Numerical analysis of performance of solar parabolic trough collector with Cu-Water nanofluid

In the present work the effect of Cu-Water nanofluid, as heat transfer fluid, on the performance of a parabolic solar collector was studied numerically. The temperature field, thermal efficiency, mean-outlet temperatures have been evaluated and compared for the conventional parabolic collectors and nanofluid based collectors. Further, the effect of various parameters such as fluid velocity, volume fraction of nanoparticles, concentration ratio and receiver length has been investigated. The results show that, by increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles, the performance of the solar parabolic collector enhances.