Thermo-Statistical Investigation of the Solar Air Collector Using Least Angle Regression

Abstract

The paper presents the notion of high dimensionality—in the results—that could change the exergy and energy characteristics of the two-pass solar collector. To examine the energetic aspect of the collector, two different types of absorber plate surfaces were chosen: one that is smooth and one with triangular fins. Both designs have two-pass and wooden baffles underneath their absorber plates. The induced air blower was used for the forced convection of air. To examine the attribute of the data, the least angle regression (LARS) algorithm was used to find a new exergy model without overfitting the data. The second law efficiency dropped by 18.92% for the given models of the solar collector when the air flow rate surged further from 10.10 g·s−1 to 12.10 g·s−1, whereas the energy efficiency showed contradictory behaviour for the given range of air flow rate. It increased by 3% in the first half of the rise in the air flow rate, and on the other hand, a jump of 8% was recorded in the energy efficiency with a rise in the air flow rate by 19.80%. The addition of wooden baffles in the second passage of the flat plate two-pass collector increased the entropy generation due to air friction by 200%, albeit it dropped by 50% at 12.10 g·s−1. Upon increasing the air stream rate from 8.10 g·s−1 to 12.10 g·s−1, the exergy destruction rate at the front finned surface of the two-pass solar air collector receded by 5.49–8.76%, and at the same time, it elevated for the rear passage provided with the wooden baffles. However, it decreased for both the front and rear surfaces of the solar air collector, as the air flow rate increased by 24.69%.