Loading...

CFD simulation of thermal performance of hybrid oil-Cu-Al2O3 nanofluid flowing through the porous receiver tube inside a finned parabolic trough solar collector

Samiezadeh, S ; Sharif University of Technology | 2022

123 Viewed
  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1016/j.seta.2021.101888
  3. Publisher: Elsevier Ltd , 2022
  4. Abstract:
  5. In this study, we perform numerical simulations to investigate the thermal and flow characteristics of a parabolic trough solar collector equipped with a porous receiver tube and internal longitudinal fins. The heat transfer medium is a synthetic oil-Cu-Al2O3 hybrid nanofluid. We examine the thermal characteristics of the nanofluid in response to variations in several system parameters. We find that at Reynolds numbers between 5 × 103 and 5 × 105, increasing the volume fraction of Cu nanoparticles can increase the temperature gain at the exit of the receiver tube by 6.4%. Furthermore, the temperature gradient in the cross-section of the collector increases as the direct normal solar irradiance decreases. Increasing the volume fraction of Cu and Al2O3 nanoparticles by 0.02 at low Reynolds numbers is found to increase the thermal efficiency by 12.2% with 5.2% adverse effects on the friction factor; Cu nanoparticles are found to be three times more effective than Al2O3 nanoparticles. For Darcy numbers between 0.01 and 0.1, we find that higher permeability has only a minor adverse effect on the thermal efficiency, but can reduce the friction factor to a third of its original value. These findings can be used to improve the efficiency of solar collectors. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd
  6. Keywords:
  7. Hybrid nanofluid ; Numerical simulation ; Parabolic trough ; Solar thermal collector ; Thermal efficiency ; Alumina ; Aluminum oxide ; Collector efficiency ; Computational fluid dynamics ; Copper ; Efficiency ; Flow of fluids ; Friction ; Nanofluidics ; Nanoparticles ; Numerical models ; Reynolds number ; Solar heating ; Adverse effect ; Cu nano-particles ; Friction factors ; Hybrid nanofluid ; Nanofluids ; Parabolic trough ; Parabolic trough solar collectors ; Solar thermal collector ; Thermal characteristics ; Thermal-efficiency ; Volume fraction ; Computational fluid dynamics ; Computer simulation ; Efficiency measurement ; Heat transfer ; Irradiance ; Nanomaterial ; Numerical model ; Performance assessment ; Permeability ; Porous medium ; Reynolds number ; Temperature gradient ; Aluminum Oxide ; Copper ; Efficiency ; Friction Factor ; Reynolds Number ; Temperature ; Tubes
  8. Source: Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments ; Volume 50 , 2022 ; 22131388 (ISSN)
  9. URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213138821009024