Theoretical Energy and Exergy Analysis of Flat Plate Solar Collector with TiO2-Ag/Water Nanocomposite Fluid

The nanocomposite particles dispersed in fluid, called nanocomposite fluid, have great potential to enhance the thermal performance of heat transfer equipment. Thermal conductivity of such nanofluids is higher than that of mono nanofluid and have higher heat transfer characteristics. In this study, the performance of a flat plate solar collector (FPSC) with a new nanocomposite particle TiO2-Ag-based nanocomposite fluid is assessed for both energy and exergy. Thermal conductivity and viscosity of the TiO2-Ag/water nanocomposite fluid and the TiO2/water nanofluid are measured at different temperatures, and a regression model is developed for 0.1 and 0.2 vol% concentrations in distilled water. The maximum thermal conductivity enhancement is about 10.9% and 18.1% for 0.2 vol% of TiO2/water and TiO2-Ag nanocomposite fluid at 60 & DEG;C, respectively. A comparative thermodynamic performance analysis is done for the FPSC using engineering equation solver. It is performed for different mass flow rates, between 0.01 and 0.025 kg/s and reduced temperature between 0 and 0.025 m(2)K/W. For 0.2 vol% TiO2/water nanofluid and TiO2-Ag/water nanocomposite fluid at 0.02 kg/s, the energy efficiency is enhanced by about 0.5 and 1.27%, while the exergy efficiency is enhanced by about 1.25 and 2.54%, respectively. The usage of nanocomposite fluid in FPSC increases the CO2 mitigation by a maximum of 1.56% compared to the conventional collector.