Evaluating Effect of Process Parameters on the Efficiency of Solar Evacuated Tube Collector

Abstract

Solar energy harvesting proves to be an economical, ecologically sustainable, and renewable energy resource for fulfilling the world's expanding energy consumption. An evacuated solar collector stands out as one of the most efficient and practical options when evaluating the many different solar collectors available. Evacuated tube solar collectors (ETSCs) are by far the most popular kind of solar collector due to their high thermal efficiency and low coefficient of heat losses and it gives a promising performance in heat transfer due to their vacuum envelope structure. The existing system has to be modified further to increase its efficiency so that it can be employed in the applications like seawater desalination. The purpose of this research is to explore the energy efficiency of an ETSC that contains novel water-based carbon nanotubes nanofluids. Past research depicts an increase in thermal efficiency of heat pipes by using the water-based carbon nanotubes nanofluids. For this purpose, the effect of process parameters including mass flow rates and nanofluid as a working fluid in the solar evacuated tube accumulator is examined. Also, the impact of several factors on collector efficiency is explored, including nanofluid volume concentration, water outlet temperature, and solar radiation. According to the result, a higher temperature is observed for a higher weight percentage of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) nanoparticles.