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Performance analysis of solar parabolic collector using Al2O3 nanofluids

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Abstract

The present study has been carried out to examine the performance analysis of parabolic solar collector using Al2O3 water-based nanofluids, Al2O3-ethylene glycol-based nanofluids, with different nanoparticle volume concentrations such as 2%, 4% and 6%. Experiments are conducted to determine thermophysical properties such as thermal conductivity, specific heat, density, viscosity using a KD2 prothermal properties analyser, a differential scanning calorimeter, electronic weighing balance, a capillary viscometer, respectively, and the obtained results are compared with solutions of theoretical models. Afterwards, these nanofluids are used in parabolic collector to study its performance for getting high thermal efficiency.

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Abbreviations

C p :

Specific heat of working fluid (KJ/kg K)

A s :

Area of heat transfer (m2)

T i :

Inlet temperature (°C)

T o :

Outlet temperature (°C)

I b :

Incident radiation (W/m2)

R b :

Bond resistance

U :

Overall heat loss coefficient

W :

Width of the aperture (m)

L :

Length of the aperture (m)

D o :

Outer diameter of the tube (m)

γ :

Intercept factor

α :

Absorptivity of absorber tube

τ :

Glass cover transmissivity

ρ :

Specular reflectivity of the concentrated surface

m :

Mass flow rate of the working fluid (kg/s)

A aper :

Aperture area (m2)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, SVUCE, Tirupati, 517502, India

    V. Hari Haran & P. Venkataramaiah

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  1. V. Hari Haran
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  2. P. Venkataramaiah
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Correspondence to V. Hari Haran.

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Haran, V.H., Venkataramaiah, P. Performance analysis of solar parabolic collector using Al2O3 nanofluids. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 136, 366 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01314-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01314-1

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