Output air temperature prediction in a solar air heater integrated with phase change material

This paper presents a theoretical investigation of output air temperature due to thermal energy discharge process from a phase change material (PCM) unit consists of inline single row of cylinders contain a compound of paraffin wax with aluminum powder. This system consists of a single-glazed solar air collector integrated with a PCM unit which is divided into cylinders as an absorber-container installed in the collector in a cross flow of pumped air. An indoor simulation supposed that the PCM initially at liquid phase (50°C) heated by solar simulator while the pumped air over the cylinders at room temperature (28°C), the mass flow rate, output air temperature, and the freezing time of PCM, represent important factors, eight steps of mass flow rate were started by 0.05 to 0.19kg/s. A Matlab computer program has been developed to compute the air temperature; cylinder by cylinder along the duct, freezing time for each cylinder, and the time required to discharge all the thermal energy. Results show that the air temperature decreases with increasing of mass flow rate, the discharge time take long interval for lower flow rates.