Optimization of gaseous working fluid and internally finned absorber tube for enhancing the thermal performance of parabolic trough solar collector

Abstract

The current study examined the effect of various types of longitudinal finned absorber tubes with the gaseous working fluid on the performance of the parabolic trough collector. Conventional heat transfer fluids, such as water, thermal oils, molten salts, etc., have been limited when the parabolic trough collector works at very high temperatures. Gas may be used as heat transfer fluid when this collector may operate at very high temperatures. However, the heat transfer coefficient of gas is smaller than the conventional heat transfer fluid. Therefore, fins may be used to improve the parabolic trough collector's thermal performance when gas is used as heat transfer fluid. Hence, selecting the best suitable gas as heat transfer fluid and the optimum fin structure is essential to improve this collector's thermal performance. In this context, the current study has considered seven different gases, namely air, carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, methane, and neon, and six longitudinal finned absorber tubes with different profiles, namely, rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal, T-shaped, and Y-shaped to select the best suitable heat transfer fluid and optimum fin structure. The best suitable gas and optimum fin profile have been chosen based on specific criteria (multi-objective optimization technique or the performance enhancement factor index). This problem has been simulated using commercial software ANSYS Fluent 2020 R2. The experimental and numerical data discovered in the literature are used to validate the results of the current investigation and found in good accuracy between them. The methane gas is found to be the most suitable heat transfer fluid based on both criteria. Then, the effect of mass flow rate and inlet temperature of methane gas on the average friction factor and Nusselt number have been investigated. It is found that the average friction factor decreases with the mass flow rate for the given inlet temperature, while the opposite trend has been observed for the average Nusselt number. For the first time, the T-shaped and Y-shaped finned absorber tube has been proposed in the present study and compared with earlier fin profiles utilized by the researcher. It is found that the increment in thermal efficiency for T-shaped and Y-shaped finned absorber tubes with methane gas is 8.9338 % and 10.1360 %, respectively. In contrast, the increment in exergy efficiency for T-shaped and Y-shaped finned absorber tubes is 8.942 % and 11.622 %, respectively. There is a significant improvement in the thermal and exergy efficiency of the proposed model compared to the models considered in the literature (air flow through absorber tube with the rectangular fin profile). Furthermore, the highest average Nusselt number of 480.4651 is found for the T-shaped finned absorber tube than other examined cases. However, the friction factor is also high for these fin profiles. As a result, the value of the performance enhancement factor for this fin profile is reduced, and the maximum value of the performance enhancement factor is obtained for rectangular fin profiles. Generally, increasing fin height and width increases thermal performance and pressure loss. Therefore, six different dimensions of rectangular fin have been studied and compared with smooth tubes. It is found that the optimum fin dimension of the rectangular fin is a height of 5 mm and a width of 4 mm. The present results can be utilized for designing an internally finned absorber tube to improve the collector's thermal performance with gas as heat transfer fluid.