Effect of nanofluids on heat transfer and cooling system of the photovoltaic/thermal performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1920-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rehena Nasrin ◽  
Md. Hasanuzzaman ◽  
N.A. Rahim

PurposeEffective cooling is one of the challenges for photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems to maintain the PV operating temperature. One of the best ways to enhance rate of heat transfer of the PVT system is using advanced working fluids such as nanofluids. The purpose of this research is to develop a numerical model for designing different form of thermal collector systems with different materials. It is concluded that PVT system operated by nanofluid is more effective than water-based PVT system.Design/methodology/approachIn this research, a three-dimensional numerical model of PVT with new baffle-based thermal collector system has been developed and solved using finite element method-based COMSOL Multyphysics software. Water-based different nanofluids (Ag, Cu, Al, etc.), various solid volume fractions up to 3 per cent and variation of inlet temperature (20-40°C) have been applied to obtain high thermal efficiency of this system.FindingsThe numerical results show that increasing solid volume fraction increases the thermal performance of PVT system operated by nanofluids, and optimum solid concentration is 2 per cent. The thermal efficiency is enhanced approximately by 7.49, 7.08 and 4.97 per cent for PVT system operated by water/Ag, water/Cu and water/Al nanofluids, respectively, compared to water. The extracted thermal energy from the PVT system decreases by 53.13, 52.69, 42.37 and 38.99 W for water, water/Al, water/Cu and water/Ag nanofluids, respectively, due to each 1°C increase in inlet temperature. The heat transfer rate from heat exchanger to cooling fluid enhances by about 18.43, 27.45 and 31.37 per cent for the PVT system operated by water/Al, water/Cu, water/Ag, respectively, compared to water.Originality/valueThis study is original and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. This is also not currently under review with any other journal.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 518-537
Author(s):  
R. Nasrin ◽  
S. A. Sweety ◽  
I. Zahan

Temperature dissipation in a proficient mode has turned into a crucial challenge in industrial sectors because of worldwide energy crisis. In heat transfer analysis, shell and tube thermal exchangers is one of the mostly used strategies to control competent heat transfer in industrial progression applications. In this research, a numerical analysis of turbulent flow has been conceded in a shell and tube thermal exchanger using Kays-Crawford model to investigate the thermal performance of pure water and different concentrated water-MWCNT nanofluid. By means of finite element method the Reynold-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and heat transport equations along with suitable edge conditions have been worked out numerically. The implications of velocity, solid concentration, and temperature of water-MWCNT nanofluid on the fluid flow formation and heat transfer scheme have been inspected thoroughly. The numerical results indicate that the variation of nanoparticles solid volume fraction, inflow fluid velocity and inlet temperature mannerism considerably revolutionize in the flow and thermal completions. It is perceived that using 3% concentrated water-MWCNT nanofluid, higher rate of heat transfer 12.24% is achieved compared that of water and therefore to enhance the efficiency of this heat exchanger. Furthermore, a new correlation has been developed among obtained values of thermal diffusion rate, Reynolds number and volume concentration of nanoparticle and found very good correlation coefficient among the values.


Author(s):  
Alireza Rahimi ◽  
Aravindhan Surendar ◽  
Aygul Z. Ibatova ◽  
Abbas Kasaeipoor ◽  
Emad Hasani Malekshah

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the three-dimensional natural convection and entropy generation in the rectangular cuboid cavities included by chamfered triangular partition made by polypropylene. Design/methodology/approach The enclosure is filled by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-H2O nanofluid and air as two immiscible fluids. The finite volume approach is used for computation. The fluid flow and heat transfer are considered with combination of local entropy generation due to fluid friction and heat transfer. Moreover, a numerical method is developed based on three-dimensional solution of Navier–Stokes equations. Findings Effects of side ratio of triangular partitions (SR = 0.5, 1 and 2), Rayleigh number (103 < Ra < 105) and solid volume fraction (f = 0.002, 0.004 and 0.01 Vol.%) of nanofluid are investigated on both natural convection characteristic and volumetric entropy generation. The results show that the partitions can be a suitable method to control fluid flow and energy consumption, and three-dimensional solutions renders more accurate results. Originality/value The originality of this work is to study the three-dimensional natural convection and entropy generation of a stratified system.


Author(s):  
Manab Kumar Das ◽  
Pravin Shridhar Ohal

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the behaviour of nanofluids numerically inside a partially heated and partially cooled square cavity to gain insight into heat transfer and flow processes induced by a nanofluid.Design/methodology/approachA model is developed to analyze the behaviour of nanofluids taking into account the solid volume fraction χ. The transport equations are solved numerically with finite volume approach using SIMPLEC algorithm.FindingsComparisons with previously published work on the basis of special cases are performed and found to be in excellent agreement. Five different relative positions of the active zones are considered.While circulation depend strongly on the total exit length. Governing parameters were 103 < Gr < 107 but due to space constraints the results for 104 < Gr <107 are presented. It is found that both the Grashof number and solid volume fraction χ affect the fluid flow and heat transfer in the cavity. CopperWater nanofluid is used with Pr = 6.2 and solid volume fraction is varied as 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 per cent. Detailed results are presented for flow pattern and heat transfer curves.Originality/valueThe present study focusses on the analysis of several parameters on the heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids within the enclosure.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 963-976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wael El-Maghlany ◽  
Mohamed Teamah ◽  
A.E. Kabeel ◽  
Ahmed Hanafy

In this study, a numerical simulation of the thermal performance of two ribs mounted over a horizontal flat plate and cooled by Cu-water nanofluid is performed. The plate is heated and maintained at a constant temperature and cooled by mixed convection of laminar flow at a relatively low temperature. The top wall is considered as an adiabatic condition. The effects of related parameters such as Richardson number (0.01 ? Ri ? 10), the solid volume fraction (0.01 ? ? ? 0.06), the distance ratio between the two ribs (d/W = 5, 10, and 15), and the rib height ratio (b/W = 1, 2, and 3) on the ribs thermal performance are studied. The numerical simulation results indicate that the heat transfer rate is significantly affected by the distance and the rib height. The heat transfer rate is improved by increasing the nanoparticles volume fraction. The influence of the solid volume fraction with the increase of heat transfer is more noticeable for lower values of the Richardson number. The numerical results are summarized in the effect of pertinent parameters on the average Nusselt number with the assistance of both streamlines and isothermal ones. Throughout the study, the Grashof and Prandtl numbers, for pure water are kept constant at 103 and 6.2, respectively. The numerical work was displayed out using, an in-house computational fluid dynamic code written in FORTRAN, which discretizes non-dimensional forms of the governing equations using the finite volume method and solves the resulting system of equations using Gauss-Seidal method utilizing a tri diagonal matrix algorithm.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 4262-4276 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Jawali Umavathi ◽  
Mikhail Sheremet

Purpose The purpose of this study is a numerical analysis of steady-state heat transfer behavior of couple-stress nanofluid sandwiched between viscous fluids. It should be noted that this research deals with the development of a cooling system for the electronic devices. Design/methodology/approach Stokes model is used to define the couple-stress fluid and the single-phase nanofluid model is used to define the nanofluid transport processes. The fluids in all regions are assumed to be incompressible, immiscible and the transport properties in all the three layers are assumed to be constant. The governing coupled linear ordinary differential equations are made dimensionless by using appropriate fundamental quantities. The exact solutions obtained for the velocity and temperature fields are evaluated numerically for various model parameters. Findings The results are demonstrated using different types of nanoparticles such as copper, silver, silicon oxide (SiO2), titanium oxide (TiO2) and diamond. The investigations are carried out using copper–water nanofluid for different values of couple-stress parameter a with a range of 0 = a = 12, solid volume fraction ϕ with a range of 0.0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.05, Eckert number Ec with a range of 0.001 ≤ Ec ≤ 6 and Prandtl number Pr with a range of 0.001 ≤ Pr ≤ 6. It was found that the Nusselt number increases by increasing the couple stress parameter, Eckert number and Prandtl number and it decreases with a growth of the solid volume fraction parameter. It was also observed that using SiO2–water nanofluid, the optimal Nusselt number is obtained. Further, using copper, silver, diamond and TiO2, nanoparticles and water as a base fluid does not show any significant changes in the rate of heat transfer. The couple-stress parameter enhances the velocity and temperature fields whereas the solid volume fraction suppresses the flow field for both Newtonian and couple-stress fluid. Originality/value The originality of this work is to analyze the heat transfer behavior of couple-stress nanofluid sandwiched between viscous fluids. The results would benefit scientists and engineers to become familiar with the analysis of convective heat transfer and flow structures in nanofluids and the way to predict the heat transfer rate in advanced technical systems, in industrial sectors including transportation, power generation, chemical sectors, electronics, etc.


Author(s):  
Hussein Maghrabie ◽  
Hamouda Mousa

Abstract Recent progress in nanotechnology has lead to a revolution in the automotive cooling system. In the present work, enhancement of car radiator thermal performance was investigated using different nanofluids named SiO2/water, ZnO/water nanofluids as cooling mediums. The present study mainly aims to investigate the impact of (5 wt.%) from SiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in water based on car radiator heat transfer with spherical and hexagonal morphology, respectively. The experiments were performed in two working conditions of the nanofluids i.e coolant temperature and volume flow rate, moreover the present results were compared with the previous studies. The experimental working conditions were set at coolant inlet temperature (tc,i) ranged from 45 oC to 80 oC and the coolant volume flow rate (V) ranged from 3.5 lit/min to 6.5 lit/min. The experimental results show that the hexagonal ZnO/water nanofluid was superior towards enhancement of car radiator thermal performance comparing to that of SiO2 NPs. Additionally, at 6.5 lit/min and 45 °C, the enhancements of car radiator effectiveness due to using SiO2 and ZnO based water nanofluids and compared with that for the based water were 13.9% and 16%, respectively. The present study used the multiple regression analysis (MRA) and hence empirical correlations are suggested to estimate the overall heat transfer coefficient (U) for all coolants as functions of volume flow rate (V) and the coolant inlet temperature (tc,i) with a maximum STDEV of ± 1.85%.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 604-613
Author(s):  
Essma Belahmadi ◽  
Rachid Bessaih

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze heat transfer and entropy generation of a Cu-water nanofluid in a vertical channel. The channel walls are maintained at a hot temperature Tw. An up flow penetrates the channel at a uniform velocity v0 and a cold temperature T0 (T0 < Tw). The effects of Reynolds number Re, Grashof number Gr and solid volume fraction ϕ on streamlines, isotherms, entropy generation, friction factor, local and mean Nusselt numbers are evaluated. Design/methodology/approach The Cu-water nanofluid is used in this study. The software Ansys-fluent 14.5, based on the finite-volume method and SIMPLE algorithm, is used to simulate the mixed convection problem with entropy generation in a vertical channel. Findings The results show that the increase of Reynolds and Grashof numbers and solid volume fraction improves heat transfer and reduces entropy generation. Correlations for the mean Nusselt number and friction factor in terms of Reynolds number and solid volume fraction are obtained. The present results are compared with those found in the literature, which reveal a very good agreement. Originality/value The originality of this work is to understand the heat transfer and entropy generation for mixed convection of a Cu-water nanofluid in a vertical channel.


Author(s):  
Radu Trimbitas ◽  
Teodor Grosan ◽  
Ioan Pop

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to theoretically study the problem of mixed convection boundary layer flow and heat transfer past a vertical needle with variable wall temperature using nanofluids. The similarity equations are solved numerically for copper nanoparticles in the based fluid of water to investigate the effect of the solid volume fraction parameter of the fluid and heat transfer characteristics. The skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number, and the velocity and temperature profiles and are graphically presented and discussed. Design/methodology/approach – The transformed system of ordinary differential equations was solved using the function bvp4c from Matlab. The relative tolerance was set to 1e-10. For the study of the stability the authors also used the bvp4c function in combination with chebfun package from Matlab. Findings – It is found that the solid volume fraction affects the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics. The numerical results for a regular fluid and forced convection flow are compared with the corresponding results reported by Chen and Smith. The solutions exists up to a critical value of λ, beyond which the boundary layer separates from the surface and the solution based upon the boundary-layer approximations is not possible Originality/value – The paper describes how multiple (dual) solutions for the flow reversals are obtained. A stability analysis for this flow reversal has been also done showing that the lower solution branches are unstable, while the upper solution branches are stable.


Author(s):  
Zhe Tian ◽  
Ali Abdollahi ◽  
Mahmoud Shariati ◽  
Atefeh Amindoust ◽  
Hossein Arasteh ◽  
...  

Purpose This paper aims to study the fluid flow and heat transfer through a spiral double-pipe heat exchanger. Nowadays using spiral double-pipe heat exchangers has become popular in different industrial segments due to its complex and spiral structure, which causes an enhancement in heat transfer. Design/methodology/approach In these heat exchangers, by converting the fluid motion to the secondary motion, the heat transfer coefficient is greater than that of the straight double-pipe heat exchangers and cause increased heat transfer between fluids. Findings The present study, by using the Fluent software and nanofluid heat transfer simulation in a spiral double-tube heat exchanger, investigates the effects of operating parameters including fluid inlet velocity, volume fraction of nanoparticles, type of nanoparticles and fluid inlet temperature on heat transfer efficiency. Originality/value After presenting the results derived from the fluid numerical simulation and finding the optimal performance conditions using a genetic algorithm, it was found that water–Al2O3 and water–SiO2 nanofluids are the best choices for the Reynolds numbers ranging from 10,551 to 17,220 and 17,220 to 31,910, respectively.


2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 673-677
Author(s):  
Ankit Kotia ◽  
Subrata Kumar Ghosh

Purpose The present work aims to numerically investigate the natural convective heat transfer performance of aluminium oxide (Al2O3)-gear oil nanolubricant used in heavy earth moving machinery (HEMM). Design/methodology/approach Viscosity, density and thermal conductivity of nanolubricants have been experimentally determined. The numerical simulation has been performed by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for a cylinder cavity which resembles shape of automatic transmission system of HEMM. The left wall temperature has been maintained at 293 to 313 K, and right wall is at a constant temperature of 283 K. Due to absence of any experimental study on natural convective heat transfer performance of Al2O3-gear oil nanolubricant, initially CFD model has been tested for accuracy by comparing experimental, and CFD results for Al2O3-water nanofluid has been available in open literature. Findings It has been observed that Nusselt number increases with increase in Rayleigh number, but it decreases with increasing particle volume fraction. The gear oil-based nanolubricant is expected to have the better thermal performance in HEMM at higher temperature. Practical implications The numerical analysis will help to predict the thermal performance of nanolubricant. The outcome may help the designers, researchers and manufacturers of HEMM. Originality/value Most of the previous studies have been limited with base fluid as water, ethylene glycol, etc. in the field of nanofluid. CFD study for thermal performance of Al2O3-gear oil nanolubricant is essential before the experimental work. This work is the preliminary stage of application of, nanolubricant for heat transfer.


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