Heat Transfer and Collector Efficiency through a Direct Absorption Solar Collector with Radiative Heat Flux Effect

Abstract

This article presents a numerical visualization of heat transport for forced convective heat transfer by a two-dimensional heat function formulation through a direct absorption solar collector (DASC) filled with water-copper nanofluid. The penalty finite element method is used to solve nonlinear partial differential equations, and the numerical results are presented for variations in the radiative heat flux, Prandtl number, particle diameter, and solid volume fraction of the nanoparticle. The rate of heat transfer, thermal efficiency, mean entropy generation, and Bejan number are strongly dependent on certain parameters. It is observed that the radiative heat flux variation decreases the mean heat transfer, but increases the collector efficiency and entropy generation for nanofluids more than that for pure water. According to the results obtained from this study, under similar operating conditions, DASC is found to have higher efficiency than a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC). Generally, a DASC performs better than a flat-plate collector; however, much better designed flat-plate collectors might be able to match or outperform the efficiency of a nanofluid-based DASC under certain conditions.