The effect of the volume flow rate of the heat transfer fluid (air) on the thermal parameters of the solar air collector with a single air pass without using fins under the absorbing plate have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. We use a new design of solar air collector which aims to optimize these parameters in the region cited above. Our solar air collector was realized at t...

Unglazed transpired collectors or UTC (also known as perforated collectors) are a relatively new development in solar collector technology, introduced in the early nineties for ventilation air heating. These collectors are used in several large buildings in Canada, USA and Europe, effecting considerable savings in energy and heating costs. Transpired collectors are a potential replacement for g...

The computational thermodynamic analysis of a samarium oxide-based two-step solar thermochemical water splitting cycle is reported. The analysis is performed using HSC chemistry software and databases. The first (solar-based) step drives the thermal reduction of Sm2O3 into Sm and O2. The second (non-solar) step corresponds to the production of H2 via a water splitting reaction and the oxidation...

An evacuated tubular solar collector was fabricated from acrylics for improved resistance to shattering. A plasmatron was employed to apply a thin gas-barrier coating to the surfaces of the plastic tube to prevent/alleviate gas infiltration. Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of vacuum level on the performance of the non-glass vacuum-tube solar collector. Inserted in the evacu...

This paper presents the achievements in solid sorption refrigeration prototypes obtained since the interest in sorption systems was renewed at the end of the 1970s. The applications included are ice making and air conditioning. The latter includes not only cooling and heating, but also dehumidification by desiccant systems. The prototypes presented were designed to use waste heat or solar energ...

An evacuated tube solar collector using therminol D-12 as heat transfer fluid coupled with parabolic trough is studied in this paper. An experimental set-up was constructed to study the performance of evacuated tube collector with therminol D-12 as heat transfer fluid. The parabolic trough is coupled with evacuated tube collector for better performance. In the traditional solar collectors water...

Solar air heater is a type of heat exchanger which transforms solar radiation into heat energy. The thermal performance of conventional solar air heater has been found to be poor because of the low convective heat transfer coefficient from the absorber plate to the air. Use of artificial roughness on a surface is an effective technique to enhance the rate of heat transfer. A CFD-based investiga...

In order to manage the outdoor thermal environment with regard to human health and the environmental impact of waste heat, quantitative evaluations are indispensable. It is necessary to use a thermal environment evaluation index. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between the psychological thermal responses of the human body and winter outdoor thermal environment variables...

Objective This study investigated the wear resistance of injection-molded thermoplastic denture base resins using nanoindentation instrument. Materials and methods Six injection-molded thermoplastic denture base resins (two polyamides, two polyesters, one polycarbonate, one polymethylmethacrylate [PMMA]) and a PMMA conventional heat-polymerized denture-based polymer control were tested. Elastic...

In the present work the effect of Cu-Water nanofluid, as heat transfer fluid, on the performance of a parabolic solar collector was studied numerically. The temperature field, thermal efficiency, mean-outlet temperatures have been evaluated and compared for the conventional parabolic collectors and nanofluid based collectors. Further, the effect of various parameters such as fluid velocity, vol...