Spectral investigation of solar energy absorption and light transmittance in a water/nanofluid-filled prismatic glass louver
Citation & Export
Hide
Simple citation
Cai, Yaomin.
Spectral investigation of solar energy absorption and light transmittance in a water/nanofluid-filled prismatic glass louver. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-0fkj-qt17Export
Description
TitleSpectral investigation of solar energy absorption and light transmittance in a water/nanofluid-filled prismatic glass louver
Date Created2021
Other Date2021-10 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (xiii, 133 pages) : illustrations
DescriptionThe energy demand is vastly increasing recently due to population and economic growth, particularly in some fast-developing countries. Also, the enormous consumption of fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, produces much more greenhouse gas emissions, especially for carbon dioxide, than decades ago, which contributes a lot to global warming. In order to better solve these issues, the dissertation studies the radiation heat transfer in a new energy-saving device: a water-filled or nanofluid-filled prismatic louver, which can transmit sufficient visible solar light for natural illumination and harvest the most solar energy. The Ni-water nanofluid-filled prismatic glass louver was proposed to save energy consumptions in buildings since such innovative louvers can absorb the most solar energy, as well as improve daylighting quality rather than “block” visible sunlight, compared with traditional louvers or windows. To achieve this innovative technology, the effectiveness of ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) energy harvest and visible (VIS) light transmittance was investigated. The Monte Carlo ray tracing model was developed to simulate the collimated (direct) and diffuse solar radiation through the prismatic glass louver for solar energy harvesting and improved daylighting. Computational efficiency and accuracy were examined through intensive comparisons of different band partition approaches, various photon numbers, and element divisions. The influence of irradiation direction on solar energy harvest efficiency was scrutinized. Absorption and transmittance in UV, VIS, and IR band regimes as well as in filling liquid and glass were differentiated and compared, respectively. The 7-band spectral model for glass and water/Ni-water nanofluid was evaluated and adopted for several cases of solar spectra of air mass (AM) 1.0, AM1.5, AM2.0, and AM3.0 with both direct and diffuse irradiation. It also investigated the absorption and scattering efficiencies of nanoparticles (NPs) commonly used in solar energy research, including Ni, SiO_2, Fe_2 O_3, Al_2 O_3, TiO_2 and ZnO; and we found that Ni NPs are the most desirable due to an excellent balance between UV and IR absorption and VIS transmission. Then the influences of Ni NPs with different diameters and volume concentrations were analyzed. A dilute 0.00004 vol% Ni-water nanofluid with 80 nm diameter particles was found to absorb more solar energy and provide sufficient VIS for daylighting. A glass louver filled with such a Ni-nanofluid can transmit 46.5% solar VIS for daylighting and harvest 65.7% of the total solar energy under the AM1.5 model, which increases 25.9% as compared to pure water.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
Statistical Profile