Design and development of a new experimental setup for direct solar absorption ​

The increasing demand for sustainable heat production has stimulated growing interest in advanced solar thermal technologies. Among the proposed solutions, carbon-based nanofluids have emerged as promising working fluids due to their enhanced thermal and optical properties. This thesis presents the development of an experimental setup for the investigation of carbon-based nanofluids in direct absorption solar collectors. The work includes the design and construction of the laboratory test setup, the design and modeling of the test section, and numerical simulations to support its development. The experimental platform has been conceived to evaluate the thermal performance and stability of carbon nanofluids under representative operating conditions.