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Impact of hybrid nanofluid on thermal behavior of flat-plate solar collector: performance study

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Abstract

Energy consumption in buildings is a major contributor to India's greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for a significant portion of the country's environmental impact. Consequently, there is a crucial need to prioritize energy-efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technologies supported by solar thermal collectors to minimize the environmental consequences associated with building energy consumption. In this investigation, a flat-plate collector thermal performance is enhanced by the adaptations of 0.1 volume percentage concentrations of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), nickel (Ni), and combinations of Al2O3–Ni nanoparticles dispersed in water as hybrid nanofluid at 0.028, 0.041, 0.055, and 0.068 kgs−1 flow rates. Influences of nanofluid and flow rate conditions on thermal and exergy efficiency, heat transfer coefficient, entropy generation, and coefficient of performance of FPC are experimentally analyzed and spot that the hybrid nanofluid (Al2O3/Ni/water) own higher thermal and exergy efficiency of 72.8% and 22.9%, better heat transfer coefficient of 133.2 Wm−2 K−1, and high COP of 7.9 under high flow rate. These output results are higher than those of the water-fluid-operated FPC.

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Data availability

All the data required are available within the manuscript.

Abbreviations

A c :

Collector area (m2)

Al2O3 :

Aluminum oxide

C p :

Specific heat of fluid (J kg−1 K−1)

COP:

Coefficient of performance

D :

Tube diameter (m)

F R :

Heat removal factor

Fe2O4 :

Iron dioxide

FPC:

Flat-plate collector

H :

Heat transfer coefficient (Wm−2 K−1)

HVAC:

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning

I :

Solar radiation (Wm−2)

K :

Thermal conductivity (Wm−1 K−1)

ṁ :

Flow rate of fluid (kgs−1)

MgO:

Magnesium oxide

MWCNT:

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Ni:

Nickel

Nu:

Nusselt number

Q u :

Heat gain (W)

Q in :

Energy input (W)

S :

Entropy generation (W K−1)

SiO2 :

Silicon dioxide

T amb :

Ambient temperature (K)

T in :

Inlet temperature (K)

T out :

Outlet temperature (K)

T sun :

Sun temperature (5770 K)

U l :

Heat loss coefficient (Wm−2 K−1)

\(\tau\) :

Transmittance

\(\alpha\) :

Absorptivity

η th :

Thermal efficiency (%)

η e :

Exergy efficiency (%)

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP2024R373), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Ramapuram Campus, Chennai, 600 089, Tamil Nadu, India

    Lokesh Selvam

  2. Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Business, Liwa College, Abu Dhabi, UAE

    M. Aruna

  3. Department of Nuclear and Renewable Energy, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, 620002, Russia

    Ismail Hossain

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), Saveetha University, Chennai, 602105, Tamil Nadu, India

    R. Venkatesh

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karpaga Vinayaga College of Engineering and Technology, Chengalpattu, 603308, Tamil Nadu, India

    M. Karthigairajan

  6. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, 641021, Tamil Nadu, India

    S. Prabagaran

  7. Centre for Materials Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, 600073, Tamil Nadu, India

    V. Mohanavel

  8. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amity University, Dubai, 345019, United Arab Emirates

    V. Mohanavel

  9. Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, 11421, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    A. H. Seikh

  10. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, FEIT, University of Technology, Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia

    Md. Abul Kalam

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  1. Lokesh Selvam
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study's conception and design. The first draft of the manuscript was written by RV, and the individual contributions of ALL authors are given below: LS was involved in formal analysis, MA helped with methodology and writing, IH, SP, and AHS helped with investigation, KM participated in review and editing, VM and MAK helped with writing and language help, and RV participated in original draft preparation, supervision, and validation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Venkatesh.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests to declare relevant to this article's content.

Ethics approval

This is an observational study. Influences of alumina, nickel, and alumina/nickel oxide nanofluid on thermal behavior of solar collector; Research Ethics Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.

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Selvam, L., Aruna, M., Hossain, I. et al. Impact of hybrid nanofluid on thermal behavior of flat-plate solar collector: performance study. J Therm Anal Calorim 149, 5047–5057 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-024-12994-z

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