COMPARISON OF THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF CIRCULAR AND ELLIPTICAL FLAT PLATE TPCT SOLAR WATER HEATER WITH CuO-H2O NANOFLUID

Mechanical Engineering

The two phase gravity assisted closed thermosiphon (TPGAT) are highly efficient heat transfer devices which operate by re-circulating a fluid within a closed hollow tube. This device makes use of high heat transfer coefficients available during phase change of the working fluid and this facilitates a larger amount of heat transfer in a compact device. The recent pioneering advancement in the use of nanofluids as the working fluid in the two phase gravity assisted thermosiphon (TPGAT) significantly improves the heat transfer performance. In this study the thermal performance of wickless elliptical heat pipe (TPCT) solar collectors is investigated by using CuO-H2O nanofluid. The effect of different mass flow rates of water at constant tilt angle on collector efficiency is investigated. This results are compared with wickless circular heat pipe solar collectors. It is found that as compare to circular heat pipe, elliptical heat pipe collector is having higher collector efficiency at same collector angle. Also, as mass flow rate increases, efficiency also increases.

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