Impact of hybrid nanofluid on thermal behavior of flat-plate solar collector: performance study

Energy consumption in buildings is a major contributor to India's greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for a significant portion of the country's environmental impact. Consequently, there is a crucial need to prioritize energy-efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technologies supported by solar thermal collectors to minimize the environmental consequences associated with building energy consumption. In this investigation, a flat-plate collector thermal performance is enhanced by the adaptations of 0.1 volume percentage concentrations of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), nickel (Ni), and combinations of Al2O3-Ni nanoparticles dispersed in water as hybrid nanofluid at 0.028, 0.041, 0.055, and 0.068 kgs(-1) flow rates. Influences of nanofluid and flow rate conditions on thermal and exergy efficiency, heat transfer coefficient, entropy generation, and coefficient of performance of FPC are experimentally analyzed and spot that the hybrid nanofluid (Al2O3/Ni/water) own higher thermal and exergy efficiency of 72.8% and 22.9%, better heat transfer coefficient of 133.2 Wm(-2) K-1, and high COP of 7.9 under high flow rate. These output results are higher than those of the water-fluid-operated FPC.