Open AccessExperimental investigation of the effects of sonication time and volume concentration on the performance of PVT solar collector
Author(s) -
Rajendiran Gangadevi,
Kuppusamy Vinayagam Babu,
Shanmugasundaram Senthilraja
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
iet renewable power generation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.005
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1752-1424
pISSN - 1752-1416
DOI - 10.1049/iet-rpg.2018.5283
Subject(s) - nanofluid , sonication , volume (thermodynamics) , materials science , viscosity , thermal conductivity , noon , heat transfer fluid , analytical chemistry (journal) , composite material , thermal , chemical engineering , chemistry , thermodynamics , chromatography , nanotechnology , nanoparticle , physics , astronomy , engineering
In this research, the effects of sonication time and volume concentration of cupric oxide (CuO)/water nanofluids on the thermal conductivity, viscosity and performance of photovoltaic–thermal (PVT) solar collector are investigated experimentally. Pure water, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2% volume concentrations of CuO/water nanofluids prepared with 1, 2, 3 and 4 h sonication time are used as the heat transfer fluids in this study. The experimental results show that the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids are the functions of sonication time and volume concentration and using a 0.2 vol.% nanofluid prepared with 4 h sonication time, the thermal conductivity and viscosity were enhanced up to 3.5 and 7.5%, respectively, with respect to the base fluid, whereas for the same volume concentration and sonication time, the observed thermal and electrical efficiencies of the PVT solar collector are 80.7 and 15.1%, respectively, at 12 noon. It was observed that the highest total efficiency of the PVT solar collector of about 95.8% was obtained for 0.2% CuO/water nanofluid and 4 h sonication time at 12 noon.