Exergetic investigation and optimization of arc shaped rib roughened solar air heater integrated with fins and baffles

•Analytical study of roughened SAH with fins and baffles is investigated.•Exergy efficiency is evaluated based on exergy destruction and losses.•Genetic algorithm optimises parameters with maximum exergy efficiency of 5.2%.•Optimised mass flow rate is 0.012 kg/s and performs better up to 0.042 kg/s. Present work focuses on exergetic performance and parameter optimization of arc shaped rib roughened solar air heater integrated with fins and baffles. Theoretical analysis based on exergy loss has been considered to study the effect geometrical and operating parameters on exergy efficiency of SAH. Energy and exergy balance equations have been solved by developed code using MATLAB. Variations of exergy destruction and losses with reference to decisive parameters are presented. Further, Genetic algorithm has been invoked to optimize the design and operating parameters of SAH. It is revealed that the maximum exergy efficiency of proposed SAH is 5.2% at optimized conditions. From the plots, it is evident that the maximum exergy is obtained for number of fins of 8, baffle length of 0.2 m, baffle width of 0.015 m and mass flow rate of 0.012 kg/s. Simulations results of present model for proposed SAH has been validated with models available in the literature and found to be in good agreement.