Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Straight Conical Strip Inserts with Nanofluids
In this study, we numerically investigated the effect of swirl inserts with and without nanofluids over a range of Reynolds numbers for parabolic trough collectors with non-uniform heating. Three approaches were utilized to enhance the thermal-hydraulic performance—the variation of geometrical prope...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Nanomaterials |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/4/853 |
| _version_ | 1827696632995512320 |
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| author | Nabeel Abed Imran Afgan Hector Iacovides Andrea Cioncolini Ilyas Khurshid Adel Nasser |
| author_facet | Nabeel Abed Imran Afgan Hector Iacovides Andrea Cioncolini Ilyas Khurshid Adel Nasser |
| author_sort | Nabeel Abed |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this study, we numerically investigated the effect of swirl inserts with and without nanofluids over a range of Reynolds numbers for parabolic trough collectors with non-uniform heating. Three approaches were utilized to enhance the thermal-hydraulic performance—the variation of geometrical properties of a single canonical insert to find the optimized shape; the use of nanofluids and analysis of the effect of both the aforementioned approaches; the use of swirl generators and nanofluids together. Results revealed that using the straight conical strips alone enhanced the Nusselt number by 47.13%. However, the use of nanofluids along with the swirl generators increased the Nusselt number by 57.48%. These improvements reduced the thermal losses by 22.3% for swirl generators with nanofluids, as opposed to a reduction of only 15.7% with nanofluids alone. The investigation of different swirl generator designs showed various levels of improvements in terms of the overall thermal efficiency and thermal exergy efficiency. The larger swirl generator (H30mm-θ30°-N4) with 6% SiO<sub>2</sub> nanofluids was found to be the optimum configuration, which improved the overall collector efficiency and thermal exergy by 14.62% and 14.47%, respectively. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:51:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5c7190ec16f84c10a2542ff8734b8f1b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-4991 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:51:13Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nanomaterials |
| spelling | doaj.art-5c7190ec16f84c10a2542ff8734b8f1b2023-11-21T13:02:07ZengMDPI AGNanomaterials2079-49912021-03-0111485310.3390/nano11040853Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Straight Conical Strip Inserts with NanofluidsNabeel Abed0Imran Afgan1Hector Iacovides2Andrea Cioncolini3Ilyas Khurshid4Adel Nasser5Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UKDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi 12277, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UKDepartment of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UKDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi 12277, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UKIn this study, we numerically investigated the effect of swirl inserts with and without nanofluids over a range of Reynolds numbers for parabolic trough collectors with non-uniform heating. Three approaches were utilized to enhance the thermal-hydraulic performance—the variation of geometrical properties of a single canonical insert to find the optimized shape; the use of nanofluids and analysis of the effect of both the aforementioned approaches; the use of swirl generators and nanofluids together. Results revealed that using the straight conical strips alone enhanced the Nusselt number by 47.13%. However, the use of nanofluids along with the swirl generators increased the Nusselt number by 57.48%. These improvements reduced the thermal losses by 22.3% for swirl generators with nanofluids, as opposed to a reduction of only 15.7% with nanofluids alone. The investigation of different swirl generator designs showed various levels of improvements in terms of the overall thermal efficiency and thermal exergy efficiency. The larger swirl generator (H30mm-θ30°-N4) with 6% SiO<sub>2</sub> nanofluids was found to be the optimum configuration, which improved the overall collector efficiency and thermal exergy by 14.62% and 14.47%, respectively.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/4/853heat transferswirl generatorsnon-uniform heatingparabolic solar trough collectorssolar thermal energythermal and hydraulic performance |
| spellingShingle | Nabeel Abed Imran Afgan Hector Iacovides Andrea Cioncolini Ilyas Khurshid Adel Nasser Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Straight Conical Strip Inserts with Nanofluids Nanomaterials heat transfer swirl generators non-uniform heating parabolic solar trough collectors solar thermal energy thermal and hydraulic performance |
| title | Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Straight Conical Strip Inserts with Nanofluids |
| title_full | Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Straight Conical Strip Inserts with Nanofluids |
| title_fullStr | Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Straight Conical Strip Inserts with Nanofluids |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Straight Conical Strip Inserts with Nanofluids |
| title_short | Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Straight Conical Strip Inserts with Nanofluids |
| title_sort | thermal hydraulic analysis of parabolic trough collectors using straight conical strip inserts with nanofluids |
| topic | heat transfer swirl generators non-uniform heating parabolic solar trough collectors solar thermal energy thermal and hydraulic performance |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/4/853 |
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