Abstract: A flat plate solar air collector with double channels is established. The optimization schemes with perforated baffles are proposed. The thermal performance of optimized collector is anlyzed and compared with the commom plane baffle and non-baffle types. The results show that flow dead zones in back of baffles appear generally. The solar air collector with perforated baffles has a higher collector efficiency and thermal perfromance because of the forceful destabilization of flow dead zone. Compared with the model without baffles, the collecor efficiency increases from 53.4% to 67.9%.

Key words: solar air collector; perforated baffles; optimization; collector efficiency