Heat transfer in a porous absorber and in an insulated pipe for solar convective furnace system

This paper deals with heat transfer analysis in sub-systems for a concept of solar convective furnace system. This system makes use of open volumetric air receiver for heat transfer to air, which is employed as working fluid. In this paper, experimental and numerical evaluation of transient heat transfer (a) in porous absorber and (b) in an insulated pipe is presented. This shows temperature development in absorber and the heating up of an insulated pipe with transport of hot air. Mathematical models to analyze one-dimensional heat transfer in porous absorber and insulated pipe are developed and solved using numerical techniques. The tool, thus developed, is validated using the corresponding experiments. Comparative analysis shows that the predicted and experimentally obtained transient temperature profiles are comparable for both these components. Variations of about 5-15% are observed between numerically and experimentally obtained values.