Publications
Efficiency Enhancement of Parabolic through Solar Collector using ZnO/Water Nanofluid
Dec 5, 2024Journal Journal of Advanced Research inMicro and Nano Engineering
DOI https://doi.org/10.37934/armne.27.1.8899
Issue Vol. 27 No. 1: January (2025)
Volume 27
In recent years, the increased demand for energy has contributed to an increase in the number of studies focusing on renewable energy sources. The empirical and theoretical efficiencies of a parabolic trough solar collector are investigated. Fluid includes 1% and 2% volume concentrations of ZnO/water nanofluid and mass flow rates of 0.15 to 0.25 to 0.35 kg/min. The experimental study took place over the course of three months (February, March and April) in Kirkuk, Iraq. The solar collector's thermal losses decreased as the flow rate increased, heat gain increased with sun intensity and the collector's actual and theoretical efficiencies all improved. The efficiency found in experiments was found to be 10% lower than that predicted by theory. At the greatest volumetric flow rate, using a nanofluid composed of 2% ZnO and water improves the performance of solar collectors by 9%.
Number of Tape Twists Effects on Solar Water Heater Performance
Dec 10, 2023Journal International Journal of Integrated Engineering
DOI https://doi.org/10.30880/ijie.2023.15.04.014
Issue No. 4 (2023)
Volume Vol. 15
In solar applications, research into appropriate methods to improve the performance of the solar water heater is important. The current work studies improved the performance of the solar water heater by analyzing the effect of the number of added tape twists. A four-pipe solar water heater was built, and four twisted tapes were used, each with a different number of twists (flat, one, three, and five twists), and each tape was inserted into a pipe. The addition of twisted tapes has found that improved the performance of the solar water heater, and this improvement increased with the number of twists. A one, three, and five-twisted tapes achieved a temperature increase of (5.33, 14.09, and 20.27%) respectively, relative to a flat tape, and the instantaneous efficiency of the five twists tape was the highest, where the highest instantaneous efficiency of the four types rates (9.6, 13.4, 13.8, and 15 %) respectively
Investigation into design and optimisation of solar adsorption cooling/air conditioning under the Iraq climate
Mar 3, 2016DOI https://doi.org/10.30880/ijie.2023.15.04.014
Solar adsorption cooling system can be defined as a system produces a cooling effect by using Sun’s thermal energy. In present study, a solar adsorption cooling system was modelled and simulated using TRNSYS and MATLAB programmes. Parametric investigations have been done on the system by varying several of the crucial design parameters, and their effects on the performance of the system were introduced. The system was analysed on the energy, exergy and economy basis, and it was further optimised by employing a multi-objective genetic algorithm technique with two objective functions. The first objective was maximising the exergy efficiency, and the second objective was minimising the total cost rate over life. The Pareto front optimal solutions that achieved from the multi-objective optimisation were presented. Moreover, Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method was applied to find the final optimal solution. The optimal design was simulated and analysed for individual components of the system. Finally, a comparison has been made with an existing solar cooling system; the comparison showed that the proposed solar adsorption system driven by evacuated tube collector, integrated with hot and cold storage tanks, has a smaller size and better performance, which in turn means less costs. The payback period method is also used in the present study. The techno-economical results showed that due to the high cost of the system and the low cost of electricity in Iraq, financial payback is not feasible, and thus would require further efforts in driving down the costs and government incentives.