Journal of Ecological Engineering (Mar 2018)
Effect of Nanoparticles on the Performance of Solar Flat Plate Collectors
Abstract
Solar energy constitutes superior renewable source due to its availability, natural distribution and no necessity for transportation. It can be designed to fulfill the requirements of power demands, and can work in synchronization with battery banks and diesel generators or any other power source to provide a continuous and stable power. Solar energy is already one of the best solutions to fulfill power demands. A solar thermal collector is a key element for the collection and conversion of solar energy into thermal energy. There are different types of solar collectors, the most important one is the conventional 'Flat-Plate' kind, which absorbs the incident radiation and converts it to thermal energy. The main objective of this work is to study the effect of Titanium Oxide (TiO 2 ) and Zinc Oxide (ZnO) water-based nanofluids on the performance of solar flat plate collector. In order to achieve this objective, three identical flat plat solar collectors were used with appropriate instrumentations necessary to experimentally calculate their performance. The working fluid in the first collector was pure water, while in the second collector, it was Titanium Oxide water-based nanofluid and in the third one – Zinc Oxide water-based nanofluid. Two different values of volume fraction of both oxides were used as well. It was found that the addition of Titanium Oxide and Zinc Oxide nanoparticles leads to an increase in the efficiency of the solar collector. The efficiency of the collector was found to be maximum over all values of (T in – T amb ) when a 0.2% volume fraction of Titanium Oxide was used with a maximum efficiency of 40%, followed by the case of 0.6% volume fraction of Titanium Oxide. Furthermore, zinc oxide caused a maximum improvement in the performance of solar flat plate collector when 0.6% was used, followed by 0.2% concentration. Finally, it was found that titanium oxide is characterized by more pronounced improvement in the performance of solar flat plate collector.
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