The study carried out, to study thermal performance of some solid as storage units. Three similar storage units were designed, manufactured and evaluated in Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agricultural, Minoufiya University. Three types of granulates are Basalt, Sand and Gravel were used to store solar energy during the day, at three thicknesses (20, 40 and 60 cm). The all experiments carried out with closed units during daylight and opened in the night. The all experiments repeated with opened units during daylight and night. Thermal performance was evaluated by, hourly energy stored, daily energy stored (KJ/ kg), storage thermal efficiency, and characteristics of passing air through storage units.
Basalt gave the best results in with all condition, the amount of hourly heat stored at Basalt at thickness 60 cm.
The daily amount of heat (kJ/kg) stored in storage materials at thickness 20 cm was higher than at thicknesses 40 and 60 cm.
The daily amount of heat stored in the Basalt was 23.98, 12.88 and 8.89 kJ / kg at the thickness of 20, 40, 60 cm, respectively, when the storage units are closed during daylight. And by 5.64, 3.29 and 2.92 kJ / kg at the thickness of 20, 40, 60 cm, respectively, when the storage units are open during daylight.
The mean storage efficiency for storage materials at thickness 60 cm was higher than at thicknesses 40 and 20 cm.
The difference in air temperature at the entry and exit from the storage units was higher in the case of air passing through storage unit at 20 cm by 54.61, 77 % than its at thicknesses were 40, 60 cm, respectively, when the storage units are closed during the daylight and opened during night.