Abstract
The receiver is crucial in converting concentrated solar radiation to thermal energy in a solar parabolic dish collector. The most popular type of receiver is a cavity receiver, which reduces heat loss from the body. In this paper, an experimental investigation of the energy, exergy, and optical performance of two cavity-type receivers for a solar parabolic dish concentrator was carried out. The cylindrical and conical cavity tube receivers were designed and tested in the temperature range of 35 °C–190 °C, with water as the working fluid and a flow rate of 0.83 L per minute. The results showed that the conical cavity tube receiver is the optimum design, while the cylindrical shape is the second choice. The conical cavity tube design achieved 62% average thermal efficiency, 11% exergy efficiency, while the maximum optical efficiency was 82% under average solar irradiation of 865 W/m2. The overall heat loss coefficients of cylindrical and conical cavity receivers from the stagnation measure were 137 W/m2 and 125 W/m2, respectively. The maximum and average surface temperatures for both cylindrical and conical cavity tube receivers were reached at 140 °C, 115 °C and 155 °C, 125 °C, respectively. The simulation study was conducted using COMSOL Multiphysics software to investigate the temperature distribution of the receivers. The proposed lightweight conical cavity tube receiver was found to have a high capacity to be used with a solar parabolic dish-style concentrating device to operate heating water applications.
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