A direct absorption solar collector based on a water-ethylene glycol based nanofluid with anti-freeze property and excellent dispersion stability

Xinxin Xu, Chao Xu, Jian Liu, Xiaoming Fang and Zhengguo Zhang

Renewable Energy, 2019, vol. 133, issue C, 760-769

Abstract: Herein a direct absorption solar collector (DASC) with the reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/water-ethylene glycol (EG) nanofluid as the working fluid was firstly explored. The RGO/water-EG nanofluid was prepared from a GO/water-EG nanofluid at a loading of 0.06% via the UV irradiation for 240 s. It is shown that the zeta potential of the RGO/water-EG nanofluid increases with temperature, suggesting its excellent dispersion stability at elevated temperatures. The base liquid consisting EG and water endows the nanofluid with anti-freeze property, making its DASC can be applied in cold weather. The RGO/water-EG nanofluid exhibited better optical absorption property and thermal conductivity than the previously reported RGO/water nanofluid. After being exposed under a solar intensity of 1000 W/m2 for 6000 s, the temperature increase of RGO/water-EG nanofluid increases by 76.9% and the receiver efficiency increases by 70%, as compared to the base fluid. These good characteristics make RGO/water-EG nanofluid promising working fluid for DASCs. Consequently, a numerical simulation was employed to study the DASC based on the nanofluid with the liquid heights varying from 2 to 10 cm. It is revealed that the DASC based on the RGO/water-EG nanofluid exhibits good photo-thermal conversion performance and receiver efficiency, thus showing great potential in practical applications.

Keywords: Direct absorption solar collector; Nanofluid; Anti-freeze property; Dispersion stability; Reduced graphene oxide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148118312576
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:133:y:2019:i:c:p:760-769

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.073

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().