Enhance thermal efficiency of parabolic trough collector using tungsten oxide/syltherm 800 nanofluid

Abstract

Development of thermal efficiency of the concentrated solar energy especially parabolic trough collector using various nanofluids types has a taken high interest in recent years. In this article enhancement thermal performance inside the heating collecting element of trough collector type LS-2 was simulated and improved using nanofluid consist of Tungsten Oxide WO3 inserting in Syltherm 800. Nanofluid effect was examined by solving the energy balance equation using MATLAB Software to cover wide range concentration volume 1-5% and inlet temperatures ranging from 350-650 K for the turbulent flow. The heat transfer performance and thermal efficiency were improved based on the results, and a notable increase was obtained when volume concentration had been increased compared with base fluid.