Numerical Analysis on Heat Collecting Performance of Novel Corrugated Flat Plate Solar Collector Using Nanofluids

To improve the heat collection performance of flat plate solar collectors, a corrugated flat plate solar collector (CFPSC) with a triangular collector tube was first innovatively designed in this paper. The effect of various nanofluids that are used as working fluid on the heat collection performance of CFPSC was comprehensively analyzed based on the heat collection characteristics test system and numerical simulation model. The results indicate that when CuO and Al2O3 were used as nanoparticles, the heat collection stabilization time of the nanofluids for which ethylene glycol (EG) was used as the base fluid was 12.4 similar to 28.6% longer than that of the nanofluids for which water was used as the base fluid. Moreover, when the base fluid was EG, the temperature difference of CuO-EG nanofluid under different radiation intensities was about 5.8 similar to 19.2% higher than that of water. Furthermore, the heat collection performance of CuO nanofluids and Al2O3 nanofluids was superior to TiN nanofluids. Specifically, the heat collection of CuO-EG nanofluid was 2.9 similar to 4% higher than that of TiN-EG nanofluid at different radiation intensities. Therefore, using nanofluids as a working medium and designing a flat plate solar collector with triangular collector tubes can significantly improve the collector performance.