Heat Transfer Enhancement of a Solar Parabolic Trough System using Tabulator's and Nanoparticles - A Numerical Study

The advancement in engineering applications and the recent environmental degradation have generated a strong need for efficient Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) systems offering enhanced rates of heat transfer. The PTC mainly used in engineering applications such as solar thermal systems and power g

Project Title

Heat Transfer Enhancement of a Solar Parabolic Trough System using Tabulator's and Nanoparticles - A Numerical Study

Project Area of Specialization

Mechanical Engineering

Project Summary

The advancement in engineering applications and the recent environmental degradation have generated a strong need for efficient Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) systems offering enhanced rates of heat transfer. The PTC mainly used in engineering applications such as solar thermal systems and power generation systems. Extensive research is done to improve the performance enhancement of PTC and it can be achieved using base fluids and surface enlargers of different shapes. The usage of the surface enlargement elements and nanoparticles in the PTC tube has the potential to enhance the overall efficiency, which is actually the objective of the current project.

Project Objectives

The Objectives of the project are as follows:

• Investigation of heat transfer augmentation in PTC systems using different turbulators with and without nano-particles.

• Investigation of fluid flow characteristics in PTC systems using different turbulators with and without nano-particles.

• Publication of high-quality research papers.

• A step towards the development of an advanced research facility to numerically investigate different Thermo-fluids problems

Project Implementation Method

The numerical study of the heat exchangers used in the PTC systems requires High Powered Computational machines which are normally known as HPC Clusters.

So, firstly an HPC Cluster with specifications suitable to perform numerical simulations of the heat exchangers used in the solar applications will be procured following SPPRA. Secondly, the equipment will be placed and tested after installing the necessary software. Thirdly, numerical studies on heat transfer in solar parabolic trough collectors using different surface enlargements and nano-particles will be performed. Numerical simulations will be performed using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) method with different turbulence models available in the open literature.

The influence of different parameters e.g. physical dimensions of the receiver/absorber tube, Reynolds number of the heat transfer fluid, particle volumetric concentration, etc., will be investigated. Heat transfer in different configurations of the absorber/receiver tube will be investigated. The numerical results will be validated with the published experimental data.

Benefits of the Project

The benefits of the project are as follows:

• The HPC equipment purchase in the project will increase the department computational facility helping to execute High Power Computational simulation studies.

• Having the HPC equipment in the department, different paid industrial projects can be taken and generate revenue for the Department and the University.

• Having the HPC equipment in the department, different national and international research projects can be taken and generate revenue for the Department and the University.

• The project finding will help in the design development of more compact, lighter, and cheaper PTC systems.

• The local industry and community of Pakistan would be benefitted from the project findings, as the efficient and compact PTC systems have the potential to enhance energy conservation.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Designing a modified absorber tube of a parabolic trough solar collector using ANSYS simulation software. A combined enhancement method involving both modifications to the geometry of the absorber tube and the use of a nanofluid as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). The Flow inside the absorber tube which is surrounded by the receiver tube is studied, as greater Reynolds number could lead to greater heat transfer yielding higher efficiency, in order to increase the Reynolds number either obstructions high thermal conductive fluids can be employed. The heat transfer contours and the values of Nusselt number, Reynolds number obtained through simulation would verify the use case of employing the said turbulators or nanofluids inside a solar parabolic trough collector

Final Deliverable of the Project

Software System

Core Industry

Energy

Other Industries

Core Technology

Clean Tech

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Affordable and Clean Energy

Required Resources

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