Potential of Solar Collectors for Clean Thermal Energy Production in Smart Cities using Nanofluids: Experimental Assessment and Efficiency Improvement

In this article, an experimental study was performed to assess the potential thermal application of a new nanofluid comprising carbon nanoparticles dispersed in acetone inside an evacuated tube solar thermal collector. The effect of various parameters including the circulating volumetric flow of the collector, mass fraction of the nanoparticles, the solar irradiance, the tilt angle and the filling ratio values of the heat pipes on the thermal performance of the solar collector was investigated. It was found that with an increase in the flow rate of the working fluid within the system, the thermal efficiency of the system was improved. Additionally, the highest thermal performance and the highest temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet ports of the collector were achieved for the nanofluid at wt. % = 0.1. The best tilt angle and the filling ratio values of the collector were 30° and 60% and the maximum thermal efficiency of the collector was 91% for a nanofluid at wt. % = 0.1 and flow rate of 3 L/min