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Experimental investigation on the heat transfer performance of evacuated tube solar collector using CuO nanofluid and water

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Abstract

The efficiency of an evacuated tube solar collector was experimentally measured and analyzed according to the size of CuO nanoparticle and the concentration of the CuO nanofluid. In addition, the efficiency of the evacuated tube solar collector using CuO nanofluid as a working fluid was compared with that when water was used. As a result, the efficiency of the evacuated tube solar collector improved as the concentration of the CuO nanofluid increased at low concentration. Further, the efficiency of the evacuated tube solar collector was higher at a mass flux rate of 598 kg/s·m2 than at 420 kg/s·m2. The highest efficiency of the solar collector with 40 nm-CuO nanofluid was 69.1 %, an improvement of 2.0 % compared to 80 nm-CuO nanofluid. The most optimal concentration of the 40 nm-CuO nanofluid was 0.5 vol% and an improvement of thermal efficiency was 7.2 % compared to water. In addition, at this concentration, the efficiency improved by 4.4 %, 2.3 % and 0.3 % compared to that at concentrations of 0.1 vol%, 0.3 vol% and 0.7 vol%, respectively. The use of CuO nanofluid in the evacuated tube solar collector can improve the efficiency and can maintain the high efficiency for wide operating conditions compared to water.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School, Chosun University, 303 Pilmundaero, Dong-gu, Gwangju, 61452, Korea

    Woobin Kang & Yunchan Shin

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chosun University, 303 Pilmundaero, Dong-gu, Gwangju, 61452, Korea

    Honghyun Cho

Authors
  1. Woobin Kang
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  2. Yunchan Shin
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  3. Honghyun Cho
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Honghyun Cho.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Chang Yong Park

Woobin Kang is M.S. student of mechanical engineering, Chosun University. His research interest includes the improvement of solar collector performance using nanofluids, and its applications in heat transfer area.

Yunchan Shin is a Ph.D. candidate of mechanical engineering, Chosun University. His research interest includes the performance improvement of solar collector, thermal comfort in automobile air-conditioning system, and the performance improvement in the HVAC system et al.

Honghyun Cho is a Professor in School of Mechanical Engineering, Chosun University. He received Ph.D. from Korea University in 2005. His research interest includes the heat pump system with renewable energy, alternative refrigerant HVAC system, heat and mass transfer in the heat exchanger, pool boiling using nanofluids, etc.

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Kang, W., Shin, Y. & Cho, H. Experimental investigation on the heat transfer performance of evacuated tube solar collector using CuO nanofluid and water. J Mech Sci Technol 33, 1477–1485 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-019-0249-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-019-0249-6

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