Performance enhancement of flat plate solar collector using ZrO2-SiC/DW hybrid nanofluid: A comprehensive experimental study

Abstract

It is becoming very difficult for the industrial and technological sectors to meet the ever-escalating fuel and energy demands of a growing population. Experts and scholars have emphasized studying the feasibility of using renewable energies specifically solar energy. In this regard, huge efforts have been invested lately to study the effects of adding nanofluids in solar-based devices. The hybrid nanofluid in this work is prepared by dispersion of ZrO2-SiC particles in distilled water (DW). The nanofluid is employed into a Flat plate solar collector (FPSC) to identify the performance change of the collector. The study is conducted in solar energy laboratory, Gödöllő, Hungary. Next, various instruments are employed to evaluate the nanofluids’ stability and thermo-physical properties. Consequently, the ASHRAE standard 93–2003 is followed during the evaluation of the efficiency of solar collectors filled with nanofluids at mass flow rate of 0.025, 0.033, and 0.041 kg/s. The outcomes of the experiment revealed that the solar collector system showed greater energy and exergy efficiencies in the presence of a nanofluid as compared to the exergy and energy efficiencies shown by the system-based distilled water. The results indicated that at zero value of [(Ti – Ta)/GT], volume fraction of 0.1 % and mass flow rate of 0.041 kg/s, the collector showed maximum thermal efficiency equalling 75.21 %. Hence, nanofluid addition leads to a 31.64 % enhancement in thermal efficiency. It was found that the solar collector exergetic performance was evaluated which indicated a decline in exergy efficiency at a higher mass flow rate and also indicated a rise in the exergy efficiency at a higher concentration of nanoparticles in the nanofluid. At the concentration of 0.1 %, the system yielded maximum increase of about 28.31 % in the exergy efficiency.