An attempt has been made to improve the heat transfer characteristics of the vapor compression refrigeration cycle using nanorefrigerant (R134a and Al2O3, size 20 nm). The performance parameters such as, coefficient of performance, cooling capacity, energy consumption, and temperature drop across condenser and evaporator have been investigated and analyzed. This has been done by varying the mass fraction of nanoparticles of Al2O3 (0.5–1 wt%) and the flow rate of nanorefrigerant. The investigation has been carried out using three types of nanorefrigerants, i.e. pure R134a, R134a+Al2O3 (0.5 wt%), and R134a+Al2O3 (1 wt%) at flow rates of 6.5 L/h and 11 L/h, respectively. The coefficient of performance of the refrigeration system using 0.5% of Al2O3 (wt%) is found to be improving with volume flow rates of nanorefrigerant, i.e. 7.20% for 6.5 L/h and 16.34% for 11 L/h. The use of nanorefrigerant (R134a+Al2O3) has also resulted in a significant increase in the cooling capacity of the refrigeration system. A substantial drop in the temperature across the condenser (3.0–23.77%), and gain in temperature across the evaporator (4.69–39.30%) is also observed for the refrigeration system under investigation.
Nanoscience application plays a major role in heat transfer related problems. A nanofluid is basically a suspension of fine sized nanomaterials in base fluids like water, Therminol VP-1, ethylene glycol, and other heat transfer fluids. This paper evaluates the possible application of nanofluid in parabolic shaped concentrating solar collector using both experimental and CFD analysis. Different types of nanomaterials used are SiO2and CuO of 20 nm average size. Nanofluids of SiO2-H2O (DI) and CuO-H2O (DI) of 0.01% volume concentration are used. Flow rates of 40 LPH and 80 LPH are used. ANSYS FLUENT 14.5 is used for carrying out CFD investigation. 3D temperature distribution of absorber tube is obtained using numerical investigation and the result is compared with the experimental one. Improvement in efficiency of collector of about 6.68% and 7.64% is obtained using 0.01% vol. conc. SiO2-H2O (DI) nanofluid and 0.01% vol. conc. CuO-H2O (DI) nanofluid, respectively, as compared to H2O (DI) at 40 LPH while at 80 LPH improvement in efficiency of collector of about 7.15% and 8.42% is obtained using 0.01% vol. conc. SiO2-H2O (DI) nanofluid and 0.01% vol. conc. CuO-H2O (DI) nanofluid, respectively, as compared to H2O (DI). Both experimental and CFD temperature results are in good agreement.
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