Temperature evolution within a solar panel using a cooling source of varying sizes and shapes in the presence of a hybrid nanofluid

Year 2025, Volume: 11 Issue: 4, 1193 - 1230, 31.07.2025

Boubekeur Ghazi Syham Kadri Razli Mehdaoui

Abstract

A triangle space with a submerged cold cylinder of varying sizes and shapes is the subject of this computational investigation of spontaneous thermal convection. The (Al2O3-Cuwater) hybrid nanofluid fills the triangle space using an aspect ratio and the geometry of the cold source immersed in the solar panel. The objective of this project is to enhance the performance of the panel by increasing the evacuation rate of convective heat transfer. The second goal is to conduct digital research that will enable a reliable selection of data for the panel future design. Therefore, this work has significance since it allows for lowering the temperature and boosting the solar panel efficiency despite the challenging conditions in our dry border region (southwest Algeria). With a Rayleigh number of 106 and based on information from our dry location (southwest Algeria), with the solar panel angled at 30°, we tested three distinct cases: one with SL=0.04, another with SL=0.06 and the last one with SL= 0.08. The coupling of the flow governing equations in our investigation is solved by a quadratic Lagrange interpolation utilizing the finite element approach. Following the establishment of the optimal dimension, five distinct shapes of the cold source are examined to ascertain the best shape for the evacuation of convective heat transfer within a triangle cavity. Temperature profiles, average Nusselt number, streamline and isotherm patterns are all part of the collected data. Based on the findings of this experiment, the convective transfer mode can only be dominant when the source is circular with a diameter of SL= 0.08. Near the source, it has been found that the temperature of the solar panel is reduced, which is a significant result. There is a strong agreement when we compare the average Nusselt number of our code to that of Keramat.

Keywords

Hybrid Nanofluid , Circular Cold Cylinder , Square Cold Cylinder , Temperature Solar Panel , Natural Convection , FiniteElement Method , Triangular , Cavity

References

• 1. Kaushik SC, Verma A, Tyagi SK. Advances in solar absorption cooling systems: An overview. J Therm Eng 2024;10:1044–1067. [CrossRef]
• 2. Sharma DK, Rathod MK, Bhale PV. Enhancement in thermal and electrical characteristics of solar photovoltaic module through a direct contact water jacketed cooling system. J Therm Eng 2021;10:360–374. [CrossRef]
• 3. Djermane K, Kadri S. Computational study of crossed-cavity hybrid nanofluid turbulent forced convection for enhanced concentrated solar panel cooling. J Nanofluids 2023;12:1895–1902. [CrossRef]
• 4. Komeili Birjandi A, Eftekhari Yazdi M, Dinarvand S, Salehi GR, Tehrani P. Effect of using hybrid nanofluid in thermal management of photovoltaic panel in hot climates. Int J Photoenergy 2021;1:3167856. [CrossRef]
• 5. Natarajan R, Gaikwad PR, Basil E, Borse SD. Heat enhancement in solar flat plate collectors–A review. J Therm Eng 2024;10:773–789. [CrossRef]
• 6. Shahini N, Karami M, Behabadi MAA. Numerical investigation of direct absorption evacuated tube solar collector using alumina nanofluid. J Therm Eng 2021;10:562–571. [CrossRef]
• 7. Hussein AM, Awad AT, Ali HHM. Evaluation of the thermal efficiency of nanofluid flows in flat plate solar collector. J Therm Eng 2024;10:299–307. [CrossRef]
• 8. Liu GL, Liu J. Convective cooling of compact electronic devices via liquid metals with low melting points. J Heat Transf 2021;143:050801. [CrossRef]
• 9. Aminossadati SM, Ghasemi B. Natural convection cooling of a localised heat source at the bottom of a nanofluid-filled enclosure. Eur J Mech B Fluids 2009;28:630–640. [CrossRef]
• 10. Lam PAK, Prakash KA. A numerical study on natural convection and entropy generation in a porous enclosure with heat sources. Int J Heat Mass Transf 2014;69:390–407. [CrossRef]
• 11. Mobedi M, Sunden B. Natural convection heat transfer from a thermal heat source located in a vertical plate fin. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 2006;33:943–950. [CrossRef]
• 12. El Moutaouakil L, Boukendil M, Hidki R, Charqui Z, Zrikem Z, Abdelbaki A. Analytical solution for natural convection of a heat-generating fluid in a vertical rectangular cavity with two pairs of heat source/sink. Therm Sci Eng Prog 2023;40:101738. [CrossRef]
• 13. Mohebbi R, Izadi M, Chamkha AJ. Heat source location and natural convection in a C-shaped enclosure saturated by a nanofluid. Phys Fluids 2017;29:122009. [CrossRef]
• 14. Njoroge J, Gao P. Enhanced cooling of a localized heat source by natural convection in an annular channel. In: Proc Int Conf Nucl Eng (ICONE) 2023;30:1352. [CrossRef]
• 15. Daghab H, Kaddiri M, Raghay S, Arroub I, Lamsaadi M, Rayhane H. Finite volume simulation of natural convection for power-law fluids with temperature-dependent viscosity in a square cavity with a localized heat source. Int J Heat Technol 2021;39:1405–1416. [CrossRef]
• 16. Ibrahim M, Saeed T, Algehyne EA, Alsulami H, Chu YM. Optimization and effect of wall conduction on natural convection in a cavity with constant temperature heat source: Using lattice Boltzmann method and neural network algorithm. J Therm Anal Calorim 2021;144:2449–2463. [CrossRef]
• 17. Gangawane KM, Bharti RP, Kumar S. Effects of heating location and size on natural convection in partially heated open-ended enclosure by using lattice Boltzmann method. Heat Transf Eng 2016;37:507–522. [CrossRef]
• 18. Choudhary R, Subudhi S. Aspect ratio dependence of turbulent natural convection in Al₂O₃/water nanofluids. Appl Therm Eng 2016;108:1095–1104. [CrossRef]
• 19. Ghodsinezhad H, Sharifpur M, Meyer JP. Experimental investigation on cavity flow natural convection of Al₂O₃–water nanofluids. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 2016;76:316–324. [CrossRef]
• 20. Sharifpur M, Solomon AB, Ottermann TL, Meyer JP. Optimum concentration of nanofluids for heat transfer enhancement under cavity flow natural convection with TiO₂–water. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 2018;98:297–303. [CrossRef]
• 21. Rao PS, Barman P. Natural convection in a wavy porous cavity subjected to a partial heat source. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 2021;120:105007. [CrossRef]
• 22. Sankar M, Park J, Kim D, Do Y. Numerical study of natural convection in a vertical porous annulus with an internal heat source: Effect of discrete heating. Numer Heat Transf A Appl 2013;63:687–712. [CrossRef]
• 23. Dogonchi AS, Nayak MK, Karimi N, Chamkha AJ, Ganji DD. Numerical simulation of hydrothermal features of Cu–H₂O nanofluid natural convection within a porous annulus considering diverse configurations of heater. J Therm Anal Calorim 2020;141:2109–2125. [CrossRef]
• 24. Belhocine A, Abdullah OI. Comparative study of two numerical methods for solving the Graetz problem: The orthogonal collocation and Crank-Nicholson methods. Lat Am Appl Res 2016;73–79. [CrossRef]
• 25. Manh TD, Abazari AM, Barzegar Gerdroodbary M, Nam ND, Moradi R, Babazadeh H. Computational simulation of variable magnetic force on heat characteristics of backward-facing step flow. J Therm Anal Calorim 2021;144:1585–1596. [CrossRef]
• 26. Belhocine A, Omar WZW. Analytical solution and numerical simulation of the generalized Levèque equation to predict the thermal boundary layer. Math Comput Simul 2021;180:43–60. [CrossRef]
• 27. Belhocine A, Abdullah OI. Numerical simulation of thermally developing turbulent flow through a cylindrical tube. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 2019;102:2001–2012. [CrossRef]
• 28. Belhocine A, Omar WW. Numerical study of heat convective mass transfer in a fully developed laminar flow with constant wall temperature. Case Stud Therm Eng 2015;6:116–127. [CrossRef]
• 29. Afzal A, Soudagar MEM, Belhocine A, Kareemullah M, Hossain N, Alshahrani S, et al. Thermal performance of compression ignition engine using high content biodiesels: A comparative study with diesel fuel. Sustainability 2021;13:7688. [CrossRef]
• 30. Madhi H, Aljabair S, Imran AA. A review of photovoltaic/thermal system cooled using mono and hybrid nanofluids. Int J Thermofluids 2024;22:100679. [CrossRef]
• 31. Kaplan S, Bayramoğlu K, Sarıkanat M, Altay L. Numerical study on heat transfer and fluid dynamics in plate heat exchangers: Effects of chevron angle and aspect ratio. J Therm Eng 2024;638–656. [CrossRef]
• 32. Tlili I, Moradi R, Barzegar Gerdroodbary M. Transient nanofluid squeezing cooling process using aluminum oxide nanoparticle. Int J Mod Phys C 2019;30:1950078. [CrossRef]
• 33. Manh TD, Bahramkhoo M, Barzegar Gerdroodbary M, Nam ND, Tlili I. Investigation of nanomaterial flow through non-parallel plates. J Therm Anal Calorim 2021;143:3867–3875. [CrossRef]
• 34. Barzegar Gerdroodbary M. Application of neural network on heat transfer enhancement of magnetohydrodynamic nanofluid. Heat Transf Asian Res 2020;49:197–212. [CrossRef]
• 35. Kumararaja K, Sıvaraman B, Saravanan S. Performance evaluation of hybrid nanofluid-filled cylindrical heat pipe by machine learning algorithms. J Therm Eng 2024;10:286–298. [CrossRef]
• 36. Rashad AM, Chamkha AJ, Ismael MA, Salah T. Magnetohydrodynamics natural convection in a triangular cavity filled with a Cu-Al₂O₃/water hybrid nanofluid with localized heating from below and internal heat generation. J Heat Transf 2018;140:072502. [CrossRef]
• 37. Manjunatha S, Kuttan BA, Jayanthi S, Chamkha A, Gireesha BJ. Heat transfer enhancement in the boundary layer flow of hybrid nanofluids due to variable viscosity and natural convection. Heliyon 2019;5:e01469. [CrossRef]
• 38. Selimefendigil F, Chamkha AJ. Natural convection of a hybrid nanofluid-filled triangular annulus with an opening. Comput Therm Sci 2016;8:555–566. [CrossRef]
• 39. Alsabery AI, Kadhim HT, Ismael MA, Hashim I, Chamkha AJ. Impacts of amplitude and heat source on natural convection of hybrid nanofluids into a wavy enclosure via heatline approach. Waves Random Complex Media 2023;33:1060–1084. [CrossRef]
• 40. Hachichi F, Belghar N, Kamel C, Saleh MS, Kadja M, Lachi M, et al. Obstacle's effects and their location inside the square cavity on the thermal performance of Cu–Al₂O₃/H₂O hybrid nanofluid. Heat Transf 2023;52:3411–3430. [CrossRef]
• 41. Wang Y, Chen J, Zhang W. Natural convection in a circular enclosure with an internal cylinder of regular polygon geometry. AIP Adv 2019;9:065023. [CrossRef]
• 42. Roy NC. Natural convection of nanofluids in a square enclosure with different shapes of inner geometry. Phys Fluids 2018;30:113605. [CrossRef]
• 43. Tayebi T, Chamkha AJ. Effects of various configurations of an inserted corrugated conductive cylinder on MHD natural convection in a hybrid nanofluid-filled square domain. J Therm Anal Calorim 2021;143:1399–1411. [CrossRef]
• 44. Acharya N. On the flow patterns and thermal behaviour of hybrid nanofluid flow inside a microchannel in presence of radiative solar energy. J Therm Anal Calorim 2020;141:1425–1442. [CrossRef]
• 45. Chadi K, Battira MM, Saleh MS, Belghar N, Lachi M, Chamkha AJ. Impact of geometric shape of cavity on heat exchange using Cu-Al₂O₃-H₂O hybrid nanofluid. Waves Random Complex Media 2022;1–18. [CrossRef]
• 46. Hidki R, El Moutaouakil L, Charqui Z, Boukendil M, Zrikem Z. Natural convection in a square cavity containing two heat-generating cylinders with different geometries. Mater Today Proc 2021;45:7415–7423. [CrossRef]
• 47. Pandey S, Park YG, Ha MY. An exhaustive review of studies on natural convection in enclosures with and without internal bodies of various shapes. Int J Heat Mass Transf 2019;138:762–795. [CrossRef]
• 48. Mourad A, Aissa A, Mebarek-Oudina F, Jamshed W, Ahmed W, Ali HM, et al. Galerkin finite element analysis of thermal aspects of Fe₃O₄-MWCNT/water hybrid nanofluid filled in wavy enclosure with uniform magnetic field effect. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 2021;126:105461. [CrossRef]
• 49. Revnic C, Groşan T, Sheremet M, Pop I. Numerical simulation of MHD natural convection flow in a wavy cavity filled by a hybrid Cu-Al₂O₃-water nanofluid with discrete heating. Appl Math Mech 2020;41:1345–1358. [CrossRef]
• 50. Izadi M, Mohebbi R, Karimi D, Sheremet MA. Numerical simulation of natural convection heat transfer inside a┴ shaped cavity filled by a MWCNT-Fe3O4/water hybrid nanofluids using LBM. Chem Eng Process Process Intensif 2018;125:56–66. [CrossRef]
• 51. Alomari MA, Al-Farhany K, Hashem AL, Al-Dawody MF, Redouane F, Olayemi OA. Numerical study of MHD natural convection in trapezoidal enclosure filled with (50% MgO-50% Ag/water) hybrid nanofluid: Heated sinusoidal from below. Int J Heat Technol 2021;39:1271–1279. [CrossRef]
• 52. Chamkha AJ, Miroshnichenko IV, Sheremet MA. Numerical analysis of unsteady conjugate natural convection of hybrid water-based nanofluid in a semicircular cavity. J Therm Sci Eng Appl 2017;9:041004. [CrossRef]
• 53. Pordanjani AH, Aghakhani S. Numerical investigation of natural convection and irreversibilities between two inclined concentric cylinders in presence of uniform magnetic field and radiation. Heat Transf Eng 2022;43:937–957. [CrossRef]
• 54. Astanina MS, Sheremet MA. Numerical study of natural convection of fluid with temperature-dependent viscosity inside a porous cube under non-uniform heating using local thermal non-equilibrium approach. Int J Thermofluids 2023;17:100266. [CrossRef]
• 55. Ben Hamida MB, Charrada K. Natural convection heat transfer in an enclosure filled with an ethylene glycol-copper nanofluid under magnetic fields. Numer Heat Transf A Appl 2015;67:902–920. [CrossRef]
• 56. Gupta M, Singh V, Kumar S, Kumar S, Dilbaghi N, Said Z. Up to date review on the synthesis and thermophysical properties of hybrid nanofluids. J Clean Prod 2018;190:169–192. [CrossRef]
• 57. Colin S. International journal of heat and technology: Foreword. Int J Heat Technol 2008;26:107.
• 58. Hamilton RL, Crosser OK. Thermal conductivity of heterogeneous two-component systems. Ind Eng Chem Fundam 1962;1:187–191. [CrossRef]
• 59. Keramat F, Dehghan P, Mofarahi M, Lee CH. Numerical analysis of natural convection of alumina–water nanofluid in H-shaped enclosure with a V-shaped baffle. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 2020;111:63–72. [CrossRef]
• 60. Ali K, Ahmad S, Tayebi T, Ashraf M, Jamshed W, Abd-Elmonem A, et al. Thermal attributes of hybrid (MWCNT-NiZnFe2O4) nanofluid flow having motile microbes and activation energy: A computational approach. Case Stud Therm Eng 2023;47:103088. [CrossRef]
• 61. Maxwell JC. A treatise on electricity and magnetism. Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1873.
• 62. Brinkman HC. The viscosity of concentrated suspensions and solutions. J Chem Phys 1952;20:571. [CrossRef]
• 63. Keramat F, Dehghan P, Mofarahi M, Lee CH. Numerical analysis of natural convection of alumina–water nanofluid in H-shaped enclosure with a V-shaped baffle. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 2020;111:63–72. [CrossRef]