Experimental Investigation on Evacuated Tube Solar Collector Using Biofluid as Heat Transfer Fluid

Bio-oil extracted from waste of different plant kernel was used as heat transfer fluid in evacuated tube solar collector. Thermal performance of the biofluids to the enhancement of the evacuated tube solar collector under varying weather conditions and experimental analysis was carried-out. Thermal analysis on the storage water tank temperature, outlet and inlet heat transfer fluid temperature, and heat gains by was studied. In addition, the biofluids thermophysical properties and degradation analysis was conducted and compared with conventional base-fluids. From the results the biofluids caused enhancement of heat gain in the collector receiver by 9.5%, 6.4% and 3.2% for moringa oleifera kernel oil (MOKO), date kernel oil (DKO) and palm kernel oil (PKO), respectively. The storage water tank temperature at night fall was 53, 49, 51 and 47oC, for the MOKO, DKO, PKO and water HTFs, respectively. The biofluids were thermal stable and with no degradation. The biofluids demonstrated potentials as heat transfer fluids in thermal applications but there are needs for more investigations on their enhancement with organically synthesized nano particles to preserve there no corrosive and toxicity nature, and experimental performance on heat exchangers after several heating cycles.

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Performance study on evacuated tube solar collector using therminol D-12 as heat transfer fluid coupled with parabolic trough

Energy Conversion and Management ◽

10.1016/j.enconman.2014.05.069 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 85 ◽

pp. 505-510 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

P. Selvakumar ◽

P. Somasundaram ◽

P. Thangavel

Keyword(s):

Heat Transfer ◽

Solar Collector ◽

Heat Transfer Fluid ◽

Performance Study ◽

Parabolic Trough ◽

Evacuated Tube Solar Collector ◽

D 12 ◽

Evacuated Tube

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Thermal Performance Analysis of a Novel U-Tube Evacuated Tube Solar Collector

ASME 2020 14th International Conference on Energy Sustainability ◽

10.1115/es2020-1674 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Celine S. L. Lim ◽

Vivek R. Pawar ◽

Sarvenaz Sobhansarbandi

Keyword(s):

Heat Transfer ◽

Heat Pipe ◽

Thermal Performance ◽

Solar Collector ◽

Performance Comparison ◽

Heat Transfer Fluid ◽

Cfd Modeling ◽

Ansys Fluent ◽

Evacuated Tube Solar Collector ◽

Evacuated Tube

Abstract Solar water heating (SWH) systems are the most common application of renewable energy technology that converts solar radiation into useful energy for domestic/industrial activities. The novelty of this study is the design of a new SWH that combines the heat transfer and storage both in a single unit. The selected type of collector for this purpose is an evacuated tube solar collector (ETC). The new design of the ETC has been developed by applying a U-tube inside the collector which contains the heat transfer fluid (HTF). The HTF flows into an external heat exchanger that transfers heat to the water. The implementation of sugar alcohol namely Erythritol (C4H10O4) as the HTF for moderate operating temperature applications was investigated. Moreover, the utilization of solid-liquid phase change material, Tritriacontane paraffin (C33H68), inside the ETC, allows direct heat storage on the system and delayed release of heat. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of a single U-tube ETC is performed using ANSYS Fluent in stagnation (on-demand) operation. A 3D model of the ETC is developed and the appropriate boundary conditions are applied. Moreover, the thermal performance comparison of U-tube vs heat pipe ETC has been done. The results from this study shows the maximum fin temperature difference of 46°C of U-tube ETC compared with heat pipe ETC.

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Numerical Assessment of an Innovative Design of an Evacuated Tube Solar Collector Incorporated with PCM Embedded Metal Foam/Plate Fins

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su131910632 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (19) ◽

pp. 10632

Author(s):

Mohamed Houcine Dhaou ◽

Sofiene Mellouli ◽

Faisal Alresheedi ◽

Yassine El-Ghoul

Keyword(s):

Heat Transfer ◽

Pore Size ◽

Thermal Performance ◽

Solar Collector ◽

Metal Foam ◽

Metal Foams ◽

Heat Transfer Fluid ◽

Evaluation Procedure ◽

Evacuated Tube Solar Collector ◽

Evacuated Tube

The objective of this manuscript is to study the possibility of improving the thermal performance of an Evacuated Tube Solar Collector (ETSC) with the integration of a Phase Change Material (PCM) incorporated into metallic foam and fitted with plate fins. A 2D mathematical model has been proposed. Two types of metal foams (copper and nickel) were inserted. In addition, the effect of metal foam pore size of on heat transfer was studied. The results were acquired through numerical simulations of four different cases; namely, Case 1: pure PCM, Case 2: with metal foam, Case 3: with fins and Case 4: with metal foam and fins. The evaluation procedure involved observing the total change in Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) temperature and melted PCM fraction during a single day. The results proved that the thermal performance of ETSC is improved considerably by inserting metal foam and fins simultaneously. The time required for the whole process is improved by almost 9% compared to the case of pure PCM, and 2% compared to the case of inserting only plate fins. Results revealed that the pore size of the metal foams slightly affects the dynamic process of heat storage/release in the ETSC/PCM system.

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A Study on Thermal Performance of a Novel All-Glass Evacuated Tube Solar Collector Manifold Header with an Inserted Tube

International Journal of Photoenergy ◽

10.1155/2015/409517 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jichun Yang ◽

Qingyang Jiang ◽

Jingxin Hou ◽

Chenglong Luo

Keyword(s):

Solar Collector ◽

Transfer Model ◽

Water Tank ◽

The Novel ◽

Water Heater ◽

Average Temperature ◽

Evacuated Tube Collector ◽

Evacuated Tube Solar Collector ◽

Evacuated Tube ◽

The Relationship

A novel all-glass evacuated tube collector manifold header with an inserted tube is proposed in this paper which makes water in all-glass evacuated solar collector tube be forced circulated to improve the performance of solar collector. And a dynamic numerical model was presented for the novel all-glass evacuated tube collector manifold header water heater system. Also, a test rig was built for model validation and comparison with traditional all-glass evacuated tube collector. The experiment results show that the efficiency of solar water heater with a novel collector manifold header is higher than traditional all-glass evacuated tube collector by about 5% and the heat transfer model of water heater system is valid. Based on the model, the relationship between the average temperature of water tank and inserted tube diameter (water mass flow) has been studied. The results show that the optimized diameter of inserted tube is 32 mm for the inner glass with the diameter of 47 mm and the water flow mass should be less than 1.6 Kg/s.

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Entropy Generation and Thermal Analysis of Nanofluid Flow Inside the Evacuated Tube Solar Collector

10.21203/rs.3.rs-967559/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

S. Mojtaba Tabarhoseini ◽

M. Sheikholeslami

Keyword(s):

Heat Transfer ◽

Entropy Generation ◽

Solar Collector ◽

Base Fluid ◽

Pure Water ◽

Working Fluid ◽

Distribution Analysis ◽

Nanoparticle Dispersion ◽

Evacuated Tube Solar Collector ◽

Evacuated Tube

Abstract In the current investigation, the thermal and thermodynamic behavior of a buoyancy-driven evacuated tube solar collector has undergone precise evaluation, and the efficacy of nanoparticle dispersion in the base fluid has been scrutinized using computational fluid dynamics based on the finite volume method. The natural convection process was analyzed in different vertical sections of the absorber tube. The temperature and velocity distributions of water as the conventional working fluid and the nanofluid were compared at various cutting planes along the tube during the simulation time. In this problem, CuO nanoparticles with optimum thermal properties were suspended in the base fluid. According to the surveyed results, the temperature distribution analysis illustrates that the mean temperature of the tank experiences more enhancement when the nanofluid is used. The comparison of the heat transfer coefficient between two simulated cases shows the competency of utilizing CuO/water nanofluid in the thermal performance improvement of the collector. The results related to entropy generation assessment show that the irreversibility owing to fluid friction rises when the nanofluid is applied during the flow time. In contrast, the entropy generation of pure water owing to heat transfer surpasses the case with nanofluid.

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