NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF HEAT TRANSFER IN A FLAT-PLATE SOLAR COLLECTOR WITH NANOFLUIDS

Heat transfer aspects of a typical flat-plate solar collector utilizing water-based nanofluids as the working fluid were analyzed numerically. Water-based nanofluids of various compositions containing metallic Al2O3 and Cu nanoparticles with volume fractions ranging from 1% to 5% were examined, and the effects of the nanofluids on the heat transfer were quantified. Relevant parameters such as the heat flux, Reynolds number, and the collector tilt angle were calculated and compared to each other at different boundary conditions. The flat-plate solar collector geometry was simplified, and only a fluid carrying pipe with an absorber surface was chosen as a numerical model with a particular attention to symmetry, instead of taking the entire collector geometry. The numerical model was controlled and confirmed by applying it to similar studies existing in the pertinent literature. All numerical solutions were carried out by using a commercial finite volume soft ware package called ANSYS Fluent. The results show that the nanofluids increase the heat transfer rate ranging from 1% to 8%, when compared to water as a working fluid.