Performance study of parabolic trough solar collector using hybrid nanofluids under Jordanian weather conditions.

The aim of this experimental and modeling work is to compare the thermal efficiency of two identical parabolic trough solar collector systems under weather conditions in Amman, Jordan, using a hybrid nanofluid of MWCNTs and Y2O3 with gum Arabic surfactant, and distilled water as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). One parabolic trough collector (PTC) uses a hybrid nanofluid at four different volumetric concentrations (0.01, 0.025, 0.05, and 0.1%), while the other uses water as a HTF. To prepare the nanofluids and check their stability, the thermal efficiency of the PTC was examined for different hybrid nanofluid concentrations compared to distilled water. The results showed that the 0.1% MWCNTs and Y2O3 hybrid nanofluid had the highest thermal efficiency of 44.24%, while water had a thermal efficiency of 19.32%. In addition, increasing the concentrations resulted in an improvement in the maximum optical efficiency. The maximum efficiency of 45% was obtained using 0.1% Vol. The Solidworks model was created according to experimental setup parameters and dimensions. The simulation was conducted under steady-state operating conditions, incorporating dimensional governing equations (continuity, momentum, and energy). A uniform heat flux was applied with two primary boundary conditions: the first one was at the receiver inlet where the fluid inlet temperature and mass flow rate were specified, whereas the second one was at the receiver outlet, where the outlet pressure was equivalent to the atmospheric pressure. The obtained experimental results have been compared using the Solidwork simulation model, which was created to determine the PTC's outlet temperature and thermal efficiency. The comparative results demonstrated remarkable precision with an average outlet temperature of 0.03% and thermal efficiency of 0.9%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]