Energy and Exergy Analysis of Using Turbulator in a Parabolic Trough Solar Collector Filled with Mesoporous Silica Modified with Copper Nanoparticles Hybrid Nanofluid

Abstract

Designing the most efficient parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) is still a demanding and challenging research area in solar energy systems. Two effective recommended methods for this purpose that increase the thermal characteristics of PTSCs are adding turbulators and nanofluids. To study the effects of the two approaches on the energy efficiency of PTSCs, a stainless steel turbulator was used and solid nanoparticles of Cu/SBA-15 were added to the water with the volume concentrations of 0.019% to 0.075%. The generated turbulence in the fluid flow was modeled by the SST k–ω turbulent model. The results in daylight demonstrated that energy efficiency increases steadily by 11:30 a.m., and then, starts to drop gradually due to more irradiations at noon. It was observed that applying the turbulator to the studied PTSC has a significant influence on the enhancement of energy efficiency. Adding the nanoparticles augmented the average Nusselt number inside the solar collector in various studied Reynolds numbers. It was also found that the increase in volume concentrations of nanoparticles enhances heat transfer regularly.

Exergy Optimization of a Solar Collector in Flat Plate Shape Equipped with Elliptical Pipes Filled with Turbulent Nanofluid Flow: A Study for Thermal Management

“…This difference is greater than that in other cases. This fact shows that the assumption of constant U L , as some researchers have considered, is not valid [12], and it is necessary to apply its changes in measurements. Therefore, it is clear that the usage of the novel FPSC with elliptical tubes may lead to more energy and exergy efficiencies.…”

“…One way to achieve this is through the use of nanofluids (NFs) in FPSCs. Many researchers have reported the application of NFs in thermal systems [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In this regard, Baniamerian et al [14] employed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to determine the aerodynamic coefficients of parabolic trough collectors.…”

Mathematical Model of a Sun-Tracked Parabolic Trough Collector and Its Verification

“…This software is the leading tool for flow and heat simulations. It was also used in previous studies to simulate various solar thermal collectors [12,18,23,34]. The developed model is three-dimensional.…”

“…Many studies were devoted to PTC efficiency improvement [9], both experimentally and numerically [10]. The literature also offers a vast number of results for experimental and theoretical computational testing carried out in the range of optical [11] and thermal parameters of the collectors [12]. The effect of the research is that PTCs are now a common and advanced structure intended for solar energy utilization.…”

Efficient Stabilization of Mono and Hybrid Nanofluids

“…Fluids currently used in industrial installations and thermal flow systems are very often modified with different types of additives [1] in order to make them achieve the best possible thermodynamic parameters, and thus to improve heat transfer conditions. In 1995, researchers from the Argonne National Laboratory proposed for the first time the practical use of copper nanoparticles dispersed in water-the fluid which is most commonly used in all sorts of heat exchangers-in order to improve the thermal conductivity.…”