The Impact of Width of the Air Gap Channel on the Mass Flow Rate, Rayleigh Number, and Efficiency of Passive Solar Heating System

The mass flow rate and Rayleigh number has been investigated experimentally on the passive solar using Trombe wall consist of (industrial wax) used as phase change material (PCM). A test rig of a cubicle was made of PVC sandwich panel except the south wall, Trombe wall; covered with a clear glass of 6 mm thickness. The six experiments were carried out during the winter season in Kirkuk city with six different widths of the air gap channel (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35) cm. The experimental resultts show that the mass flow rate proportional directly to a width of the channel and inversely with Rayleigh number. Moreover, the highest efficiency was obtained at a depth of 30 cm, where it was about 2.45 times the efficiency of 10 cm.