Seifollah Saedodin - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran;
Majid Eshagh Nimvari - Faculty of Engineering, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran;
Hamid Javaniyan Jouybari - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran;

An experimental study on a porous channel flat-plat solar collector has performed using SiOz/de-ionized water nanofluid to analyze the effect of porous metal foam and nanofluid operating conditions on the performance of the collector. Experiments were conducted for various nanoparticle volume fractions from 0 to 0.4% vol., the volume flow rate from 0.5 to 1.5 Lit/min and copper metal foam based on Response Surface Method (RSM). The responses are Nusselt number and the pressure drop ratio. It was found that the porous material have a greater effect on the thermal performance enhancement rather than other design parameters. Also, the sensitivity of pressure drop ratio to porous material increases with increasing the nanoparticles volume concentration.

solar collector, porous inedia, Response surface methodology, Sensitivity analysis