Augmented v-corrugated absorber plate using shot-blasting for solar air heater - Energy, Exergy, Economic, and Environmental (4E) analysis

Need for increasing the shelf life of agricultural produce using renewable energy based A decentralized system are significantly increasing. The solar air heating systems (SAHs) are efiiecnet and environment fridnly systems which are used for preserving agricultural produce thourgh the reduction of moisture content. However, these systems had poor thermal efficiency and the way for increasing the effeiciney are much need in the present era. This article presents the energy, exergy, and economic analysis of a modified solar air heater system (SAH). The proposed (modified) SAH has a V-corrugation absorber plate; the inner surface was modified using shot-blasting technology. This is the first study to experimentally investigate a modified SAH and compare the results with those of a conventional SAH. Additionally, an environmental and sustainability assessment of the SAH is pre-sented. The SAH performance was tested at airflow rates ranging from 0.01 to 0.02 kg. sec  1. The proposed SAH achieved higher energy and exergy efficiencies (15% and 34%, respectively) than a conventional SAH at a flow rate of 0.02 kg. sec  1. Although the modification significantly improves the SAH performance, the performance must be further improved as the SAH has a low exergy efficiency. Through extensive experimental investigation, it was found that the modified SAH performs well in terms of energy, exergy, and economics. Pertaining to MFR of 0.01, 0.015, and 0.02 kg. sec  1 the average energy efficiency of the modified SAH was increased by around 2.4%, 3.1%, and 5.8% greater than that of the conventional SAH, respectively. Concerning the MFR of 0.01, 0.015, and 0.02 kg. sec  1 the average exergy efficiency (AEE) was augmented about 0.21, 0.36, and 0.70 higher in the modified SAH, respectively. With MFRs of 0.01, 0.015, and 0.02 kg. sec  1, the modified SAH system mitigates approximately 10.3 tons, 18.06 tons, and 28.7 tons of CO2/year, respectively. The enviroeconomic factors of the modified (shot blasted) SAH were augmented by about 23.4%, 15.1%, and 18.2% compared with the conventional SAH at MFRs of 0.01, 0.015, and 0.02 kg. sec  1, respectively.