Comparative thermal assessment of Al2O3/EG and ZnO/EG as heat transfer fluids in solar parabolic dish receiver

Kolli Harish Kumar, Abhinav Rajan, Malay Karmakar, Bittagopal Mondal, Phani Kumar Mallisetty and K.S. Reddy

Renewable Energy, 2025, vol. 249, issue C

Abstract: This study numerically analyzed a 3 m parabolic dish collector (PDC) with a novel extended hemispherical receiver, evaluating thermal efficiency using Al2O3/EG and ZnO/EG nanofluids as heat transfer fluids (HTFs). The key parameters examined included nanofluid volume concentration, HTF inlet velocity, and air velocity. Nanoparticles were characterized using FESEM and XRD, and their thermal conductivity was measured experimentally for accurate numerical investigations. Optical and thermal models were integrated using SolTrace and ANSYS®, with a user-defined function (UDF) mapping heat flux data. The system achieved high thermal efficiencies of 84.13% with Al2O3/EG and 83.43% with ZnO/EG, demonstrating the potential of nanofluids in improving solar energy conversion. Increasing volume concentration from 0.1% to 0.4% reduced the Nusselt number, whereas raising the inlet velocity from 0.1 m/s to 0.4 m/s doubled the average Nusselt number for both HTFs. Furthermore, Nusselt number correlations incorporating volume concentration, inlet velocity, and air velocity were developed, achieving high correlation coefficients (R) of 0.97 for Al2O3/EG and 0.98 for ZnO/EG. A comparative analysis confirmed the superior thermal efficiency of the proposed receiver over conventional designs.

Keywords: Solar parabolic dish collector; Extended hemispherical receiver; Heat transfer fluid; Nanofluids (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:249:y:2025:i:c:s096014812500878x

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.123216

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