Effect of electromagnetic field on the thermal efficiency of concentrated solar collector : experimental study

Abstract EN

In this work, the effect of electromagnetic field on thermal performance of concentrated parabolic trough solar collector is studied experimentally.

a two-axis tracking parabolic trough collector formed of a reflector (mirror tapes matrix), of (2m *1m), and an absorber copper tube (receiver) is designed.

water and water-based magnetic iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanofluid are used as heat transfer fluid in the collector.

three volume concentrations (0.3%, 0.5%, and 0.9%) of nanoparticles are investigated under a magnetic flux of (3.2, 4.3, 6.2, and 7.9*103 gauss), which is installed at absorber inlet, middle, and exit.

the three coils are connected to a dc-generator to control the electromagnetic field.

the electromagnetic field effect on water flow in the absorber is found weak.

a significant thermal improvement is figured when utilizing ferrofluid as a heat transfer fluid in the absorber.

it is represented by higher temperature distributions in the absorber and higher solar collector efficiency compared with base fluid.