Published at Journal of Energy Storage – Enrichment and thermal characteristics study of coconut oil based phase change material configured concentrated solar heat exchanger

<p><a href="https://www.solarpaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/i.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-30300" height="845" src="https://www.solarpaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/i.png" width="1149" /></a><br />
<strong>Abstract:</strong><br />
Solar-based heat exchange is well-known and widely used in a variety of commercial applications, including textiles, food drying, chemical plants, and water heating. The conventional solar heater equipped with a hybrid nanofluid demonstrated superior heat transfer capabilities. However, it faces the constraints of inadequate energy storage at high thermal radiation and limited operation due to the availability of solar energy. The scope of research is utilizes coconut oil-based phase change material (PCM) and hybrid nanofluid (HNF) as a primary phase to enhance the overall heat storage and thermal characteristics of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC)-aided heat exchanger. Its combinations overcome the conventional collector drawbacks, including fluctuation of solar radiation, uneven heat transfer, and limited thermal characteristics of the heat exchanger and also provide better energy storage behaviour. During the experimentations, the shell and tube heat exchanger setup was investigated using water, HNF, and a combination of PCM with 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 wt% concentration of HNF composed with Propylene Glycol/water/zinc oxide nanoparticles at a flow rate of 0.03 kg/s. The collective PCM with 0.2% concentration of HNF provided better functional behaviours, such as a higher heat transfer rate (2647.9 W), optimum thermal conductivity (0.95 W/mK), a hiked temperature for the outlet (87.1 °C), superior heat energy storage behaviour (220.4 kJ/kg), and an attained optimum thermal efficiency of 67.1%. The conditions of 0.2% concentration of HNF with coconut oil-based PCM-operated CPC are more suitable for heat exchanger applications than conventional systems.</p>
<p><strong><em>M. Aruna, Nagabhooshanam Nagarajan, Rintu Kumar, Mamata Chahar, T. Sudhakar, N B C N Murthy, R. Venkatesh, Ramya Maranan, S. Sathiyamurthy, Senthil Kumar Vishnu,</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>Enrichment and thermal characteristics study of coconut oil based phase change material configured concentrated solar heat exchanger, Journal of Energy Storage, Volume 153, Part A, 2026,120845, ISSN 2352-152X, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2026.120845" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2026.120845</a></em></strong></p>
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