Experimental Evaluation on the Effect of Nan fluid Concentration on the Performance of Direct Absorption Solar Collector
Hemant Kumar Gupta1, Ghanshyam Das Agrawal2, Jyotirmay Mathur3

1Hemant Kumar Gupta, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, India
2Ghanshyam Das Agrawal, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, India
3Jyotirmay Mathur, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, India
Manuscript received on November 10, 2014. | Revised Manuscript Received on November 12, 2014. | Manuscript published on November 18, 2014. | PP: 16-20 | Volume-1 Issue-12, November 2014.
Open Access | Ethics and Policies | Cite
© The Authors. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: In this study, a direct absorption solar collector (DASC) working on volumetric absorption principle is developed to perform experimental study for evaluating the effects of different Al2O3 -H2O nanofluid concentration. Experimentation was carried using four different concentrations of 20 nm size Al2O3 nanoparticles, 10 ppm, 50 ppm and 100 ppm. ASHRAE standard 93-86 was followed for calculation of instantaneous efficiency of solar collector. Use of nanofluid as working fluid improves the optical and thermo physical properties that result into an increase in the performance of the collector. Improvement in efficiency of solar collector has been recorded in all three cases of using nanofluids in place of water. Optical efficiency enhancement of 22.1%, 39.6% and 24.6% has been observed for 10 ppm, 50 ppm and 100 ppm concentration respectively.
Keywords: Direct absorption solar collector; Al2O3-water nanofluid; Concentration, Collector testing; Performance enhancement