Thermal performance optimization of smooth flat plate solar air heater (SFPSAH) using simulated annealing: Evaluation and comparisons

Nowadays, the interest of researcher growing in the field of optimization of solar systems in order to improve the thermal performance by reducing friction losses and increasing heat transfer rates either using optimization techniques or improving system design by introducing roughness elements. In case of solar air heater, the working fluid is air which reduces the probability of corrosion and also decreases the weight of collector and correspondingly reduces the cost. The thermal performance of solar air heater is low which can be increased by rising heat transfer rates which can be obtained by using high flow rates. In this work, simulated annealing algorithm has been implemented to optimize the thermal performance of flat plate solar air heater and predict the optimized set of design and operating parameters. The concept of simulated annealing based on the physical annealing process in statistical mechanics which governs first law of thermodynamics. The algorithm for the optimization is developed as well as simulation is carried out based upon the code developed in MATLAB. The design and operating parameters which affect the thermal performance are wind velocity, irradiance; tilt angle, mass flow rate, ambient temperature, emissivity of plate and number of glass cover plates. In this work the optimized set of these parameters are obtained and the optimized thermal performance is evaluated. The results obtained show that the maximum thermal performance is 72.48 % for three number of glass plate at an irradiance of 600 W/m2. The final results obtained from this technique are compared with other optimization techniques like PSO, GA and found to be satisfactory. These results are also compared with the experimental results.