Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Parabolic Trough Collector Based on Geometry Modifications and Working Fluid Usage

Okonkwo, Eric C.; Abid, Muhammad; Ratlamwala, Tahir Abdul Hussain

doi:10.1115/1.4040076

Cited by 62 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Okonkwo et al [54] selected six working fluids including supercritical CO 2 , Therminol VP-1, pressurized water, Al 2 O 3 /Therminol VP-1, CuO/Therminol VP-1, and Fe 3 O 4 /Therminol and conducted an experimental study to study their effect on the thermal efficiency of PTC. They concluded that application of pressurized water as working fluid might lead to highest efficiency enhancement at low temperatures.…”

Section: Experimental Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Nanofluids in Thermal Performance Enhancement of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector: State-of-the-Art

et al. 2019

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The present review paper aims to document the latest developments on the applications of nanofluids as working fluid in parabolic trough collectors (PTCs). The influence of many factors such as nanoparticles and base fluid type as well as volume fraction and size of nanoparticles on the performance of PTCs has been investigated. The reviewed studies were mainly categorized into three different types of experimental, modeling (semi-analytical), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The main focus was to evaluate the effect of nanofluids on thermal efficiency, entropy generation, heat transfer coefficient enhancement, as well as pressure drop in PTCs. It was revealed that nanofluids not only enhance (in most of the cases) the thermal efficiency, convection heat transfer coefficient, and exergy efficiency of the system but also can decrease the entropy generation of the system. The only drawback in application of nanofluids in PTCs was found to be pressure drop increase that can be controlled by optimization in nanoparticles volume fraction and mass flow rate.

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Section: Experimental Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Nanofluids in Thermal Performance Enhancement of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector: State-of-the-Art

et al. 2019

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“…Okonkwo et al [190] performed a comparative study on the choice of working fluid to be used in a parabolic trough collector. The authors compared the use of pressurized water, supercritical carbon dioxide, Therminol VP-1, and 3 different oil-based nanofluids using CuO, Fe 3 O 4, and Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles, respectively.…”

Section: Nanofluids In Solar Parabolic Trough Collector (Ptc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanofluids in Solar Thermal Collectors: Review and Limitations

et al. 2020

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Solar thermal collectors are systems that allow for the use of solar energy in thermal applications. These collectors utilize a heat transfer fluid to transport absorbed solar radiation to applications where they are needed. Scientists in a bid to improve the conversion efficiency of solar collectors have suggested different collector designs and improved collector materials. Over the last 25 years, the study of nanofluids and their applications have revolutionized material science, and nanotechnology has found applications in improving solar collector materials. This article reviews the impact of different nanomaterials on the efficiency of solar collectors. The study also outlines the limitations of applying nanofluids and discusses the long-term challenges of their application to solar collectors. Nanofluids have the potential to improve the overall efficiency of most solar collectors, however, the full potential of nanofluids in heat transfer applications cannot be completely achieved until some of the questions regarding hysteresis, stability, and the overall predictability of nanofluids are answered.

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“…Properties of the Therminol-VPI are temperaturedependent, and a polynomial regression equation is used to calculate specific heat capacity (C p ), viscosity (μ), density (ρ), and thermal conductivity (k) for temperature range (233.15 K ≤ T ≤ 673 K), expressed by. 48 The sCO 2 and pressurized water are examined at a pressure and T A B L E 1 Design parameters for parabolic dish collector and Rankine cycle 11,21,44…”

Section: Mathematical Modeling and Thermodynamic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermo‐environmental investigation of solar parabolic dish‐assisted multi‐generation plant using different working fluids

et al. 2020

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The present study investigates the performance of a multi-generation plant by integrating a parabolic dish solar collector to a steam turbine and absorption chiller producing electricity and process heat and cooling. Thermodynamic modeling of the proposed solar dish integrated multi-generation plant is conducted using engineering equation solver to investigate the effect of certain operating parameters on the performance of the integrated system. The performance of the solar integrated plant is evaluated and compared using three different heat transfer fluids, namely, supercritical carbon dioxide, pressurized water, and Therminol-VPI. The useful heat gain by collector is utilized to drive a Rankine cycle to evaluate the network output, rate of process heat, cooling capacity, overall energetic, and exergetic efficiencies as well as coefficient of performance. The results show that water is an efficient working fluid up to a temperature of 550 K, while Therminol-VPI performs better at elevated temperatures (630 K and above). Higher integrated efficiencies are linked with the lower inlet temperature and higher mass flow rates. The integrated system using pressurized water as a heat transfer fluid is capable of producing 1278 and 832 kW of power output and process heat, respectively, from input source of almost 6121 kW indicating overall energy and exergy efficiencies of 34.5% and 37.10%, respectively. Furthermore, multi-generation plant is evaluated to assess the exergy destruction rate and steam boiler is witnessed to have the major contribution of this loss followed by the turbine. The exergo-environmental analysis is carried out to evaluate the impact of the system on its surroundings. Exergo-environmental impact index, impact factor, impact coefficient, and impact improvement are evaluated against increase in the inlet temperature of the collector. The single-effect absorption cycle is observed to have the energetic and exergetic coefficient of performances of 0.86 and 0.422, for sCO 2 operating system, respectively, with a cooling load of 228 kW.

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Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Parabolic Trough Collector Based on Geometry Modifications and Working Fluid Usage

Cited by 62 publications

References 51 publications

Application of Nanofluids in Thermal Performance Enhancement of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector: State-of-the-Art

Application of Nanofluids in Thermal Performance Enhancement of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector: State-of-the-Art

Nanofluids in Solar Thermal Collectors: Review and Limitations

Thermo‐environmental investigation of solar parabolic dish‐assisted multi‐generation plant using different working fluids

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