Hybridization and functional behaviour enhancement of parabolic trough solar collector featured by porous pebbles
摘要
The parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) has the potential to be used in various domestic and industrial applications, including electricity generation, hot water production, and steam generation. Ambient temperature affects the properties of nanofluids, which can enhance the thermal performance of the PTC. However, the system often fails to fully utilize the incoming solar radiation, resulting in reduced heat transfer rates and overall efficiency. According to this, the present research aims to utilize porous pebbles as a heat storage medium. It is featured with PTC operated by 0.1% concentrations of copper oxide nanofluid (CuO) to enhance the thermal behaviour of PTC. The effect of porous pebble’s average size (5, 10, and 5–10 mm) on solar radiation, outlet temperature, thermal flux, temperature gain, heat loss, and thermal efficiency of PTC is evaluated by the conditions of water without porous material (case 1), CuO nanofluid without porous material (case 2), and CuO nanofluid with 5-mm (case 3), 10-mm (case 4) and 5–10-mm (case 5) porous material. The presence of porous pebble materials in the PTC (parabolic trough collector) demonstrated superior thermal performance. The study revealed that when the PTC operated with CuO nanofluid and 5–10 mm of porous pebbles (case 5), it achieved optimal solar radiation of 955.1 W/m2, an outlet temperature of 97.5 °C, a thermal flux of 5354.7 W/m2, a temperature gain of 40 °C, a reduction in heat loss of 209.4 W, and a thermal efficiency of 71.6%. These results were significantly better compared to the PTC operating without nanofluid and porous materials.