Numerical and experimental studies of thermal performance enhancement for parabolic trough solar collector using none-circulated CuO/synthetic oil nanofluid

Abstract

PurposeOne of the existing and commonly used solar energy harvesting devices is the parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC). Because of their ability to operate in low and medium temperatures, parabolic trough concentrators are widely used in power generation plants and industrial process heating applications. Therefore, the investigation of how different operating conditions affect these devices’ overall efficiency has received a great deal of attention in the recent decade. This study aims to enhance the thermal performance of the PTSC and reduce the system cost.Design/methodology/approachIn the novel configuration, a noncirculated nanofluid absorbs solar radiation through a glass wall. The base fluid was synthetic oil (5W30), and the nanoparticles used were copper oxide. The heat captured is immediately absorbed by the water circulating inside the copper tube immersed in the nanofluid. ANSYS FLUENT 15.0 was used for carrying out computational fluid dynamics simulations for two models of single and triple copper tubes. The experimental results obtained from a test rig constructed for this purpose were compared with the numerical outcomes of the single copper tube model.FindingsThe findings of the simulation demonstrated that performance was superior for the single copper tube model over the triple copper tube model. The numerical findings of the single copper tube model were compared with the experimental results. The numerical and experimental results differed from 3.17% to 5.6%. Investigations were carried out to study the effects of varying the volumetric flow rate of (20, 40, 60 and 80 L/h) and water inlet temperatures of (300, 315 and 330 K) on the effectiveness and performance of the newly developed model. Additionally, two nanofluid volume fractions of 0.05% and 0.075% were used for investigating their effect on the performance of the novel configuration. According to the findings, the highest thermal efficiency of 55.31% was recorded at 0.075% concentration and 80 L/h volume flow rate.Originality/valueIn this study, a novel direct absorption solar collector configuration using a noncirculated nanofluid was designed to enhance the thermal efficiency of PTSC. This new approach makes it possible to boost the thermal performance of the PTSC and lower the system’s cost.