ENGINEERING FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT Jelgava, 29.-30.05.2008. 51 MOVABLE AIR SOLAR COLLECTOR AND ITS EFFICIENCY

Abstract. Implementing the guidelines of the Latvian National Programme for Energy in the field of alternative energy, intensive research shall be carried on regarding the use of solar energy, as it can be successfully used not only for the purposes of water heating and production of electrical energy, but also for air warming. The amount of heat necessary for the drying of rough forage and grain drying by active aeration in June, July and August can be obtained using solar radiation. The Latvian Guidelines for the Energy Development 2006 – 2016 state that the solar radiance in Latvia is of quite low intensity. The total amount of solar energy is 1109 kWh m-2 per year. The period of usage of the solar thermal energy is beginning from the last decade of April, when the intensity of radiation is 120 kWh m-2, until the first decade of September. Within this period (approximately 1800 hours), it is possible to use the solar thermal energy by placing solar collectors. The usage of solar collectors for in drying of agricultural production is topical from the viewpoint of decreasing the consumption of energy used for the drying, as electrical energy and fossil energy resources become more expensive and tend to run out. In the processes that concern drying of agricultural production, efficiently enough solar radiation energy can be used. Due to this reason researching continues and expands in the field of usage of solar energy for the processes of drying and heating. The efficiency factor of the existing solar collectors is not high, but they are of simple design and cheep for production and exploitation. By improving the design of the solar collectors and choosing moder