Author/Authors :
chuen, k.w. school of engineering,taylor’s university,taylor s lakeside campus,no. 1 jalan taylor s,subang jaya, Malaysia , qian, c.w. school of engineering,taylor’s university,taylor s lakeside campus,no. 1 jalan taylor s,subang jaya, Malaysia , hwa, c.c. school of engineering,taylor’s university,taylor s lakeside campus,no. 1 jalan taylor s,subang jaya, Malaysia , fouladi, m.h. school of engineering,taylor’s university,taylor s lakeside campus,no. 1 jalan taylor s,subang jaya, Malaysia
Abstract :
The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of using coconut coir and polypropylene as thermal insulators for a solar air collector. The absorber of the solar collector is made of an aluminium plate with area of 20.0 × 47.0 cm2 and thickness of 3.0 mm in the form of rectangular shape. The solar collector wall was made of plywood with 1.0 cm thickness and designed as a flat-plate solar collector. The thermal efficiencies of the collector with coconut fibre insulation and collector with polypropylene drinking straw insulation were evaluated and graphs were plotted. The final results showed that thermal efficiency of coconut coir insulated collector is 13.7% higher than polypropylene insulated collector. The average outlet air temperature of polypropylene insulated collector was 1.46% lower than coconut coir insulated collector. Coconut coir is also able to use in other devices such as boiler,water heater or vacuum flask. © School of Engineering,Taylor’s University.
Keywords :
Coconut fibre , Heat transfer , Polypropylene , Solar collector , Thermal insulation
