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Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy / Volume 3 / Issue 2 / REGULAR ARTICLES

J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 3, 023104 (2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3571565 (15 pages)

Applicability of nanofluids in high flux solar collectors

Robert A. Taylor1, Patrick E. Phelan1, Todd P. Otanicar2, Chad A. Walker1, Monica Nguyen1, Steven Trimble1, and Ravi Prasher1

1Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-6106, USA
2Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California 90045, USA

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(Received 5 August 2010; accepted 28 February 2011; published online 1 April 2011; corrected 7 April 2011)

Concentrated solar energy has become the input for an increasing number of experimental and commercial thermal systems over the past 10–15 years [ M. Thirugnanasambandam et al., Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 14 (2010) ]. Recent papers have indicated that the addition of nanoparticles to conventional working fluids (i.e., nanofluids) can improve heat transfer and solar collection [ H. Tyagi et al., J. Sol. Energy Eng. 131, 4 (2009) ; P. E. Phelan et al., Annu. Rev. Heat Transfer 14 (2005) ]. This work indicates that power tower solar collectors could benefit from the potential efficiency improvements that arise from using a nanofluid working fluid. A notional design of this type of nanofluid receiver is presented. Using this design, we show a theoretical nanofluid enhancement in efficiency of up to 10% as compared to surface-based collectors when solar concentration ratios are in the range of 100–1000. Furthermore, our analysis shows that graphite nanofluids with volume fractions on the order of 0.001% or less are suitable for 10–100 MWe power plants. Experiments on a laboratory-scale nanofluid dish receiver suggest that up to 10% increase in efficiency is possible (relative to a conventional fluid)—if operating conditions are chosen carefully. Lastly, we use these findings to compare the energy and revenue generated in a conventional solar thermal plant to a nanofluid-based one. It is found that a 100 MWe capacity solar thermal power tower operating in a solar resource similar to Tucson, AZ, could generate ∼ $3.5 million more per year by incorporating a nanofluid receiver.

© 2011 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. THE NANOFLUID SOLAR COLLECTOR
  3. NANOFLUID OPTICAL PROPERTIES
  4. NANOFLUID RECEIVER MODEL DESCRIPTION
  5. NANOFLUID RECEIVER AND SYSEM MODEL RESULTS
  6. LABORATORY-SCALE NANOFLUID DISH COLLECTOR TESTING
  7. ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
  8. CONCLUSIONS

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

nanofluidics, nanoparticles, solar absorber-convertors

PACS

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3571565

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1941-7012 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

For access to fully linked references, you need to log in.
    T. Otanicar, P. E. Phelan, R. S. Prasher, G. Rosengarten, and R. A. Taylor, J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 2 (2010)JRSEBH000002000003033102000001.


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