Theoretical Investigation on the Efficiency of Nanofluid-based Flat-Plate Solar Collector

나노유체 기반 평판형 태양열 집열기의 효율에 관한 이론적인 연구

  • Lee, Seung-Hyun (Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Korea Aerospace Univ.) ;
  • Kim, Hyun-Jin (Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Korea Aerospace Univ.) ;
  • Jang, Seok-Pil (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Korea Aerospace Univ.)
  • 이승현 (한국항공대학교 대학원 항공우주 및 기계공학과) ;
  • 김현진 (한국항공대학교 대학원 항공우주 및 기계공학과) ;
  • 장석필 (한국항공대학교 항공우주 및 기계공학부)
  • Published : 2012.03.29

Abstract

Recently, the nanofluid which is stably dispersing or suspending of nanoparticles in the conventional heat transfer fluids (HTF) such as water and ethylene glycol has attracted significant interests as a solar thermal energy absorbing medium because they have excellent absorption and thermophysical properties compared to the typical HTF. In the present study, the efficiency of nanofluid-based flat-plate solar collector is analytically evaluated using the theoretical model of energy balance equation. The theoretical model considers the incoming solar radiation as a volumetric heat generation and the water-based single wall carbon nanohorn(SWCNH) nanofluid is used as a solar energy absorbing medium. Finally, the efficiency of nanofluid-based collector is calculated according to the volume fraction of SWCNH using the analytical solution.

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