Paper Title
Performance Evaluation Of A Nanofluid Based Parabolic Solar Collector – An Experimental Study

Abstract
An experimental study has been conducted to investigate the performance of a parabolic solar collector using SiO2-H2O based nanofluid. Volumetric concentration of 0.01% and 0.05% has been used in the experiment to prepare the nanofluid. The different volume flow rates employed in the experiment are 20 l/h, 40 l/h and 60 l/h. Surfactants are not used while preparing the nanofluids. Sonication is done by using ultra bath sonicator to enhance the stability and dispersion of nanoparticles in water. Magnetic stirrer with hot plate system has been used for stirring purpose to mix the nanoparticles in water before sonication. Manual tracking mechanism has been used for tracking the sun position during the day. From the results, it has been found that SiO2-H2O based nanofluid has comparatively higher efficiency at higher volume flow rates.