Influence of novel turbulator on efficiency of solar collector system

To reach more efficient solar system, hybrid nanomaterial has been applied through the tube. The pipe was equipped with new shape of turbulator to augment the swirl flow. Special shape of turbulator makes it possible to act as fin because of connection with pipe. Hybrid nanoparticles contain MWCNT and Al2O3 and base fluid is H2O. To model the hybrid nanomaterial, empirical correlation were incorporated considering homogeneous mixture. Turbulent flow within the pipe was molded via K-epsilon technique. Insert of turbulator creates secondary flows which provide higher radial velocity and disruption of isotherms leads to higher convective flow. Checking the accuracy of modeling was done with comparing the obtained data with previous publication about turbulent flow within a tube equipped with turbulator. Augment of revolution can augment the velocity about 43.81% while temperature of plate decreases about 0.016%. Higher pumping power leads to rise of velocity about 99.05% while outlet temperature reduces about 0.096%. Nu and Darcy factor decline by 6.57% and 66.89% with augmenting b. Friction factor decreases with rise of Re by 12.43% while Nu goes up by 75.22%. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

This article introduces a method to improve the efficiency of solar energy systems by using hybrid nanomaterials and special shape of turbulator in the pipe. The study found that inserting turbulator can increase radial velocity, disrupt isotherms, and enhance convective flow. Experimental results demonstrate the improvement of the performance of solar energy systems with this approach.