AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE PERFORMANCE OF A NANOFLUID-BASED CONCENTRATING PARABOLIC SOLAR COLLECTOR (NCPSC)

In the present study, an attempt has been made to improve the performance of a parabolic solar collector by using nanofluids instead of conventional fluids like water as a working fluid.The present investigation mainly focuses on the nanofluid-based concentrating parabolic solar collector.The performance of a parabolic solar collector is investigated experimentally by studying the effect of alumina (Al2O3) & copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles in water, as working fluids.Three mass flow rates (20, 40 & 60) litres/hr and one particle volume concentration of 0.05% by volume have been examined.The average size of a nanoparticle is 20-30 nm.Nanofluids are prepared without using any surfactant.For water-based copper oxide (CuO) & water-based alumina (Al2O3) nanofluid, for a concentration of 0.05% (vol.), the maximum instantaneous efficiency was found to be 18.4% and 10.37% & thermal efficiency was found to be 6.6% and 3.74%.A comparison of waterbased alumina nanofluid is done with copper oxide nanofluid and it is observed that by using CuO nanofluid as a working fluid the value for maximum instantaneous & thermal efficiency is 8.75% & 3.06% for 60 litres/hr mass flow rate with 0.05% concentration.Therefore, from the results it can be concluded that the performance of solar collectors is remarkably enhanced by using nanofluids as working fluid in the solar collector.