Modeling and Analysis of the Performance of a Parabolic Trough Solar Concentrator

Abstract

The increasing fossil fuel costs have led the world to use the free and naturally available energy from the sun to produce electric power. Parabolic trough technology is nowadays the most extended solar system for electricity production or steam generation for industrial processes. It is the most proven, lowest cost and large-scale solar power technology available today. It is basically composed of a concentrator collector field which converts solar irradiation into thermal energy which will be used as input for a Rankine power cycle. In such plants, a storage system can be implemented in order to increase plant production. This work aimed to conclude with a simulation model of a solar thermal power plant using a parabolic solar concentrator. The Euro Trough (ET) Concentrator was used as case study. MATLAB software was used for the analysis and performance evaluation. Different working fluids were used in the simulation which were: Pressurized water, Boiling water and Oil (Therminol-VP1). It was found that using water (pressurized or boiling) in the receiver tube is better than the Therminol-VP1 oil. And the pressurized water has the highest value of efficiency compared to the boiling water and Therminol-VP1 oil. The oil using system presented the highest energy losses system, and the lowest efficiencies. The ET performance was tested at different places in Jordan, and the distribution of direct solar irradiance at different days around the year was calculate and exhibited for Ma’an city as a case study. A comparison between simulated results and that found in literature were carried out with good conformity observed.