Influence of the base fluid on the thermo-physical properties of PV/T nanofluids with surfactant

Abstract

Nanofluids have become widely used in different applications. One of these applications, it may be used in Photovoltaic/Thermal PV/T systems, as there is many research that works to determine the best type of nanofluids for this important application. In this study, differences in the thermo-physical properties of three types of nanofluids were emphasized, which used nano-SiC as additive and cetyl-trichromyl ammonium bromide as surfactant. Water was mixed with 35% ethylene glycol, and with 35% of propylene glycol. The study aims to find the best base fluid for use in solar PV/T applications.The increase in density and viscosity of all studied nanofluids was evident as well as the superiority of the density of ethylene glycol water mixture (for the tested temperature range, nano-EG-water density was higher than nano-water and nano-PG-water densities by 15.51% and 0.066%, respectively compared to water). The propylene glycol-water mixture has higher viscosity than the other two nanofluids (it was higher than nano-water and nano-EG-water viscosities by 16.066% and 0.212%, respectively compared to water). The thermal conductivity of the three nanofluids was close to each other in the studied temperatures region. Glycol solutions were more stable than water when ultra-shaking hours were from four to six hours.