Performance Evaluation of a Paraboloidal Concentrator

Abstract

This research aims are to design, build and analyze the performance of concentrated solar energy onto a simple calorimeter, made of copper and stainless steel. A scrapped yard antenna dish with a diameter of 1.68 meters was lined with aluminum foil reflector sheet. The average dish aperture area of 2.21 m2, the system uses water as a heat transfer fluid distributed from overhead tank. Absorbed energy was investigated at a water flow rate of 0.5 L/min were performed in the experiment and the maximum useful energy was determined. Parabolic dish concentrator displacement angle was adjusted in every 15 degrees per hour, with the used of electric controlled sun tracking system. The experimental tests carried out in Faculty of Industrial Technology, Vallaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University Pathum Thani, under Thailand climatic conditions (14.134°N, 100.611°E) during 2 selected days of the months April 2013. The performance of a paraboloidal concentrator was assessed using open-air experimental measurements including the incoming heat, the energy absorbed by the water, and the concentrator efficiency. The experimental results shown the maximum thermal efficiency was 89.73%. It was also found that copper calorimeter can simply attain during operation relatively high water temperature levels oncoming 97 °C. The concentrated solar flux at the focal point was 442,073.11W/m2 for stainless steel calorimeter and 619,448.66 W/m2 for copper calorimeter, respectively.