In this paper, an analytical study is conducted to assess the efficiency of a flat-plate solar collector using the nanofluids. We obtain a simplified analytical solution for the flat-plate solar collector by assuming the wavelength-independent extinct...
In this paper, an analytical study is conducted to assess the efficiency of a flat-plate solar collector using the nanofluids. We obtain a simplified analytical solution for the flat-plate solar collector by assuming the wavelength-independent extinction coefficient and spectral intensity, and then a dimensionless temperature distribution in the flat-plate solar collector is obtained using the extinction coefficient of single wall carbon nanohorn (SWCNH) nanofluids. Finally, we show the effect of volume fraction, heat loss magnitude and collector depth on the dimensionless temperature distributions and evaluate the efficiency of the nanofluid-based flat-plate solar collector according to the particle concentrations.