Influence of Nanofluid Types on the Enhancements of Solar Collector Performance

Abstract

Nowadays, solar energy is attracting a great deal of research interest. Optimizing solar collectors by incorporating nanoparticles into the base fluid is one area of current research focus. This study investigates how the types of nanoparticles affect the performance of solar collector. We investigated the effects of various nanoparticles types on performance of solar collector. Nanofluid 1 (alumina nanoparticles; Al₂O₃) and nanofluid 2 (silicon dioxide nanoparticles; SiO₂) were combined with water. Nanofluids are made with a constant nanoparticle concentration of 0.5 vol. %. Data collection was conducted under Iraqi environments during the three-month study period (January, February, and March) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. In particular, the data for every two-hour period is displayed. The results demonstrated the collector’s efficiency significantly influenced by nanoparticles’ type. At 1 p.m. in February, nanofluid 1 was 4.8% in front of nanofluid 2. The significance of nanoparticle materials in enhancing solar collector efficiency is highlighted by this outcome. When water-based fluid in the solar collector was compared to nanofluids 2 and 1, the latter demonstrated a typically better efficiency. Nanoparticle owns higher thermal conductivity which is one of the reasons behind the increments of the nanofluid's overall conductivity.