Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Energy Efficiency in a Flat Plate Solar Collector Using Monolayer Graphene Nanofluids

Omer A. Alawi, Haslinda Mohamed Kamar, Abdul Rahman Mallah, Hussein A. Mohammed, Mohd Aizad Sazrul Sabrudin, Kazi Md. Salim Newaz, Gholamhassan Najafi and Zaher Mundher Yaseen
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Omer A. Alawi: Department of Thermofluids, School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia
Haslinda Mohamed Kamar: Department of Thermofluids, School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia
Abdul Rahman Mallah: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Hussein A. Mohammed: WA School of Mines-Minerals, Energy & Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6102, Australia
Mohd Aizad Sazrul Sabrudin: Department of Thermofluids, School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia
Kazi Md. Salim Newaz: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Gholamhassan Najafi: Department of Biosystem Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 14115-111, Iran
Zaher Mundher Yaseen: New Era and Development in Civil Engineering Research Group, Scientific Research Center, Al-Ayen University, Thi-Qar 64001, Iraq

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: Flat-plate solar collectors are one of the cleanest and most efficient heating systems available. Studies on the presence of covalently functionalized graphene (Gr) suspended in distilled water as operating fluids inside an indoor flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) were experimentally and theoretically performed. These examinations were conducted under different testing conditions namely 0.025 wt.%, 0.05 wt.%, 0.075 wt.%, and 0.1 wt.%, 0.5, 1, and 1.5 kg/min, 30, 40, and 50 °C, and 500, 750, and 1000 W/m 2 . Various techniques were used to characterize the functionalized nanofluids’ stability and morphological properties namely UV/Vis spectrophotometry, EDX analysis with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), zeta potential, and nanoparticle size. The results showed that the collected heat improved as the percentage of GrNPs and the fluid mass flow rates increased, although it decreased as the reduced temperature coefficient increased, whereas the maximum increase in collector efficiency at higher concentration was 13% and 12.5% compared with distilled water at 0.025 kg/s. Finally, a new correlation was developed for the base fluid and nanofluids’ thermal efficiency as a function of dropped temperature parameter and weight concentration with 2.758% and 4.232% maximum deviations.

Keywords: monolayer graphene; flat plate solar collector; energy efficiency; thermal performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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