An experimental investigation of the thermal performance of solar collectors utilizing finned aluminum can pipes

An innovative experimental study is presented to improve the performance of solar collectors designed for solar drying systems, focusing on the use of recycled aluminum can waste and the development of the air solar collector. The latter’s absorber is made up of 10 cans with a diameter of 65 mm, a length of 160 mm and a thickness of 0.3 mm, forming a cylindrical finned pipe. Several collector configurations under identical weather conditions, including four collectors with different rows of rods (4, 8, 12–14 rows) and a single collector, were analyzed and compared. The thermal performance of this new collector model was assessed on the basis of solar fluxes and collector inlet and outlet temperatures, collected during the month of September 2021. Experimental results revealed that this collector can increase the outlet temperature of air from 32°C up to 130°C, in the case of a 14-row collector. The study also showed that, at low flow rates, the can-equipped collector achieves an efficiency of 54% for the case of a 14-row collector, compared with 34% for the simple case, representing a 20% improvement over the single case. The study also showed that, at low flow rates, the can-equipped collector achieves higher outlet temperatures.