On the natural convection heat transfer in a rectangular passage solar air heater

•Nu number is measured experimentally and predicted theoretically.•Three different correlations are used to predict Nu number in solar air heater.•Nu values are compared and discussed.•Effect of absorber inclination angle is investigated experimentally and presented. This paper presents and discusses the experimental measurements versus the results from the available correlations in the literature that are commonly used to predict the free convection heat transfer coefficient between the surfaces and the flowing air. The experimental investigations were accomplished using a rectangular duct comprising a flat plate-glass cover as the solar air heater with the following dimensions: 0.48-m width×0.07-m depth×2-m length. The absorber plate was made of 1-mm gauge of aluminium. The measurements were performed at inclination angles of 30°, 50°, and 70° to determine the optimum angle of the absorption-free convection mechanism in a solar air heater. The comparison is presented and discussed in terms of the Nusselt number. The optimum inclination angle to achieve the best collector performance was found to be 50°. The results of the present work can assist in resolving the issue of predicting the free convection in thermal passages.