Energy Performances of a Photovoltaic Thermal Plant Using Different Coolant Nanofluid

This paper presents a numerical study of a photovoltaic thermal plant that uses coolant fluid water nanofluids. The thermal properties of several investigated water nanofluids are derived from literature data. In particular, Al2O3–water (2–4% particle volume fraction) and TiO2–water (2–6% particle volume fraction) are investigated in this study. The effect of different working fluids on the performances of real PVT plants is simulated through “TRNSYS” software. First, several limitations and constraints needed to be resolved to develop a trustworthy simulation environment within the TRNSYS framework. The great sensitivity to particle volume fraction and temperature of the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid has to be taken into account. The performance in terms of thermal energy produced increases using nanofluids by up to 11%, making the use of nanofluids a promising technology. However, the annual energy benefit in a complete PVT system serving a home is only 2.5% greater than that of using water alone.