Heat transfer improvement in solar operated devices is one of the key issues of energy saving and compact designs. Researches in heat transfer have been carried out over the past several decades, culminating in the development of the heat transfer techniques used at present. The use of additives is a technique employed to enhance the heat transfer performance of base fluids. Recently, an innovative material, nanosized particle has been used in suspension in conventional heat transfer fluids that changes the heat transfer characteristic. In this project, an attempt has been made to verify change in heat transfer behavior while using nanofluids. For this purpose, a conical solar collector has been designed, constructed using locally available sheet steel. Polyurethane foam material is used as a insulating liner inside the cone. Thin reflective aluminum sheet is used to focus the solar radiation onto the absorbing surface. The main objective of this paper is to study the heat transfer behavior of Al2O3, Cu2O and ZnO nanofluid and especially Al2O3nanofluid of various concentrations in absorber space of conical solar collector. Experimental study was conducted on different days and the data were recorded. The results obtained show that addition of nanoparticles in the base fluid, improve the heat transfer rate.
Numerical Investigations of Heat Transfer Performance of Nanofluids in a Flat Plate Solar Collector
