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Thermal performance evaluation of a nanofluid‐based flat‐plate solar collector

An experimental study and analytical modeling

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Abstract

The thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) is investigated experimentally and analytically. The studied nanofluid is SiO2/deionized water with volumetric concentration up to 0.6% and nanoparticles diameter of 20–30 nm. The tests and also the modeling are performed based on ASHRAE standard and compared with each other to validate the developed model. The dynamic model is based on the energy balance in a control volume. The system of derived equations is solved by employing an implicit finite difference scheme. Moreover, the thermal conductivity and viscosity of SiO2 nanofluid have been investigated thoroughly. The measurement findings indicate that silica nanoparticles, despite their low thermal conductivity, have a great potential for improving the thermal performance of FPSC. Analyzing the characteristic parameters of solar collector efficiency reveals that the effect of nanoparticles on the performance improvement is more pronounced at higher values of reduced temperature. The thermal efficiency, working fluid outlet temperature and also absorber plate temperature of the modeling have been confirmed with experimental verification. A satisfactory agreement has been achieved between the results. The maximum percentage of deviation for working fluid outlet temperature and collector absorber plate temperature is 0.7% and 3.7%, respectively.

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Abbreviations

\(A_{\text{c}}\) :

Collector surface (m2)

\(C_{\text{p}}\) :

Specific heat at constant pressure (J kg−1 K−1)

\(D_{\text{h}}\) :

Hydraulic diameter (m)

\(d_{\text{np}}\) :

Nanoparticle size (m)

\(F_{\text{R}}\) :

Collector heat removal factor

\(h\) :

Convection heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

\(I\) :

Incident solar irradiation (W m−2)

\(K\) :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

\(k_{\text{B}}\) :

Boltzmann constant (J K−1)

\(L\) :

Riser tube length (m)

\(m\) :

Mass (kg)

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

\(Nu\) :

Nusselt number

\(P\) :

Riser pitch

\(Pr\) :

Prandtl number

\(\dot{Q}_{\text{u}}\) :

Useful gain of energy (W)

\(Re\) :

Reynolds number

\(T\) :

Temperature (K)

\(U_{\text{L}}\) :

Loss coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

\(V\) :

Volume (m3)

\(\dot{V}\) :

Volume flow rate (m3 s−1)

\(\alpha\) :

Thermal diffusivity (m2 s−1)

\(\delta\) :

Uncertainty

\(\Delta x\) :

Control volume length (m)

\(\eta\) :

Collector performance efficiency

\(\theta\) :

Tilt angle (°)

\(\mu_{{}}\) :

Viscosity (kg m−1 s−1)

\(\rho\) :

Density (kg m−3)

\(\sigma\) :

Stefan–Boltzmann constant

\((\tau \alpha )_{\text{e}}\) :

Effective transmission–absorption coefficient (optical efficiency)

\(\varphi\) :

Volume fraction

a:

Air gap

am:

Ambient

ab:

Absorber

f:

Base fluid

g:

Glass

i:

Insulation

in:

Inlet

nf:

Nanofluid

out:

Outlet

np:

Nanoparticle

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

    H. Javaniyan Jouybari & S. Saedodin

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran

    M. Eshagh Nimvari

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  1. H. Javaniyan Jouybari
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Jouybari, H.J., Nimvari, M.E. & Saedodin, S. Thermal performance evaluation of a nanofluid‐based flat‐plate solar collector. J Therm Anal Calorim 137, 1757–1774 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-019-08077-z

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