Heat Transfer Enhancement in Parabolic through Solar Receiver: A Three-Dimensional Numerical Investigation

Abstract

Parabolic trough collectors (PTC) are one of the most established solar concentrating systems which have been used in a wide variety of applications. Enhancing their performance is critical to establish them as a viable technology. Internal obstacles are an intriguing way for improving the collector’s performance. However, the usage of obstacles results in increasing pressure loss. The purpose of this research is to numerically explore the impact of introducing obstacles to the receiver tube of a parabolic trough collector on heat transmission in PTCs and its overall thermal performance. The first part analyzed the effects of geometrical parameters, orientation angle (α = 45°, 90° or 135°), and spacing of obstacles (P/D = 1, 2, or 3) on the fluid motion, heat transfer, and performance. Then, a non-uniform heat flow was applied to the absorber’s outer surface. The effects of nanoparticles type, temperature profile, and heat transfer performance of three different nanofluids (Cu/thermal oil, Al2O3/thermal oil, andTiO2/thermal oil) were studied in the second part. The simulation results show that, the friction factor increased when P/D decreases, and that the absorber tube with obstacles discs (α = 90°) and P/D = 2 achieved the best thermal performance. Additionally, increasing the concentration of solid nanoparticles in thermal oil improves heat transmission, and the Cu nanofluid has the greatest Nusselt number.

Physical insight into thermal analysis of magnetohydrodynamic stagnation point flow of micropolar nanofluid across a flexible surface equipped with porous medium and Fourier and Fick's law

“…Due to their remarkable heat transfer characteristics, researchers have explored various types of nanofluids extensively to gain a deeper understanding of their behavior. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Dealing with problems related to this foundational fluid is deemed a formidable task, primarily owing to the presence of nonlinear equations. The introduction of similarity invariants plays a pivotal role in diminishing the count of independent variables within the resulting equations for such problems.…”

“…The term “nanofluid” refers to a mixture where nanometer‐sized nanoparticles are dispersed within traditional base fluids, forming a continuous phase. Due to their remarkable heat transfer characteristics, researchers have explored various types of nanofluids extensively to gain a deeper understanding of their behavior 1–11 . Dealing with problems related to this foundational fluid is deemed a formidable task, primarily owing to the presence of nonlinear equations.…”

Synthesis and Study of Palladium Mono- and Bimetallic (with Ag and Pt) Nanoparticles in Catalytic and Membrane Hydrogen Processes

“…Nowadays, the nanotechnology field has significantly strengthened its position in many branches of human activity [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. The design, development, and study of nanostructures attract the great attention of scientists all around the world because of the wide range of nanoparticle applications.…”

Enhanced heat transmission in hydrodynamic Maxwell and Jeffrey cylindrical film flows: A computational numerical simulation

“…By keeping the above applications in view, Ghasemi et al 1 proposed an Eulerian two-phase method to examine the improved heat transmission in PTSC by considering nanoliquid motion through it. A case study investigating the practical usage of solar energy in PTSC considering the Maxwell model was hypothetically premeditated by Jamshed et al 2 Later on, Fahim et al 3 protracted the work for a three-dimensional nano case and concluded that the heat transmission rate could be improved by enhancing the nanoparticle concentration. The effect of mass diffusion on hydrodynamic 3D Mawell nanoliquid motion above an elongated superficial in the incidence of cross-diffusion properties was exactly examined by Reddy and Lakshminarayana.…”