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Designing the most efficient parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) is still a demanding and challenging research area in solar energy systems. Two effective recommended methods for this purpose that increase the thermal characteristics of PTSCs are adding turbulators and nanofluids. To study the effects of the two approaches on the energy efficiency of PTSCs, a stainless steel turbulator was used and solid nanoparticles of Cu/SBA-15 were added to the water with the volume concentrations of 0.019% to 0.075%. The generated turbulence in the fluid flow was modeled by the SST k–ω turbulent model. The results in daylight demonstrated that energy efficiency increases steadily by 11:30 a.m., and then, starts to drop gradually due to more irradiations at noon. It was observed that applying the turbulator to the studied PTSC has a significant influence on the enhancement of energy efficiency. Adding the nanoparticles augmented the average Nusselt number inside the solar collector in various studied Reynolds numbers. It was also found that the increase in volume concentrations of nanoparticles enhances heat transfer regularly.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	energy, exergy analysis, solar collector, nanofluid
Research Division:	Engineering
Research Group:	Mechanical engineering
Research Field:	Numerical modelling and mechanical characterisation
Objective Division:	Energy
Objective Group:	Energy efficiency
Objective Field:	Commercial energy efficiency
UTAS Author:	Kefayati, G (Dr Gholamreza Kefayati)
ID Code:	139866
Year Published:	2020
Web of Science® Times Cited:	23
Deposited By:	Engineering
Deposited On:	2020-07-09
Last Modified:	2021-02-03
Downloads:	16 View Download Statistics