Open Access

ARTICLE

Performance Analysis of Solar Porous Media Collector Integrated with Thermal Energy Storage Charged by CuFe₂O₄/Water Nanofluids Coil Tubes

Ahmad Mola¹, Sahira H. Ibrahim¹, Nagham Q. Shari², Hasanain A. Abdul Wahhab^3,*

1 Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Technology-Iraq, Baghdad, 35050, Iraq
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Wasit University, Kut, 52001, Iraq
3 Training and Workshop Center, University of Technology-Iraq, Baghdad, 35050, Iraq

* Corresponding Author: Hasanain A. Abdul Wahhab. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advancements in Energy Resources, Processes, Systems, and Materials-(ICSSD2024))

Energy Engineering 2025, 122(6), 2239-2255. https://doi.org/10.32604/ee.2025.061590

Received 28 November 2024; Accepted 08 May 2025; Issue published 29 May 2025

Abstract

High-efficiency solar energy systems are characterized by their designs, which primarily rely on effective concentration and conversion methods of solar radiation. Evaluation of the performance enhancement of flat plate solar collectors by integration with thermal energy storage could be achieved through simulation of proposed designs. The work aims to analyze a new solar collector integrated with a porous medium and shell and coiled tube heat exchanger. The heat transfer enhancement was investigated by varying the geometrical parameters in shell and helically coiled tubes operating with CuFe₂O₄/water with different volume fractions of 0.02%, 0.05%, and 0.1 vol.%. This study presents an experimental and numerical investigation of the performance of the flat plate solar collector integrated with a helical coil heat exchanger using nanofluids. The solar collector has a dimension of 180 cm × 80 cm and works with close-loop systems operated by the thermo siphon method. Two types of helical coil heat exchangers, Coil-A and Coil-B have been investigated. The diameter of the glass porous media was investigated at 2, 5, and 10 mm. The results manifested that the enhancement in the Nusselt number of the nanofluid reached maximum values of 15%, 18%, and 22% for nanofluid ferrofluid with volume concentrations of 0.02%, 0.05%, and 0.1%, respectively, for Coil-A. The maximum values of Nusselt number enhancement were 14%, 17%, and 20% for ferrofluid concentrations of 0.02%, 0.05%, and 0.1 vol.%, respectively, for Coil-B. The results also elucidated that the nanofluid mass flow and heat transfer rates could be noticeably compared to water. Where the increase is 5%, 10%, and 20% for each concentration and diameter of the porous media, it specifies the enormous ranges of operational and geometrical parameters.

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Keywords

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