Griffith University: 7201ENG Project Management - Solar Water Heater

This project report details an experimental analysis of a flat plate solar water heater using nanofluids under forced convection, conducted as a final year project. The primary goal was to enhance the efficiency of conventional water heaters by replacing water with nanofluids, leveraging their superior density and thermal conductivity. The project utilized a functional organizational structure, with the head of the department acting as project manager. Key challenges included climate limitations and heat transfer enhancement, which were addressed by installing a heat exchanger. The project lifecycle encompassed initiation, conception, definition, and execution phases, culminating in the experimental investigation of Cerium Oxide/water nanofluid performance. The results indicated significant improvements in heat transfer efficiency compared to conventional methods. Desklib provides a platform to explore similar projects and solved assignments.

GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
7201ENG PROJECT MANAGEMENT
ASSIGNMENT 1
GANESH SUNDARAM PALANIAPPAN (s5135575)
Project Background:
In my bachelor studies we did final year project as experimental analysis of
flat plate solar water heater based on nano fluid under forced convection. We did
this project under the guidance of our head of the department. Solar Water Heater
is a typical device that converts the solar energy into thermal energy to heat up a
heat transfer fluid such as water, non-freezing liquid or air for domestic usage. The
main reason for us to select this project is to increase overall efficiency of the
conventional mode of water heater by using nano fluids as a working fluid, instead
of normal water. One of the main reason of selecting nano fluid as working
medium is because, compared to normal water nano fluid have more density and
thermal conductivity which helps to attain high temperature in short time of period.
Project Definition:
As per our module 1, project should be unique, Our project differs from
conventional type water heater by replacing normal water to nano fluid as working
fluid and install heat exchanger to obtain high temperature in shorter time.
Conventional water heater is based on thermosyphon method(circulates the
working fluid without the necessity of a mechanical pump) and our project is based
on forced convention method. Our department gave us four months from the start
of the semester to complete this project, which is little bit difficult to accomplish
the project. But we completed the project before two weeks of our deadline. Our
project consists of four members with guidance of head of department who act as a
project manager.

Organisational Structure :
Our project comes under functional organisational structure. In which
information flows from top management to junior staffs, through project manager.
Cooperation and communication are the key factors in organizational structure. All
the students are comes under project team. Project manager who leads the project
team by providing required information and supports project team. While team
members reports the progress and status of the project to project manager.
Challenges and issues faced:
Climate poses some limitations to the use of flat plate collectors. Freezing
conditions may limit the efficiency of this kind of collectors, mostly used in warm
and mild climates and in the case of unglazed collectors in pool water heating and
other less demanding applications. Heat transfer enhancement in solar devices is
one of the key issues of energy saving and compact designs. There are so many
methods introduced to increase the efficiency of the solar water heater. This
drawback has been overcome by installing heat exchanger by passing a working
medium to transfer the heat to storage tank to increase their performance level.

Project Lifecycle:
The initiation of project: In order to increase the efficiency of conventional
type solar heater by adding heat exchanger and replacing working medium as nano
fluid. Flat plate solar water heater is widely used for heating of water in low-
temperature residential applications.
Conception phase of project: In this study, Cerium Oxide/water (CeO2/H2O)
nanofluid is prepared and its thermal performance was investigated experimentally
on a 100 Liters per Day (LPD) forced type flat plate solar water heater.
Definition Phase: The experiment was taken on various mass flow rate for
the efficient heat transfer. Significant improvement in performance was observed
in forced circulation compared to conventional mode, for the low volumetric
fraction considered.
Execution Phase: Design of solar water involves with the design of the basic
components such as solar collector (flat plate collector), Heat Exchanger (Coil
type), Storage Tank and insulation. It is observed that the increase in efficiency by
decreasing the flow rates of working medium. The effect of Cerium Oxide /Water
Nano fluid, as the working fluid, on the efficiency of a flat plate solar collector was
investigated experimentally. Addition of Nano particles in the heat transfer fluid
contributes to a significant improvement in the thermal efficiency.
References:
1. Mostafa, S. (2018). 7201ENG: Project Management. Queensland, Australia:
Griffith University.
2. Details about the project are chosen from the document prepared in bachelor
studies.