The effects of using aqueous nanofluids containing covalently functionalized graphene nanoplatelets with triethanolamine (TEA-GNPs) as novel working fluids on the thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) have been investigated. Water-based nanofluids with weight concentrations of 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1% of TEA-GNPs with specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m2/g were prepared. An experimental setup was designed and built and a simulation program using MATLAB was developed. Experimental tests were performed using inlet fluid temperatures of 30, 40, and 50 °C; flow rates of 0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 kg/min; and heat flux intensities of 600, 800, and 1000 W/m2. The FPSC’s efficiency increased as the flow rate and heat flux intensity increased, and decreased as inlet fluid temperature increased. When using nanofluids in the FPSC, the measured temperatures of absorber plate and tube wall decreased down to 3.35% and 3.51%, respectively, with the increase in weight concentration and specific surface area, while the efficiency increased up to 10.53% for 0.1- wt% TEA-GNPs nanofluid with specific surface area of 750 m2/g, in comparison with water. When using water as heat transfer fluid, very good agreement was obtained between the experimental and predicted values of absorber plate temperature, tube wall temperature, and collector’s efficiency with maximum differences of 3.02%, 3.19%, and 3.26%, respectively. While, when using nanofluids, higher differences were found, up to 4.74%, 4.7%, and 13.47% for TEA-GNPs nanofluid with specific surface area of 750 m2/g, respectively. Accordingly, the MATLAB code was capable of simulating the thermal performance of FPSCs utilizing nanofluids as their heat transfer fluids with acceptable accuracy. Values of performance index were all greater than 1, and increased as weight concentration increased up to 1.104 for 0.1- wt% TEA-GNPs nanofluid with specific surface area of 750 m2/g, implying higher positive effects on efficiency than negative effects on pressure drop. Accordingly, the investigated nanofluids can efficiently be used in FPSCs for enhanced energy efficiency, and the 0.1- wt% water-based TEA-GNPs nanofluid with specific surface area of 750 m2/g was comparatively the superior one.
Copper doped Zinc oxide and (n-ZnO / p-Si and n-ZnO: Cu / p-Si) thin films thru thickness (400±20) nm were deposited by thermal evaporation technique onto two substrates. The influence of different Cu percentages (1%,3% and 5%) on ZnO thin film besides hetero junction (ZnO / Si) characteristics were investigated, with X-ray diffractions examination supports ZnO films were poly crystal then hexagonal structural per crystallite size increase from (22.34 to 28.09) nm with increasing Cu ratio. The optical properties display exceptional optically absorptive for 5% Cu dopant with reduced for optically gaps since 3.1 toward 2.7 eV. Hall Effect measurements presented with all films prepared pure and doped have n-types conductive, with a ma
... Show MoreThe performance of a solar cell under sun radiation is necessary to describe the electrical parameters of the cell. The Prova 200 solar panel analyzer is used for the professional testing of four solar cells at Baghdad climate conditions. Voltage -current characteristics of different area solar cells operated under solar irradiation for testing their quality and determining the optimal operational parameters for maximum electrical output were obtained. A correlation is developed between solar cell efficiency h and the corresponding solar cell parameters; solar irradiance G, maximum power Pmax, and production date P. The average absolute error of the proposed correlation is 5.5% for 40 data points. The results also show th
... Show MoreThe effect of the concentration of the colloidal nanomaterial on their optical limiting behavior is reported in this paper. The colloids of sliver nanoparticles in deionized water were chemically prepared for the two concentrations (31 ppm and 11ppm). Two cw lasers (473 nm Blue DPSS laser and 532 nm Nd:YAG laser) are used to compare the optical limiting performance for the samples. UV–visible spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) were used to obtain the characteristics of the sample. The nonlinear refractive index was calculated to be in the order of 10-9 cm2/W. The results demonstrate that the observed limiting response is significant for 532nm. In addition, t
... Show MoreIn current study a computation fluid dynamic (CFD) technique was used to investigate the effect of groynes shape and spacing on the scour pattern and the maximum scour depth in open channel flow. CFD model have been validated throughout comparing the numerical results with three previous experimental studies for a single groyne located in open channel with three different shapes (L, quadrant, and parabola shapes). The comparison revealed very good agreement between numerical results of the maximum scour depth with the results of all experimental models. Moreover, investigations of the effect of multi-groynes (three groynes and four groynes) arranged in parallel with constant spacing and also with variable spacing have been done, the
... Show MoreIn this study, Al2O3 thin films were prepared by dc reactive sputtering technique using different gas mixtures of argon and oxygen gases (90:10, 70:30, 50:50, 30:70, and 10:90). These films were characterized to introduce their surface morphology and elemental composition as functions of the oxygen content in the gas mixture. The gas mixing ratio plays a crucial role in controlling the nanoscale morphology of the prepared thin films. The [Al]/[O] ratio varies non-linearly with the Ar:O2 mixing ratio. Increasing the oxygen content leads to a progressive decrease in surface roughness, resulting in smoother and more uniform films with finer granular features. These results presented herein are useful to optimize the sputtering process to ac
... Show MoreIn this paper, split-plate airlift electrochemical reactor as an apparatus with new configuration for wastewater treatment was provided. Two aluminum plates were fixed inside the reactor and present two functions; first it works as split plates for internal loop generation of the airlift system (the zone between the two plates acts as riser while the other two zones act as downcomer) and second it works as two electrodes for electrocoagulation process. Simulated wastewater contaminated with zinc ions was used to test the performance of this apparatus for zinc removal by studying the effect of different experimental variables such as initial concentration of zinc (50-800 ppm), electrical current density (2.67-21.4 mA/cm2), init
... Show MoreIn this study, polymeric coating was developed by incorporating nano graphene in the polymer blend with applications to oil storage tanks. The oil storage tanks samples were brought from the oil Pipeline Company / Doura refinery in Baghdad. The coating polymer was formed with a blend (epoxy resin and repcoat ZR). The proportion of mixing the mixture was 3:1:1 epoxy resin 21.06 gm: repcoat ZR 10.53 gm: hardener 10.53 gm. The blend/graphene was prepared using in stui-polymerization method with different weight percentage 1, 3, 5, and 7 wt % added to blend. The resulting solution was put in a glass tube on a magnetic stirrer for one hour at a temperature of 40 °C. The result of contact angle and wate
... Show MoreMolar conductivity of different concentrations of thymine and adenosine in water , sodium acetate and ammonium chloride solution at different temperatures , 283. 15-323.15 K has been determined from direct conductivity measurements , examination of aqueous mixture of thymine and adenosine with Onsager equation reveal deviation from linearity at high concentration .This deviation was explained in term of molecular interaction . Ostwald dilution law also examined with the above mixtures lead to calculation of limiting molar conductivities and dissociation constants of both nucleic acid in water , sodium acetate and ammonium chloride. The agreement between the values obtained for Onsager equa
... Show MoreThe increase in population resulted in an increase in the consumption of water. The present work investigates the performance of a recycling solar- powered greywater treatment system for the purposes of irrigation, used to reduce the amount of waste grey water and reduce electricity consumption and reduce the costs of constructing large scale water treatment plants. The system consumes about 3814W per hour and provides water treatment about 1.4 m3 per day. The proposed system is designed to residential, office and governmental buildings application. Tests are conducted in an office building at the Ministry of Science and Technology site in Baghdad. Laboratorial water samples testing analyses are co
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