This thesis documents my personal contribution to the development of a hydraulic-based actuation system for a solar trough collector. The goal of this project was to design the actuation system using hydraulic actuators for a four meter solar collector prototype in Pittsfield, New Hampshire. After considering several hydraulic system architectures and conducting in-depth analysis into two of th...

One of the effective methods to improve the thermal efficiency of solar collectors is using nanofluids as the coolant. The present study experimentally investigated the effect of SiO2/water nanofluid with 1% mass fraction on the performance of a symmetric collector, i.e. conical solar collector. The conical solar collector with 1 m2 area and normal to the earth was tested in Ahvaz, a city in th...