In this work, a novel design for the NiO/TiO2 heterojunction solar cells is presented. Highly-pure nanopowders prepared by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique were used to form the heterojunctions. The electrical characteristics of the proposed design were compared to those of a conventional thin film heterojunction design prepared by the same technique. A higher efficiency of 300% was achieved by the proposed design. This attempt can be considered as the first to fabricate solar cells from highly-pure nanopowders of two different semiconductors.
In this paper, an experimental study of the thermal performance for hybrid solar air conditioning system was carried out, to investigate system suitability for the hot climate in Iraq. The system consists of vapor compression unit combined with evacuated tube solar collector and liquid storage tank. A three-way valve was installed after the compressor to control the direction flow of the refrigerant, either to the storage tank or directly to the condenser. The performance parameters were collected by data logger to display and record in the computer by using LabVIEW software. The results show that the average coefficient of performance of hybrid solar air conditioning system (R=1) was about 2.42 to 2.77 and the average p
... Show MoreHeat transfer process and fluid flow in a solar chimney used for natural ventilation are investigated numerically in the present work. Solar chimney was tested by selecting different positions of absorber namely: at the back side, front side, and at the middle of the air gap. CFD analysis based on finite volume method is used to predict the thermal performance, and air flow in two dimensional solar chimney under unsteady state condition, to identify the effect of different parameters such as solar radiation. Results show that a solar chimney with absorber at the middle of the air gap gives better ventilation performance. A comparison between the numerical and previous experimental results shows fair agreement.
Artificial roughness applied to a Solar Air Heater (SAH) absorber plate is a popular technique for increasing its total thermal efficiency (ηt−th). In this paper, the influence of geometrical parameters of V-down ribs attached below the corrugated absorbing plate of a SAH on the ηt−th was examined. The impacts of key roughness parameters, including relative pitch p/e (6–12), relative height e/D (0.019–0.043), angles of attack α (30–75°), and Re (1000–20,000), were examined under real weather conditions. The SAH ηt−th roughened by V-down ribs was predicted using an in-house developed conjugate heat-transfer numerical model. The maximum SAH ηt−th was shown to be 78.8% as predicted under the steady-state condition
... Show MoreIn the present work, experimental tests was done to explain the effect of insulation and water level on the yield output. Linear basin, single slope solar still used to do this purpose. The test was done from May to August 2017 in Mosul City-Iraq (Latitude: Longitude: Elevation: 200 m, and South-East face). Experimental results showed that the yield output of the still increased by 20.785% and 19.864% in case of using thermal insulation at 4cm and 5cm respectively, also the yield output decrease by 15.134% as the water level increase from 4 to 5cm, with the presence of insulation and 14.147% without it. It has been conclude that the insulation and water level play important role in the process of passive
... Show MoreWell-dispersed Cu2FeSnSe4 (CFTSe) nanoparticles were first synthesized using the hot-injection method. The structure and phase purity of as-synthesized CFTSe nanoparticles were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Their morphological properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The average particle sizes of the nanoparticles were about 7-10 nm. The band gap of the as-synthesized CFTS nanoparticles was determined to be about 1.15 eV by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry. Photoelectrochemical characteristics of CFTSe nanoparticles were also studied, which indicated their potential application in solar energy water splitting.
In this paper, 3D simulation of the global coronal magnetic field, which use observed line of sight component of the photosphere magnetic field from (MDI/SOHO) was carried out using potential field model. The obtained results, improved the theoretical models of the coronal magnetic field, which represent a suitable lower boundary conditions (Bx, By, Bz) at the base of the linear force-free and nonlinear force free models, provides a less computationally expensive method than other models. Generally, very high speed computer and special configuration is needed to solve such problem as well as the problem of viewing the streamline of the magnetic field. For high accuracy special mathematical treatment was adopted to solve the computation comp
... Show MoreConstruction and operation of (2 m) parabolic solar dish for hot water application were illustrated. The heater was designed to supply hot water up to 100 oC using the clean solar thermal energy. The system includes the design and construction of solar tracking unit in order to increase system performance. Experimental test results, which obtained from clear and sunny day, refer to highly energy-conversion efficiency and promising a well-performed water heating system.