Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng

As conventional energy like fossil fuels is getting rare, cost of energy production has been increasingly higher. The concern of environmental pollution caused by burning of hydrocarbon fuels has also been raised among developed and developing nations. These make clean renewable energy a major resea...

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Main Author: Tham, Chi Meng
Format: Thesis
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8004/
http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8004/1/KGH_090027_Tham_Chi_Meng.pdf
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author Tham, Chi Meng
author_facet Tham, Chi Meng
author_sort Tham, Chi Meng
building UM Research Repository
collection Online Access
description As conventional energy like fossil fuels is getting rare, cost of energy production has been increasingly higher. The concern of environmental pollution caused by burning of hydrocarbon fuels has also been raised among developed and developing nations. These make clean renewable energy a major research topic in recent decades. Among them, solar energy, as the most vastly available energy and also supremely effective in terms of energy conversion has been the most sought after. The most common solar thermal collector utilizes black surface as radiant absorber but the efficiency is limited to the effectiveness of the black surface and the transfer of thermal energy from the black surface to the working fluid. Direct Solar Collector, has come to be an innovative measure to this is by using nanofluids as volumetric absorber. Nanofluids are expected to provide excellent optical properties and enhanced thermal transfer. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of nanofluid as working fluid for Direct Solar Collector. With aluminium nanoparticles as additive material and pure water as base fluid, the extinction coefficient of nanofluid is evaluated with nanoparticle size and volume fraction as parameters. The particle sizes and volume fraction studied are 1 nm to 10 nm and 0.1% to 8.0% respectively. The particle size shows minimal influence to the optical properties of nanofluid while the extinction coefficient is linearly proportionate to volume fraction. The transmissivity of light is compared between pure water (base fluid) and nanofluid. The improvement is promising and with only 1.0% volume fraction, the nanofluid is already almost opaque to light wave.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T13:44:05Z
format Thesis
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institution University Malaya
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T13:44:05Z
publishDate 2011
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spelling um-80042017-11-08T08:21:15Z Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng Tham, Chi Meng T Technology (General) TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery As conventional energy like fossil fuels is getting rare, cost of energy production has been increasingly higher. The concern of environmental pollution caused by burning of hydrocarbon fuels has also been raised among developed and developing nations. These make clean renewable energy a major research topic in recent decades. Among them, solar energy, as the most vastly available energy and also supremely effective in terms of energy conversion has been the most sought after. The most common solar thermal collector utilizes black surface as radiant absorber but the efficiency is limited to the effectiveness of the black surface and the transfer of thermal energy from the black surface to the working fluid. Direct Solar Collector, has come to be an innovative measure to this is by using nanofluids as volumetric absorber. Nanofluids are expected to provide excellent optical properties and enhanced thermal transfer. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of nanofluid as working fluid for Direct Solar Collector. With aluminium nanoparticles as additive material and pure water as base fluid, the extinction coefficient of nanofluid is evaluated with nanoparticle size and volume fraction as parameters. The particle sizes and volume fraction studied are 1 nm to 10 nm and 0.1% to 8.0% respectively. The particle size shows minimal influence to the optical properties of nanofluid while the extinction coefficient is linearly proportionate to volume fraction. The transmissivity of light is compared between pure water (base fluid) and nanofluid. The improvement is promising and with only 1.0% volume fraction, the nanofluid is already almost opaque to light wave. 2011-11-26 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8004/1/KGH_090027_Tham_Chi_Meng.pdf Tham, Chi Meng (2011) Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng. Masters thesis, University of Malaya. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8004/
spellingShingle T Technology (General)
TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Tham, Chi Meng
Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng
title Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng
title_full Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng
title_fullStr Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng
title_full_unstemmed Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng
title_short Effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / Tham Chi Meng
title_sort effect of nanofluid-based absorbers on direct solar collector / tham chi meng
topic T Technology (General)
TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
url http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8004/
http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8004/1/KGH_090027_Tham_Chi_Meng.pdf