Performance Evaluation of Flat Plate and Vacuum Tube Solar Collectors by Applying a MWCNT/Fe 3 O 4 Binary Nanofluid

Minjung Lee, Yunchan Shin and Honghyun Cho
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Minjung Lee: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Chosun University, 303 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 501-759, Korea
Yunchan Shin: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Chosun University, 303 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 501-759, Korea
Honghyun Cho: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chosun University, 303 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 501-759, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: This study experimentally investigated the performance characteristics of water and MWCNT/Fe 3 O 4 binary nanofluid as a working fluid in a flat plate and vacuum tube solar collectors. As a result, the highest efficiency was 80.3% when 0.005 vol.% MWCNT/0.01 vol.% Fe 3 O 4 binary nanofluid was applied to the flat plate solar collector, which was a 17.6% increase in efficiency, compared to that when water was used. In the case of the vacuum tube solar collector, the highest efficiency was 79.8%, which was 24.9% higher than when water was applied. Besides, when the mass flux of MWCNT/Fe 3 O 4 binary nanofluid was changed from 420 to 598 kg/s·m 2 , the maximum efficiencies of the flat plate and vacuum tube solar collectors were increased by 7.8% and 8.3%, respectively. When the MWCNT/Fe 3 O 4 binary nanofluid was applied to the vacuum tube solar collector, the efficiency improvement was much more significant, and the high performance could be maintained for wide operating conditions, compared with the flat plate solar collector.

Keywords: flat plate solar collector (FPSC); vacuum tube solar collector (VTSC); binary nanofluid; thermal efficiency; multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT); Fe 3 O 4 ferrofluid (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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