Experimental Studies of Thermal Performance Enhancement of Flat Plate Collectors Using Nanofluids

Fossil fuel consumption and electricity costs are rising daily in developing nations, causing substantial environmental degradation. Finding inexpensive alternative energy sources is crucial given the aforementioned factor. Solar energy generation provides an effective remedy. Many solar applications employ flat plate collectors. In the present experiment, comparisons were made between a flat plate solar collector made of a glass absorber tube that circulates CuO, Al2O3, and ZnO Nanofluids at flow rates of 0,035, 0.045, and 0.065 l/s to evaluate performance and efficiency. The temperature increased as a result of the nanofluids in the absorber tube absorbing more energy than the water might, and the entire apparatus was insulated to reduce heat loss. At noon, when solar radiation reaches 725W, the efficiency of the collector was 58.3% for CuO, 56.4% for Al2O3, 54.3% for ZnO, and 53.3% for water, at a flow rate of 0.035 l/s, and the corresponding to 0.045, 0.055 l/s, had less than the 9.5%,19% respectively. Similarly, the water fluid had a lower value than the Nanofluids.