Thermal Performance Enhancement in Solar Air Heating Systems

Solar air heating systems convert incident solar radiation into heated airstreams for space heating, drying and industrial processes. Improving their thermal performance hinges on maximising heat transfer between absorber surfaces and airflow while minimising heat losses. Recent strategies include optimising internal flow geometry with fins, baffles or vortex generators to induce turbulence and extend residence time, as well as integrating thermal storage media such as phase change materials. Surface treatments and selective absorbers reduce radiative losses, and coupled systems—such as transpired collectors paired with mechanical ventilation heat recovery—enhance system‐level efficiency. Advances in materials, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling and experimental diagnostics have driven a deeper understanding of the interplay between airflow patterns, heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop. The global significance of these developments lies in reducing building energy demand, lowering carbon emissions and supporting off-grid and industrial applications where reliable low-grade heat is required.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Thermal Performance Enhancement in Solar Air Heating Systems publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in thermal performance enhancement in solar air heating systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Transpired Solar Collector (TSC): A solar air heater featuring a perforated absorber plate through which ambient air is drawn, converting solar gains directly to convective heat.

Phase Change Material (PCM): A substance with high latent heat capacity used within collectors to store and release thermal energy at near‐constant temperatures during melting and solidification.

Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR): A system that recovers heat from exhaust air and transfers it to incoming fresh air, often integrated with solar pre-heating to reduce auxiliary energy use.

References

1. Energy efficient achievement of indoor air quality and thermal comfort using mechanical ventilation heat recovery and solar-energy pre-heating. Energy Conversion and Management (2025).
2. Experimental thermal performance analysis of finned tube-phase change material based double pass solar air heater. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (2019).
3. Numerical analysis of solar air collector provided with rows of rectangular fins. Energy Reports (2020).
4. Numerical calculations of the thermal-aerodynamic characteristics in a solar duct with multiple V-baffles. Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics (2020).
5. CFD Analysis to Study Effect of Circular Vortex Generator Placed in Inlet Section to Investigate Heat Transfer Aspects of Solar Air Heater. The Scientific World JOURNAL (2014).
6. Systematic review of solar air collector technologies: Performance evaluation, structure design and application analysis. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (2022).