Effects of Nanofluids in Improving the Efficiency of the Conical Concentrator System

Alsalame Haedr Abdalha Mahmood, Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain and Gwi-Hyun Lee
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Alsalame Haedr Abdalha Mahmood: Department of Biosystems Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain: Agriculture and Life Sciences Research Institute, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea
Gwi-Hyun Lee: Interdisciplinary Program in Smart Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea

Energies, 2021, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Fossil fuels are being depleted, resulting in increasing environmental pollution due to greenhouse gases and, consequently, emerging detrimental environmental problems. Therefore, renewable energy is becoming more important; hence, significant research is in progress to increase efficient uses of solar energy. In this paper, the thermal performance of a conical concentrating system with different heat transfer fluids at varied flow rates was studied. The conical-shaped concentrator reflects the incoming solar radiation onto the absorber surface, which is located at the focal axis, where the collected heat is transported through heating mediums or heat transfer fluids. Distilled water and nanofluids (Al 2 O 3 , CuO) were used in this study as the heat transfer fluids and were circulated through the absorber and the heat storage tank in a closed loop by a pump to absorb the solar radiation. The efficiency of the conical concentrating system was measured during solar noon hours under a clear sky. The collector efficiency was analyzed at different flow rates of 2, 4, and 6 L/min. The thermal efficiency, calculated using different heat transfer fluids, were 72.5% for Al 2 O 3 , 65% for CuO, and 62.8% for distilled water. Comparing the thermal efficiency at different flow rates, Al 2 O 3 at 6 L/min, CuO at 6 L/min, and distilled water at 4 L/min showed high efficiencies; these results indicate that the Al 2 O 3 nanofluid is the better choice for use as a heating medium for practical applications.

Keywords: nanofluid; conical concentrator system; performance comparison; thermal efficiency (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: 2021
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