Journal of the Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineers

CSME 2020/02
Volume 41 No.1 : 75-83

Effects of CeO₂/ Water Nanofluid on the Efficiency of Flat Plate Solar Collector

P. Michael Joseph Stalin ^a, T.V. Arjunan ^b, M.M. Matheswaran ^c and N. Sadanandam ^b
^aDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Audisanakara College of Engineering and Technology, Gudur, Nellore Dist. - 524101, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.
^bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Coimbatore Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore-641 109, Tamilnadu, INDIA.
^cDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Jansons Institute of Technology, Coimbatore-641659, Tamilnadu, INDIA.

Abstract: In the present work the effect of CeO₂/water nanofluid on the performance of a flat plate solar collector was investigated experimentally. Two units of flat plate solar water heating systems, one for conventional mode and another for heat exchanger mode, with 100 liters per day capacity were fabricated with the collector area of 2m². Ladder type heat exchanger was used in the heat exchanger mode to transfer heat energy from collector to the water. The average particle size of 25nm and lower volume fraction of 0.05% were considered for the experimental study. Experiments were performed with and without polyvinyl pyrrolidine (PVP) used as the surfactant. The flow rate of nanofluid was varied from 1 lpm to 3 lpm and the efficiency was calculated as per ASHRAE standard. The experimental result revealed that the utilization of CeO₂/water nanofluid with flow rate of 1.5 lpm in heat exchanger mode increases the collector efficiency by 24.2% than conventional mode and the CeO₂/water nanofluid is suitable for improving the performance of flat plate solar water heating system.

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