Numerical Investigation of Energy-Efficient Receiver for Solar Parabolic Trough Concentrator

Abstract

In this paper, a thermal analysis of an energy-efficient receiver for solar parabolic trough concentrator is presented. Various porous receiver geometries are considered for the performance evaluation of a solar parabolic trough concentrator. Numerical models are proposed for a porous energy-efficient receiver for internal heat gain characteristics and heat loss due to natural convection. The internal flow and heat transfer analysis is carried out based on a RNG k-ϵ turbulent model, whereas external heat losses are treated as a laminar natural convection model. The numerical models have been solved using the commercial engineering package, FLUENT. The thermal analysis of the receiver is carried out for various geometrical parameters, such as fin aspect ratio, thickness, and porosity, for different heat flux conditions. The inclusion of porous inserts in tubular receiver of solar trough concentrator enhanced the heat transfer about 17.5% with a pressure penalty of 2 kPa. The Nusselt number correlation is proposed based on the extensive numerical data for internal heat transfer inside the receiver. The proposed model is compared with more well-known natural convection models. A comparative study is carried out with different porous geometries to evolve an optimum configuration of energy-efficient receivers.