saini).

volumetric heat transfer coefcient for packed bed thermal storage systems. Their results revealed that the volumetric heat transfer coefcient is generally higher for beds with lower porosities. With this important point in mind, a critical review of literature in the area of heat transfer in packed beds was carried out with particular emphasis on the effect of bed porosity on the volumetric heat transfer coefcient. Basic research on convective heat transfer from screens was performed by Coppage and London (1956), Tong and London (1957), Kays and London (1964) and Hamid and Beckman (1971). Flow resistance in screens was measured by Wieghardt (1953). Chiou et al. (1965) and Chiou and El-Wakil (1966) proposed the use of a porous bed made of a slit and expanded aluminium foil matrix and a wire screen matrix for a packed bed solar air heater. They studied the heat transfer and ow friction characteristics for a high porosity range from 0.962 to 0.983. Varshney and Saini (1998) have experimentally investigated the heat transfer and the uid ow characteristics of a solar air heater having its duct packed with wire mesh screen matrices (air owing parallel to matrix planes). A wide range of geometrical parameters of wire screen matrix with wire diameter 0.360 to 0.795 mm, pitch from 2.08 to 3.19 mm and number of layers from 5 to 14 have been used. They developed the heat transfer and the friction factor correlations for air owing through the bed

0038-092X / 03 / $ see front matter 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016 / S0038-092X(03)00153-1

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Nomenclature A Af av b1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b6 cp d1 dw D Dh fp fc Go h hv jh j hc k L m m1, m2, m3, m4 m5, m6 n Q Nu Nu p DP Pt Pr P rh Re Re p St p St c t fm ti t pm to u V Std. error C.V. r2 Greek letters m r h Heat transfer area (m 2 ) Frontal area (m 2 ) Specic surface area per unit volume (m 2 1 ) Coefcients used in Eqs. (14)(16) and (18), respectively Specic heat of air (J / kg K) Diameter of M.S. pipe used with orice plate (m) Wire diameter of wire screen matrices (m) Depth of rectangular duct (m) Hydraulic diameter (m) Average friction factor for packed bed Average friction factor for conventional duct Relative mass ow rate (mass velocity) of air in the duct (kg / s m 2 ) Average heat transfer coefcient (W/ m 2 K) Volumetric heat transfer coefcient, h a v Colburn j factor for packed bed, St p Pr 2 / 3 Colburn j factor for conventional collector Thermal conductivity of air (W/ m K) Length of collector (m) Mass ow rate (kg / s) Slope of the line Slope of the line Number of layers Heat transfer rate (W) Nusselt number for conventional collector duct, hDh / k Nusselt number for packed bed, 4r h h / k Pressure drop in the duct (N / m 2 ) Pitch of wire mesh screen (m) Prandtl number, m c p / k Porosity of bed Hydraulic radius, Pd w / 4(1 2 P ) Reynolds number for conventional duct, r uDh /m Reynolds number of packed bed, 4r h Go /m Stanton number of packed bed, h / c p Go Stanton number for conventional collector, h / ur c p Average air temperature ( 8C) Inlet air temperature ( 8C) Average matrix temperature ( 8C) Average outlet temperature ( 8C) Velocity of air in the duct, (Go /r ) Volume of packed bed, m 3 Standard error Coefcient of variation in % Dependence or coefcient of determination Dynamic viscosity of air, N s / m 2 Density of air, kg / m 3 Efciency index Eq. (22)

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in the cross ow arrangement (cross ow here means the airow is perpendicular to the direction of solar insolation). The range of packing Reynolds number and porosity covered in these experiments was from 300 to 1500 and 0.89 to 0.96, respectively. The following correlations have been developed. j h 5 0.647

fp 5 2.484

FS DS DG FS DS DG
1 ] nP Pt ] dw 1 ] nP Pt ] dw

2.104 0.55 Re 2 p

(1)

0.699 2 0.44 Re p

(2)

systems have been extensively investigated for heat transfer and uid ow characteristics, a system formed by packing a rectangular duct (of solar air heater) with wire mesh screens representing a ow system parallel to the screens has not been investigated except that by Varshney and Saini (1998) for relatively high porosity systems. In view of this, experimentation was planned for investigating heat transfer and uid ow characteristics of packed bed solar air heaters with packing density for a low porosity range. The details of the experimental work and the results are presented next.

It has been observed that there is a general increase in volumetric heat transfer coefcient as porosity decreases. The above review of the literature shows that there is a substantial rise in the volumetric heat transfer coefcient with a decrease in porosity and hence a lower porosity system would be a better candidate when one looks for the enhancement of performance of a solar air heater utilizing a packed bed in its duct. Further, although packed bed

2. EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP The experimental set-up used in the present investigation, as shown in Fig. 1, was designed, fabricated, installed and used for data collection on heat transfer and uid ow characteristics of solar air heaters with packed bed and without packed bed. It consisted of a test section having two identical ducts, one smooth duct (like that in a

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental set-up.

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solar air heater in common use) and the other one similar in size but provided with a packed bed using wire screen matrices. Both the ducts had an identical length of 2.40 m (L / Dh 5 51), width of 0.40 m, and depth of 0.025 m (having Dh 5 0.047 m) and were made of softwood, both inclined at an angle of 208 to the horizontal. The smooth (or conventional) duct had an absorber plate of 2 mm aluminium sheet. It was blackened with black board paint on the side facing solar radiation. It had a 3 mm thick glass sheet cover xed 20 mm above the absorber plate. The sides and bottom of the duct were insulated with thermocol sheet. (Thermocol is a commercial insulation of foamed polystyrene having a thermal conductivity 0.037 W/ m / K). The reason for using two ducts in the present set-up was to compare the performance at the same operating conditions such as mass ow rate, insolation and inlet uid temperature. The packed bed duct had a 2 mm aluminium sheet having several layers of wire mesh screens arranged one above the other on the upper side of the aluminium sheet while below it there was 50 mm of thermocol and 12 mm plywood. The sides were made of softwood, 25 mm thick. A glass cover was provided on the upper side which rested on batons xed adjacent to the side wall at a height of 25 mm. Another glass cover was xed at a height of 20 mm above the rst one and supported on the frame, leaving a stagnant air gap of 20 mm between the two glass covers. Flow straighteners were provided on the inlet side of the test ducts to enable the ow to stabilize. These were made of softwood having the same cross sectional area as that of the test section. The length of the straightener was 0.9 m (L / Dh 5 19.1) in accordance with the design considerations (Varshney and Saini, 1998). A wooden exit section was provided at the outlet of the test duct which was followed by a mixing device, namely bafes for mixing the air. The exit section reduced the effect of sudden change on the test section. The mixing device

enabled measurement of the bulk mean temperature at the outlet of the test section. The length of the exit section was 0.5 m (L / Dh 5 10.6) and the cross section area matched with that of the test duct. Three equally spaced bafe plates which spread over 100 mm length beyond the exit section were provided for the purpose of mixing the hot air coming out of the solar collectors to obtain a uniform temperature of the air at the outlet. The mixing section was connected to the Mild Steel pipe tting through a transition piece and exible pipes. A 2.2 kW (3.0 h.p.) centrifugal blower was used for drawing air through the duct. Calibrated orice plates, one in each were used to measure the airow rates in both the ducts. The orice plate arrangement was designed for the ow measurement in the pipe of inner diameter of 78 mm, as per the recommendation of Preobrazhensky (1980). The orice plate was tted between the anges, so aligned that it remained concentric with the pipe. The length of the straight mild steel pipe provided was based on a pipe diameter d 1 , which is the minimum of 10d 1 on the upstream side and 5d 1 on the down streamside of the orice plate as recommended by Ehlinger (1950). IS 2952 (Part1) 1964 also recommends using upstream and downstream straight lengths with L / D ratios of 20 and 6, respectively, taking into account the disturbances created by bafes, transition section and blower. In the present experimental set-up the L / D ratio is 30 on the upstream side of the orice and is 6 on the downstream side. This longer length on the upstream side is provided to account for disturbances due to transition and bafes. A standard set of inlet and outlet pressure taps were provided at a distance of 25.4 mm on each side of the orice plate. Fig. 2 shows the dimensions of the packed bed, the locations of pressure taps, and the layout of thermocouples. The temperature distribution in the bed and temperature of the air at the inlet and outlet of the test section were measured by means of pre-calibrated copper constantan thermocou-

Fig. 2. Details of the packed bed collector.

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ples. A digital micro-voltmeter was used to indicate the output of the thermocouples in 8C. The temperature measurement system was calibrated to yield temperature values (t 60.1)8C. The pressure drop across the test section was measured by using a calibrated micro-manometer. The entry length provided before the test section was really not a conventional ow straightener but was added for the purpose of ow stabilization as air entered from the atmosphere to the duct. The swirling ows induced due to the centrifugal fan, bafes and Y-conguration of the set-up are very important. Although the detailed effect of swirl has not been investigated, however it can be stated with condence that this effect will not cause a large percentage of error in the results shown by the comparison of the data collected for smooth duct with respect to Nusselt number and friction factor. This comparison was carried out in the form of validation of experimental set-up as given below.

3. VALIDATION OF EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP Before collecting the data from the experimental set-up, the system was tested for validity by experimentation on a smooth duct (one of the two ducts provided) to determine the Nusselt number and the friction factor. These values of the Nusselt number and the friction factor were compared with those obtained from the (Dittus and Boelter) correlation and Blasius equation given in (Bhatti and Shah, 1987). The Nusselt numbers have a maximum deviation of 4.24% while the maximum deviation of the friction factor is 1.78% from the predicted values by the (Dittus and Boelter) correlation and Blasius equation, respectively. This gave condence in the data collected with the set-up and instrumentation used especially indicating that the effect of the swirling ow induced bafes, transition and blower was not signicant and the leakage is negligibly small.

matrices were placed between the back plate and the lower cover glass in the packed bed solar air heater duct. Quasisteady-state readings of the temperature of the wire screen at various locations, plate temperature, inlet and outlet temperature of the air, pyranometer readings for intensity of solar radiation and micro-manometer readings for pressure drop across both the ducts as well as across the orice meters were, recorded at half hour intervals. Before starting the experiment, all joints between the duct, inlet section, mixing device and pipettings were carefully examined for leakage. All the joints, where there was possibility of any leakage, were sealed by using putty. Data pertaining to a given specic ow rate corresponding to a clear sky day were recorded between 10.45 a.m. and 1.45 p.m. While recording the temperatures the ice bath, selector switch, lead wire joints and micro-voltmeter were protected from direct solar radiation. It was ensured that the cold junction of the thermocouple always remained in contact with melting ice. Experimental data were collected for ve sets of matrices, with seven runs each for different mass ow rates ranging between 0.01 to 0.03 kg / s m 2 . The details of the geometrical parameters including porosity of all the matrices tested are given in Table 1.

5. PROCESSING OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA The experimental data was used to determine the desired parameters as given below. All the properties of air, viz. density, viscosity, specic heat, Prandtl number used in the calculation, were evaluated at the arithmetic mean of the inlet and the outlet temperature of air. The heat transfer rate, Q to the air can be determined as: Q 5 mc p (t o 2 t i ) (3)

The average heat transfer coefcient, h, between the wire screens matrix and air was based on the following equation. Q h 5 ]]] Ast pm 2 t fmd (4)

4. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE After satisfactory calibration of instruments and validation of the experimental set-up, blackened wire screen
Table 1 Geometrical parameters of wire screen matrices Matrix designation A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 Dia. of wire (d w ) (mm) 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.40 0.79 Pitch (Pt ) (mm) 2.50 2.50 2.50 3.00 3.19 Number of layers (n) 12 10 8 5 9 Bed depth (D ) (mm) 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0 Bed porosity (P ) 0.667 0.722 0.778 0.820 0.880

where, t pm , is the average temperature of the measurements

Heat transfer area (A) (m 2 ) 30.44 25.41 20.29 12.40 14.49

Pitch to wire dia. ratio Pt / d w 2.38 2.38 2.38 2.14 4.01

Hydraulic radius (rh ) 3 10 3 (m) 0.525 0.681 0.919 1.590 1.450

Surface area per unit volume (av ) (m 2 1 ) 1269 1059 845 514 604

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made along the length and depth of the packed bed whereas, t fm , is the average air temperature. The volumetric heat transfer coefcient was determined as: hv 5 h 3 av (5)

where Dp is the pressure drop across the duct and Go u5] r (13)

where, a v , is the heat transfer area per unit volume of the bed ( 5 A / V ). The heat transfer area, A, was determined from the frontal area, A f , porosity P and wire diameter, d w , as: 4 A f L(1 2 P ) A 5 ]]]] dw (6)

6. ERROR ANALYSIS A uncertainty or error analysis was carried out as per the procedure widely used in the literature, viz. the method suggested by Kline and McClintock (1953). The uncertainty estimates obtained are given below at 95% condence level
Mass ow rate, m Heat gain, Q Reynolds number, Re p Heat transfer coefcient, h Vol. heat transfer coefcient, h v Colburn j factor, j h Friction factor, fp 61.62% 61.73% 63.68% 62.70% 63.60% 63.39% 63.68% odd odd odd odd odd odd odd 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 in in in in in in in 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

The porosity of the matrix was determined by following the procedure of Tong and London (1957) using the geometrical parameters of the bed matrix. The Reynolds number Re p for the packed bed duct was calculated using the hydraulic radius, r h , relative mass ow rate (mass velocity) Go , and viscosity coefcient m, as 4r h Go Re p 5 ]] m (7)

The hydraulic radius r h , for the packed bed ducts is the ratio of void volume to wetted surface area and was calculated as Varshney and Saini (1998). Pd w r h 5 ]]] 4(1 2 P ) (8)

7. COMPARISON OF PRESENT EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS WITH THE AVAILABLE RESULTS A typical set of experimental results was compared in Fig. 3 with the values of j -factor obtained from the correlations proposed by Coppage and London (1956), Tong and London (1957), Handley and Heggs (1968) and Varshney and Saini (1998). A considerably large difference can be seen in Fig. 3 which shows that the existing correlations cannot be used for the prediction of heat transfer results for systems using low porosity wire mesh

The hydraulic radius r h is related both to the packing size and the void space. Choice of this parameter (r h ) as the characteristic length in the wire screen matrices has been discussed in detail by Whitaker (1972). For the same reason, this parameter (r h ) has been used traditionally by a number of researchers, viz. Coppage and London (1956), Tong and London (1957), Kays and London (1964) and Varshney and Saini (1998). The relative mass ow (mass velocity), Go, is given by: m Go 5 ]] ( A f )P (9)

The value of heat transfer coefcient was used to determine the Stanton number and j factor, respectively, as: h Stanton number St p 5 ]] Go c p Colburn j factor j h 5 St p (Pr)2 / 3 (10) (11)

Using the pressure drop data, the friction factor, fp , was calculated as follows Dp rh ] L fp 5 ]]] ru2 ] 2

S D

(12)
Fig. 3. Comparison of present experimental results with existing correlation.

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beds with wire mesh oriented parallel to the air ow as used in the solar air heater ducts.

8. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

8.1. Variation of volumetric heat transfer coefcient ( hv )

Based on the experimental data, the variation of volumetric heat transfer coefcient h v , with Reynolds number for different matrices is shown in Fig. 4. It was observed that the value of heat transfer coefcient increased with the increase in Reynolds number. The intensity of turbulence was higher at higher Reynolds number resulting in a higher volumetric heat transfer coefcient. This behavior was observed for all the matrices. It can also be observed from Fig. 4 that the value of volumetric heat transfer increased monotonically with a decrease in porosity; the porosity decreased from A 5 to A 1 . This appears to be due to a higher level of turbulence created in the ow as the porosity decreased and the ow passages become more tortuous and narrower with a higher solidity of such systems.

Fig. 5. Effect of Reynolds number on Colburn j factor for different matrices.

j h 5 b 1 (Re p )m 1

(14)

8.2. Variation of Colburn j factor ( j h )

The heat transfer data have also been presented in the form of a non-dimensional relationship, the Colburn j h (dened as j h 5 St p Pr 2 / 3 ). The variation of this factor with Reynolds number shown in Fig. 5 can be represented by a relation of the following form on the log log scale using the linear regression.

The value of coefcients b 1 and m 1 differ from matrix to matrix, showing them to be functions of the bed geometrical parameters, the slope m 1 varying between 2 0.594 to 2 0.619 depicting only a very slight variation. An arithmetic mean value of m 1 , i.e. 2 0.61 can be selected to represent the characteristics of all these matrices. Using this mean value of m 1 for all matrices, the values of coefcient b 1 were determined. It was observed that the straight line on the loglog scale represented the above empirical relation. The values of b 1 , which differed from matrix to matrix, are given in Table 2(a) and associated uncertainties in the value of m 1 and b 1 are given in Table 2(b).

8.3. Effect of porosity

The porosity depends on a complex relationship of the geometrical parameters like wire diameter, pitch, number of layers in the given depth of bed. The same porosity may be produced by different combinations of geometrical parameters. The ow pattern of air through matrices having different pitch, wire diameter, and number of layers in a xed bed depth can be different even if the porosity is the same. Thus besides the porosity, the number of layers in a given depth of bed and the pitch to wire diameter ratio
Table 2(a) Value of coefcient b 1 for different matrices (m 1 5 2 0.61 for all matrices) Matrix Fig. 4. Effects of Reynolds number on volumetric heat transfer coefcient for different matrices studied. Coefcient b 1 A1 0.1377 A2 0.1420 A3 0.1547 A4 0.2000 A5 0.1600

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Table 2 (b) Uncertainties in the values of m 1 and b 1 at 95% condence level Matrix A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 Parameter m1 b1 m1 b1 m1 b1 m1 b1 m1 b1 Value 2 0.6100 0.1370 2 0.6100 0.1420 2 0.6100 0.1547 2 0.6100 0.2000 2 0.6100 0.1600 Std. error 0.0175 0.0136 0.0087 0.0072 0.0121 0.0113 0.0061 0.0082 0.0096 0.0100 C.V. % 2.80 9.90 1.40 5.07 1.90 7.30 1.00 4.10 1.57 6.25 Dependence 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99

Pt / d w will be important parameters which affect the ow behaviour as reported by Varshney and Saini (1998). The similarity of the trend of parametric dependence of j factor and friction factor as for the experimental results of Varshney and Saini (1998) revealed that an analogous correlating relationship could be developed for the present experimental results.

for all values of the ratio of pitch to wire diameter. The relation is given below: jh 1 ]] ] 2 0.61 5 b 2 nP Re p

S D

m2

1 5 0.37 ] nP

S D

0.47

(15)

8.4. Development of correlation

Keeping the above discussion in mind, a plot between 2 0.61 ( j h / Re p ) vs. (1 / nP )(Pt / d w ) is drawn in Fig. 6. From the plot it is clear that the points are scattered and hence the relationship as such is not applicable. The associated uncertainties are also given in Fig. 6. 2 0.61 A relationship between j h / Re p and 1 / nP was determined from a loglog plot and linear regression analysis

The values of coefcient b 2 and power index (exponent) m 2 and associated uncertainties at 95% condence level were determined. The standard error in the power index was 0.0180 and coefcient of variation was 3.85%, and for coefcient b 2 the standard error was 0.130 and coefcient of variance was 3.51%. Similarly a loglog plot between the parameter Jh / 2 0.61 Re p and pitch to diameter ratio (Pt / d w ) yielded, after linear regression, following relation. The values of parameter and associated uncertainties were also determined at 95% condence levels. The standard error and coefcient

0.61 Fig. 6. Plot between j h / Re 2 and (1 / nP )(Pt / d w ) for all map trices.

0.61 Fig. 7. A plot between j h / Re 2 and (1 / nP )0.50 (Pt / d w )0.25 for all p matrices.

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of variance in the power index and the coefcient b 3 are 0.010 and 4.3%, and 0.012 and 10%, respectively.

jh Pt ]] 5 b3 ] 2 0.61 dw Re p

D S D

m3

Pt 5 0.12 ] dw

S D

Table 3 (a) Values of coefcient b 5 for different matrices (m 5 5 2 0.41 for all matrices) Matrix Coefcient b 5 A1 1.45 A2 1.50 A3 1.59 A4 1.90 A5 1.65

0.25

(16)

The [(1 / nP )0.50 (Pt / d w )0.25 ] is taken one parameter and a 2 0.61 plot between Jh / Re p versus (1 / nP )0.50 (Pt / d w )0.25 as shown in Fig. 7 was prepared. It is interesting to note that a single straight line (on a loglog scale) can well represent data in the form of the following equation. jh 5 b4

2 0.41 Re p and (1 / nP )0.50 (Pt / d w )0.25 as shown in Fig. 9. The relationship that represents the data points satisfactorily well can be given below and associated uncertainties are also shown in the gure at 95% condence level.

j h 5 0.4

FS D S D G FS D S D G
1 ] nP
0.50

Pt ] dw

0.25

m4 2 0.61 Re p

(17) (18)

fp 5 b 6

1 ] nP

0.50

Pt ] dw

0.25

1.4 0.61 Re 2 p

fp 5 3.0

A similar procedure was followed for the development of a correlation for the friction factor. Fig. 8 shows the plot for the friction factor fp , as a function of Reynolds number, Re p for different matrices. The friction factors for different matrices in terms of Reynolds number can be represented by a general relation of the following form. fp 5 b 5 (Re p )m 5 (19)

FS D S D G FS D S D G
1 ] nP
0.50

Pt ] dw

0.25

m6 0.41 Re 2 p

(20)

1 ] nP

0.50

Pt ] dw

0.25

0.90 0.41 Re 2 p

(21)

where b 5 is a function of geometrical parameter. The numerical value of coefcient b 5 for all matrices is given in Table 3(a) and associated uncertainties are given in Table 3(b). It is expected that the coefcient b 5 is a function of (1 / nP )0.50 (Pt / d w )0.25 as in the case of the Colburn j factor. Based on this analogy a plot was drawn between fp /

The comparison between experimental values of j factor and friction factor with the values predicted by the corresponding correlating Eqs. (18) and (21) was made in Figs. 10 and 11. It was observed that all the predicted values for the j factor lay within the maximum deviation of 10.5% (and 97% of data points lies within 66%) whereas the maximum deviation of friction factor was 7% (and 94% data points lay within the 65.98%) of the experimental values. Further, the comparison of the results obtained from Eqs. (18) and (21) with those obtained from the corresponding Eqs. (1) and (2) developed by Varshney and Saini (1998) were also made and presented in Fig. 12. It can be seen that the results predicted by the present correlation were much closer to experimental results as compared to those of Varshney and Saini correlations. Further, it is important to note that the enhancement of heat transfer as a result of using packed beds is accompanied by a considerable enhancement of friction losses. This results in considerably large additional pumping costs. Consequently any enhancement scheme must be evaluated on the basis of consideration of pumping costs. A well-known method of such evaluation is that proposed by Webb (1994) in the form of an efciency index, he , dened by the following equation. jh he 5 ] j hc

S DYS D

fp ] . fc

(22)

Fig. 8. Effect of Reynolds number on friction factor for all matrices.

For an enhancement scheme to be viable, the value of this index must be greater than unity. In the range of parameter investigated in this work, the value of this index was found to lie between 1.14 and 1.58 while the enhancement of heat transfer in terms of the ratio of the j factor, j h / j hc , was found to lie between 1.25 and 1.83. Therefore it can be concluded that this system of enhancement represents a suitable scheme from the point of view of additional pumping power penalty as judged by a parameter called efciency index, he being sufcient greater than 1.0.

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Table 3 (b) Uncertainties in the values of m 5 and b 5 at 95% condence level Matrix A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 Parameter m5 b5 m5 b5 m5 b5 m5 b5 m5 b5 Value 2 0.410 1.4500 2 0.410 1.500 2 0.410 1.590 2 0.410 1.900 2 0.410 1.650 Std. error 0.0199 0.0158 0.01405 0.1226 0.0078 0.0757 0.0130 0.0147 0.0131 0.1409 C.V. % 4.85 1.09 3.42 8.17 1.90 4.76 3.17 7.17 3.19 8.52 Dependence 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99

9. CONCLUSIONS It can be concluded that a considerable enhancement of heat transfer can be obtained from the packed bed solar air heater by lowering the value of porosity of the bed. This enhancement is a function of bed geometrical and operating parameters. Based on the experimental data collected in this work, correlations for low porosity range of 0.667 to 0.880 and Reynolds number range of 182 to 1168, have been developed for the j factor and the friction factor, which correlated the experimental data satisfactorily. The maximum deviations between the experimental results and those predicted by the correlations for the j h factor and the friction factor were 10.5 and 7%, respectively. It has also been found that this method of heat transfer enhancement was a suitable scheme from the point of view of additional pumping power penalty.

Fig. 10. Comparison between experimental and predicted values of j h .

0.41 Fig. 9. A plot between fp / Re 2 and (1 / nP )0.5 (Pt / d w )0.25 for all p matrices.

Fig. 11. Comparison between experimental and predicted values of friction factor.

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Fig. 12. Comparison of the present correlation with the correlation developed by Varshney and Saini (1998).

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