Impact of Nanofluids and Specific Frequency Absorbers in Parabolic Trough Collector Solar Furnaces

This meta-study aims to identify methods of optimising the efficiency of upcoming parabolic trough collector (PTC) solar furnace technology by analysing thermodynamic properties of both solar absorbers: SiC, Pyromark 2500, Polychromic Al-AlN and C54-TiSi2 nanoparticles; and heat transfer nanofluids: SiO2, TiO2, Al2O3, Cu and Al2O3-Cu with a 50:50 ratio. The thermodynamic properties investigated are energy absorbance and emittance, melting point, thermal conductivity and viscosity. Our study revealed that the optimal transfer fluid is the hybrid nanofluid Al2O3-Cu with a 50:50 ratio and a 1-2% volume fraction in an ethylene glycol base. The optimal solar absorber for use in combination with this nanofluid was found to be polychromic Al-AlN cerment absorber.

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Experimental Study on Thermal Efficiency of Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) Using Al2O3/H2O Nanofluid

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.787.192 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 787 ◽

pp. 192-196

Author(s):

E. Siva Reddy ◽

R. Meenakshi Reddy ◽

K. Krishna Reddy

Keyword(s):

Experimental Study ◽

Solar Energy ◽

Thermal Efficiency ◽

Base Fluid ◽

Concentration Ratio ◽

Volume Fraction ◽

Nano Particles ◽

Parabolic Trough ◽

Flow Rates ◽

Parabolic Trough Collector

Dispersing small amounts of solid nano particles into base-fluid has a significant impact on the thermo-physical properties of the base-fluid. These properties are utilized for effective capture and transportation of solar energy. This paper attempts key idea for harvesting solar energy by using alumina nanofluid in concentrating parabolic trough collectors. An experimental study is carried out to investigate the performance of a parabolic trough collector using Al2O3-H2O based nanofluid. Results clearly indicate that at same ambient, inlet temperatures, flow rate, concentration ratio etc. hike in thermal efficiency is around 5-10 % compared to the conventional Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC). Further, the effect of various parameters such as concentration ratio, receiver length, fluid velocity, volume fraction of nano particles has been studied. The different flow rates employed in the experiment are 2 ml/s, 4 ml/s and 6 ml/s. Volumetric concentration of 0.02%, 0.04% and 0.06% has been studied in the experiment. Surfactants are not introduced to avoid bubble formation. Tracking mode of parabolic trough collector is manual. Results also reveal that Al2O3-H2O based nanofluid has higher efficiency at higher flow rates.

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Thermal performance analysis of a low volume fraction Al2O3 and deionized water nanofluid on solar parabolic trough collector

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry ◽

10.1007/s10973-020-10313-w ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

G. Vijayan ◽

P. P. Shantharaman ◽

Ramalingam Senthil ◽

R. Karunakaran

Keyword(s):

Performance Analysis ◽

Thermal Performance ◽

Volume Fraction ◽

Deionized Water ◽

Parabolic Trough ◽

Parabolic Trough Collector ◽

Low Volume

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Thermal performance of inserting hybrid nanofluid in parabolic trough collector

Pollack Periodica ◽

10.1556/606.2021.00318 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Otabeh Al-Oran ◽

Ferenc Lezsovits

Keyword(s):

Heat Transfer ◽

Nusselt Number ◽

Thermal Performance ◽

Hybrid Nanofluid ◽

Heat Transfer Characteristics ◽

Parabolic Trough ◽

Transfer Coefficients ◽

Parabolic Trough Collector ◽

Heat Transfer Coefficients ◽

Transfer Characteristics

AbstractIn this work, the thermal performance of using hybrid nanofluid of Ceria oxide and multi-walled carbon nanotube-based MOL 68 in the receiver tube of parabolic trough collector is simulated numerically. The influence of using this nanofluid under various volume concentrations and different Reynold numbers is solved numerically using computational fluid dynamics. The turbulent model's analysis is carried out based on k–ϵ re-normalization group and employed to find the Nusselt number and the heat transfer coefficients. The model results were validated with the previous correlation, which were used to evaluate the Nusselt number. The results showed that hybrid nanofluid enhances the heat transfer characteristics of the parabolic trough collector in comparison with the base fluid. Furthermore, even better heat transfer characteristics can be achieved with an increased volume concentration of the modified nanofluids.

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