Effect of Nanoparticles in Working Fluid on Thermal Performance of Solar
Parabolic Trough Collector

Seiyed E. Ghasemi, A. Ranjbar

PII: S0167-7322(16)30738-3
DOI: doi: 10.1016/j.molliq.2016.06.091
Reference: MOLLIQ 5998

To appear in: Journal of Molecular Liquids

Received date: 24 March 2016

Revised date: 21 May 2016
Accepted date: 27 June 2016

Please cite this article as: Seiyed E. Ghasemi, A. Ranjbar, Effect of Nanoparticles in
Working Fluid on Thermal Performance of Solar Parabolic Trough Collector, Journal of
Molecular Liquids (2016), doi: 10.1016/j.molliq.2016.06.091

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Effect of Nanoparticles in Working Fluid on Thermal

Performance of Solar Parabolic Trough Collector

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Seiyed E. Ghasemi  , A. Ranjbar

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr,

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Iran

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Abstract

In this work, forced convection heat transfer turbulent flow inside receiver tube of
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solar parabolic trough collector with nanofluids as working fluid is numerically
simulated. The study is applied for CuO-water and Al2O3-water nanofluids. The
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computational fluid dynamics (CFD) commercial code is employed to find

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hydrodynamic and heat transfer coefficients by means of finite volume method. This
analysis is carried out based on k–ε RNG turbulent model for different heat flux
conditions. The effect of volume fraction (ϕ) of nanofluids on thermal and
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hydrodynamic performance of parabolic trough is discussed. Results show that

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nanofluids enhance heat transfer characteristics of parabolic trough collector in

comparison with pure water. The results indicate that by increasing of the
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nanoparticle volume fraction, the average Nusselt number and friction factor increase
for both nanofluids. Furthermore, Adding Al2O3 and CuO nano-particles (ϕ=3%) to
water enhances the heat transfer by 28% and 35%, respectively.

Keywords : Nanofluids, Solar Parabolic Trough Collector, Numerical Study,

Thermal Performance, Computational Fluid Dynamics.

1. Introduction


Corresponding author:
E-mail: ghasemi.seiyed.e@gmail.com
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Solar energy is the largest and most widely renewable energy source available in the
world. So, direct utilization of solar energy into useful energy is important. There are
so many solar thermal systems in which parabolic trough solar collector is the most
common type of high-temperature solar thermal systems. Figure 1 shows schematic

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of parabolic trough solar collector in which solar irradiation is focused on receiver

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tube by parabolic concentrator and then thermal energy is transferred to the passing

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working fluid in the receiver tube.

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Fig.1---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Lu et al. [1] studied the nonuniform heat transfer model and performance of
parabolic trough solar receiver theoretically due to the energy balances between the
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heat transfer fluid, absorber tube, glass envelope and surroundings. The absorber
tube and glass envelope were both divided into two regions for uneven solar
radiation and wall temperature distribution, and then a nonuniform heat transfer
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model of solar receiver was established. According to the calculation results, the heat
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loss of solar receiver from the nonuniform model was a little higher than that from
the uniform model. As a conclusion, the heat transfer performances of parabolic
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trough solar receiver were better to be calculated by nonuniform model especially

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under onsun condition.

A novel evacuated tubular solar air collector integrated with simplified CPC
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(compound parabolic concentrator) and open thermosyphon using the water based
CuO nanofluid as the working fluid was designed to provide air with high and
moderate temperature by Liu et al. [2]. The detailed experimental investigation of the
air outlet temperature of the system, system collecting efficiency was conducted to
compare collecting performances of collectors using nanofluid as open
thermosyphon’s working fluid with that using water. Experimental results showed
that the collector with open thermosyphon has a much more outstanding collecting
performance compared with the collector with concentric tube. Further, if
substituting nanofluid for water as the working fluid of open thermosyphon, the
collecting performance will have significant improvement.
Ghasemi et al.[3] studied the performance of parabolic solar collector with three
segmental rings numerically. They investigated the effect of three segmental rings
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size on the thermal efficiency of receiver tube. The working fluid was syltherm 800
and the analysis was carried out based on renormalization-group (RNG) k–ℇ
turbulent model. Their numerical simulation was implemented for a constant distance
between three segmental rings. They concluded that by decreasing the inner diameter

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of three segmental rings, the Nusselt number increases, but with considering the

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pressure loss, thermal performance decreases.

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A detailed numerical model based on Large Eddy Simulations (LES) models for

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simulating the fluid flow and heat transfer around a parabolic trough solar collector
(PTC) and its receiver tube was presented by Hachicha et al. [4]. Their study

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provided a quantitative assessment of velocity, pressure and temperature fields
around an isolated parabolic solar collector and its receiver. Numerical results
matched experimental ones, although some discrepancies are observed due to the
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unsteady flow behaviour. Furthermore, the instantaneous flow around the parabola
were studied for different pitch angles in order to explain the variation of the
aerodynamic coefficients. It was shown that the horizontal position ?? = 90
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is the
most favourable position for the PTC to work where the drag forces are lower and
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increase by moving the PTC.

An extensive experimental and CFD simulation campaign was carried out to evaluate
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the dynamic behavior of a parabolic trough solar system for direct steam generation
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by Lobón et al. [5]. The CFD methodology showed validated capabilities to

accurately reproduce the solar test facility response. The simulation results showed a
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consistently close agreement with experimental time series data for different
categories of transients which include variations in solar radiation, inlet mass water
flow and outlet steam pressure. The overall mean squared error between computed
and measured temperature values was lower than 6% for considered all cases.
Moreover, the pressure drop predictions and measurements showed a mean squared
error ranging from 4% to 12%. They concluded that the adopted boiling model
shows a very good performance and the results presented in their work support the
applicability of CFD modeling to study dynamics of direct steam generation in
parabolic-trough solar collectors.
Ghasemi et al.[6] investigated the heat transfer characteristics of parabolic solar
collector with two segmental rings numerically. Their numerical simulation was
implemented for different distances between two segmental rings. They found that
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use of two segmental rings in tubular solar absorber enhances the heat transfer
characteristics of solar parabolic collector. Also their result shows that by decreasing
the distance between two segmental rings,the heat transfer coefficient increases.
Suresh et al.[7] investigated an experimental study on the convective heat transfer

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and friction factor characteristics in circular tube with spiraled rod under turbulent

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flow with constant heat flux is carried out with distilled water and Al2O3-water

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nanofluids. They concluded that heat transfer enhancement is caused by suspending

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nanoparticles and becomes more pronounced with the increase of the particle volume
concentration.

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Bianco et al.[8] studied numerically developing laminar forced convection flow of a
water–Al2O3 nanofluid in a circular tube With uniform heat flux at the wall.They
showed that Heat transfer enhancement increases with the particle volume
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concentration, but it is accompanied by increasing wall shear stress values.
A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study was carried out to study the heat
transfer and pressure drop characteristics of water-based Al2O3 nanofluid flowing
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inside coiled tube-in-tube heat exchangers by Aly [9]. Temperature dependent

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thermophysical properties of nanofluid and water were used and heat exchangers
were analyzed considering conjugate heat transfer from hot fluid in the inner-coiled
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tube to cold fluid in the annulus region. nanoparticles volume concentrations were in
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the range of 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0%. Nanofluid flows inside inner tube side or annular
side. The results obtained showed a different behavior depending on the parameter
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selected for the comparison with the base fluid. Moreover, when compared at the
same Reynolds number, the heat transfer coefficient increases by increasing the
nanoparticles volume concentration.
A numerical analysis of entropy generation in a parabolic trough collector’s solar
receiver was carried out for different concentration ratios, inlet temperatures and
flow rates by Mwesigye et al. [10]. Using temperature dependent thermal properties
of the heat transfer fluid, the entropy generation due to heat transfer across a finite
temperature difference and entropy generation due to fluid friction in the receiver
was determined. Results showed a reduction in the entropy generation rate as the
inlet temperature increases and an increase in the entropy generation rate as the
concentration ratio increases. Results further showed that, there is an optimal flow
rate at which the entropy generated is a minimum, for every combination of
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concentration ratio and inlet temperature. The optimal flowrates at which the entropy
generated is minimum are presented for different flow rate and concentration ratio,
and the results are the same irrespective of the inlet temperature considered.
Yousefi et al.[11] investigated experimentally the effect of Al2O3–water nanofluid, as

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working fluid, on the efficiency of a flat-plate solar collector. The results show that

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in comparison with water as absorption medium using the nanofluids as working

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fluid increase the efficiency. also it can be concluded that the surfactant causes an

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enhancement in heat transfer.
Therefore the aim of the current study is to examine the performance of solar

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parabolic trough collector with nanofluids under turbulent flow condition. The fluid
in the receiver tube is a water based nanofluid containing different type of
nanoparticles: CuO and Al2O3. The effects of nanoparticles volume fraction and
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Reynolds number on flow and heat transfer characteristics are illustrated.
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2. Mathematical Modelling
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Fig.2 shows schematic of receiver tube of parabolic trough collector. Nanofluid

passes away receiver tube and is affected by heat flux up and down. Then heated
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working fluid throw to the receiver tube outlet. The receiver tube with a length(L) of
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2 m, inner diameter(di) of 0.066 m and thickness(t) of 2 mm is studied. Thermo-

physical properties of pure water and nano-particles are given in Table 1 [12].
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Fig.2---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 1------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.1. Governing Equations

The governing equations for turbulent nanofluid flow, three-dimensional and steady-
state, are the continuity, momentum and energy equations in a (R,θ,Z) coordinate
system form given by [13]:
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Continuity equation:

.(V)  0 (1)

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Where V = (VR, Vθ, VZ) is the velocity field.

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Momentum equation:

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p (2)
.(VVi )   .(Vi )  Si
Xi

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Where Xi = R, θ, Z refers to a spatial direction.The terms Si (Remaining viscous
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terms) in the Eq. (2) are given as follows:
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For i=1 , the radial direction :

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V V 2 V  (3)
S1  V    R2  ( 2 )  
R R R  
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For i=2 , the tangential direction :

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 2 V V  V (4)
S2   ( 2 ) R  2   VR 
 R  R  R

For i=3 , the axial direction :

S3  0 (5)

Energy equation:
.(VCp T)  .(kT) (6)

Where Cp is the specific heat.

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2.2. Physical properties of nanofluids

Based on the physics of mixing two materials [14]:

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m m f  m p f  f   p  p (7)
nf      

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  nf f  vp f  vp
(1  )f  p

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For determining of specific heat of nanofluids, proposed model of Xuan and Roetzel
[15] is used (with assumption of heat equilibrium with nanoparticles and base fluid):
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 Q  Qf  Q p (Cp )f  f  (Cp ) p  p (8)
(Cp ) nf  nf    nf  
 mT nf (mf  m p )T f  f   p  p
(1  )(Cp )f  (Cp ) p
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Thus
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(1  )(Cp )f  (Cp )p (9)

Cp nf 
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nf

Thermal conductivity for single phase nanofluid is presented by chon et al. [16]:

knf (10)
 1  64.7  0.746 (d f / d p )0.369  (k p / k f )0.7476 Pr f 0.9955 Re p1.2321
kf

f  kT
Where dp, df, Pr  and Re  f 2b are molecular diameter of base fluid,
f  f 3f f
mean diameter of nanoparticles, Prandtl number and Brownian Reynolds number
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respectively. Mean free path of water molecules (λm) is 0.17nm [17]. For water,
dynamic viscosity is a function of temperature expressed as [17]:

 f  A10B /(T C ) (11)

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Where A, B and C constants are 2.414 105 , 247.8 and 140 respectively. Brownian

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velocity of particles is calculated as [18]:

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kB kB 1 (12)
VBr  

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3 f d p  f 3 d p  f A10B /(T C )
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2.3. Boundary Conditions

The receiver is considered symmetric about its vertical axis. Therefore only half
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section of receiver has been considered for numerical modeling.

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The following boundary conditions are applied in the receiver model:

(i) Inlet boundary condition:
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The flow is having uniform velocity at atmosphere temperature at the receiver inlet:
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u  Uin ,Tf  Tin  320k @ L  0

(13)
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d
0r ,  - 90 <   90
2

(ii) Wall boundary condition:

No-slip conditions exist at inside the pipe wall

d
u  0@ r 
2 (14)
90    -90 ,  0  L  2

A uniform heat-flux is applied at the pipe outer surface

(a) The top half periphery of the receiver is subjected to
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q  Ig
(15)
0    90 ,  0  L  2

(b) The bottom half periphery of the receiver is subjected to

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q  Ib CR
(16)

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 90    0 ,  0  L  2

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Ap
Where Ib  650 w 2 , Ig  750 w 2 and CR 
m m Ar

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(iii) Zero pressure gradient condition is employed across the outlet boundary.
(iv) Symmetry boundary conditions are applied for the receiver
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3. Numerical Procedure
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The geometrical model is created and meshed using commercial software GAMBIT.
In this model, triangular and hybrid/tetragonal mesh were used for inlet/outlet faces
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and volume respectively (see Fig.3) by GAMBIT software.

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The governing equations were solved using finite volume method by segregated
implicit solver with first order formulation with CFD commercial software
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FLUENT-6.2 [19]. The segregated solver solves conservation governing equations

independently, and it is applicable for the incompressible flow. A 3-D steady state
turbulent k–ℇ RNG model with standard wall functions was used for the simulation
of forced convection in the receiver.
The RNG turbulence model is more responsive to the effects of rapid strain and
streamlines curvature, flow separation, reattachment and recirculation than the
standard k– ℇ model. The k– ℇ RNG model gives the best predictions of all the two-
equation models as far as the velocity field, the turbulence kinetic energy and the
recirculation length are concerned [20]. The RNG derived k– ℇ model gave very
good predictions for a pipe with sudden expansion, especially when non-equilibrium
wall-functions were implemented [21]. Therefore k– ℇ RNG turbulent model is
adapted for the parabolic trough receiver system . The discretization scheme used for
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pressure is body force weighted to take the density variations in consideration. The
solution is based on pressure correction method and uses SIMPLEC algorithm [20].
The first order upwind differencing scheme is used for momentum and energy
equations. The solution is considered to be converged sufficiently when the

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normalized residual of 10-3 for momentum and mass and 10-6 for energy equations.

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The simulations were carried out for fully developed flow conditions Heat transfer

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coefficient from the receiver to the fluid is given by :

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q
hf  (17)
Twi  Tref

The Nusselt number is given by: NU

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hf d
Nu  (18)
kf
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Fig.3---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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3.1. Grid Independency

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In order to ensure that the numerical results are accurate, a grid independence study
has been carried out. To find the most suitable size of mesh, grid independent test is
performed for four grids (348254, 775852, 1478541, 2965324 cells). Nusselt number
has been estimated for all four grids and results are compared. Comparison of the
results (see Fig.4) shows that the grid with 1,478,541 mesh cells is found sufficient
for current study.

Fig.4---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3.2. Model Validation

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The model validation is done based on comparing current numerical results of the
Nusselt number and friction factor of pure water flowing in the receiver tube of
collector with Petukhov experimental correlations. The Petukhov correlation for the
fully developed turbulent flow in circular tubes is given by [22]:

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 f 
  Re.Pr

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Nu  8 for 104  Re  5 106 (1)

 Pr 1
1
 f 

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2 2
1.07  12.7   3

8

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The friction factor correlation from Petukhov [18] is of the form:
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f   0.79Ln Re 1.64
-2
(2)

It can be seen that the present CFD results agree fairly well with the correlations used
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for comparison (Eq. (1) and Eq. (2)) , with a maximum difference of 4.1% and 5.5%,
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respectively (Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 5(b)).

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Fig.5---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Moreover, the present study for the receiver tube with nanofluid is also compared
with Suresh et al.[7] (Fig. 6(a) and Fig. 6(b)) , and it is observed that the maximum
deviation between the present numerical results and the experimental study of Suresh
et al.[7] are approximately 5.4% and 6.7%, respectively for Nusselt number and
friction factor.

Fig.6---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Results and discussion

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The effect of nanofluids with the same diameter (30nm) on thermal performance of
parabolic trough was studied. Results were illustrated with different volume fraction
and two types of nanofluids in relative nusselt number and relative friction factor.
Finally contours of temperature field on surface concentrator for different Reynolds

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number were presented.

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Fig.7 shows the relative nusselt number versus Reynolds number for Al2O3

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nanoparticle in different volume fraction. As indicated, the relative nusselt number is

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more than one that causes adding Al2O3 nanoparticle in the base fluid(water). The
nanoparticles have significant thermal conductivity enhancement in water [23]. It can

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be found that using of Al2O3-water nanofluid as working fluid in the receiver tube of
collector improves the heat transfer characteristics of solar system. Also this figure
shows that with increasing of volume fraction of Al2O3 nanoparticle, the relative
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nusselt number increases causes the increasing of fluid thermal conductivity.

Fig.7---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Fig.8 reveals the variations of the relative Nusselt number versus Reynolds number
for CuO nanoparticle in different volume fraction. This figure shows using CuO-
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water nanofluid instead of pure water enhances Nusselt number. Also, increasing the
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volume fraction of nanofluids enhances the heat transfer as shown in Fig.8.

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Fig.8---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fig.9 shows the relative friction factor versus Reynolds number for Al2O3
nanoparticle in different volume fraction. Pure water has low viscosity but with
adding nanoparticles in pure water, the viscosity of fluid enhances thus the relative
friction factor is more than one. As shown in Fig. 8, increasing of volume fraction of
Al2O3 nanoparticle, the relative friction factor increases causes the increasing of
fluid viscosity.

Fig.9---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The relative friction factor versus Reynolds number for CuO nanoparticle in different
volume fraction is plotted in Fig.10. It is clear that using CuO-water nanofluid
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instead of pure water enhances friction factor. Also, increasing the volume fraction
of nanofluids enhances the friction factor as shown in Fig. 10.

Fig.10--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Fig.11 illustrated velocity contours at outlet for different Reynolds number with

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CuO-water nanofluid in constant volume fraction (ϕ=%1.5).

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Fig.11--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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5. Conclusion
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A CFD analysis on thermal and fluid effects of water-based nanofluids on

performance of parabolic trough collector’s solar receiver was carried out for
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different volume fraction of nanofluids and Reynolds numbers. The heat transfer and
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pressure drop characteristics were evaluated and compared for the conventional parabolic
collectors and nanofluid based collectors. The simulation results obviously showed that
the adding of nanoparticles produced a considerable enhancement of the Nusselt
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number with respect to that of the base fluid. It was also shown that heat transfer
enhancement was increasing with the volume fraction of nanofluids. For each studied
volume fraction value, increase of thermal feature of solar parabolic trough collector
was higher for the CuO-water nanofluid. On the other hand, at the same Reynolds
number and volume fraction the friction factor was lower for Al2O3-water nanofluid.

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Fig. 1. solar parabolic concentrator system

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Fig. 2. Schematic of receiver tube of parabolic trough collector
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Fig.3. Grid generation for receiver tube of parabolic trough collector

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Fig. 4. Grid independence study for four different grids

P
CE
AC
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T
R IP
SC
NU
MA
D

Fig. 5.a. Validation of present model for pure water with Petukhov correlations[12] : (a) Nusselt
TE

number
P
CE
AC

Fig. 5.b. Validation of present model for pure water with Petukhov correlations[12] : (b)
friction factor
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T
R IP
SC
NU
MA
D

Fig. 6.a. Validation of present model for nanofluid with Suresh et al.[7] : (a) Nusselt number
P TE
CE
AC

Fig. 6.b. Validation of present model for nanofluid with Suresh et al.[7] : (b) friction factor
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T
R IP
SC
NU
MA
D

Fig. 7. relative Nusselt number of Al2O3 nanofluid at different volume fraction

P TE
CE
AC
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T
R IP
SC
NU
MA
D

Fig. 8. relative Nusselt number of CuO nanofluid at different volume fraction

P TE
CE
AC
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T
R IP
SC
NU
MA
D
P TE

Fig. 9. relative Friction factor of Al2O3 nanofluid at different volume fraction

CE
AC
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T
R IP
SC
NU
MA
D
TE

Fig. 10. relative Friction factor of CuO nanofluid at different volume fraction
P
CE
AC
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T
IP
R
SC
NU
MA
D
PTE
CE
AC
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T
IP
R
SC
NU
MA
D
PTE
CE
AC
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T
R IP
SC
NU
MA
D
P TE
CE

Fig.11. velocity contours for different Reynolds number with CuO-water nanofluid when
AC

ϕ=%1.5
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Table 1 Thermo-physical properties of pure water and nano particles[12]

T
ρ(kg/m3)

IP
Material Cp(J/kg.K) K(W/m.K)

Water 997.1 4179 0.613

R
CuO 6500 535.6 20

SC
Al2O3 3970 765 40

NU
MA
D
P TE
CE
AC
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Highlights

 A CFD analysis on thermal and fluid effects of nanofluid as working fluid for solar
parabolic trough collector was carried out.

 The addition of nanoparticles produced a considerable enhancement of the Nusselt

T
number with respect to that of the base fluid.

IP
 The heat transfer enhancement was increasing with the volume fraction of

R
nanofluids.

SC
NU
MA
D
P TE
CE
AC