Analysis Of Parabolic Trough Collector Research Articles

Comparative Exergy, Economic and Environmental Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collector and Linear Fresnel Reflector

Comparative Exergy, Economic and Environmental Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collector and Linear Fresnel Reflector

Energy, exergy, environment and techno-economic analysis of parabolic trough collector: A comprehensive review

Inexhaustible energy sources are the focus of the energy industry for meeting the increased need for energy and reducing carbon emissions. Among various alternatives, harnessing solar energy has become a promising choice around the world. Parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) are an effective way to transform radiant energy into thermal energy, as well as electricity. However, these collectors can be improved by refining their design and tweaking the parameters related to thermal behavior. This may be done either by enhancing the surface area or improving the heat transfer coefficient of the heat carrying medium. These kinds of improvements could be achieved by making the use of nanofluids and by using inserts or fins within the collector tube. The current study provides an extensive review of PTCs from the points of view of their design, along with their thermal characteristics. Different types of nanofluids as the working liquid are investigated and discussed to achieve better PTC performance. Inserts within the collector tube and various design approaches, including fins, twisted tubes, U-shaped tubes, coiled wire inserts, and porous twisted tape inserts, are reviewed and discussed in detail. Finally, based on this review, challenges of PTC applications are described and future research recommendations are proposed.

Detailed performance analysis of parabolic trough collectors including geometric effect

Parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) have been known for years as one of the leading methods for extracting energy from the sun. In the present work, the performance of PTCs was investigated. However, its performance needs some improvement to be integrated in more and wide range of applications. This idea motivated the author to investigate the performance of parabolic trough collectors in detail. Thus, in the present work, the performance of parabolic trough collectors is investigated. The effect of eight geometric and inlet variables on the PTC performance was evaluated. Two performance factors , the temperature difference and thermal efficiency, were selected. The effect of inlet condition, including inlet mass flow rate and inlet flow temperature reflector geometry, including reflector length and width,receiver diameters, including inlet and outlet reciever diameters, and cover diameters, including the inlet and outlet cover diameters on these PFs was assessed. Eight thermal working fluids were considered. A non-linear mathematical model was developed for PTC and implemented into MATLAB code where an iterative technique was used to conduct the present analyses. Level curves were generated to study the PTC key performance parameters. The curves revealed that the maximum values of the PFs and maximum range of change in these PFs occurred when the inlet conditions were varied. Changes in the inlet temperature, and changes in the reflector geometry yielded the highest and second-highest values. The cover geometry had the minimum effect on the PFs. Moreover, the best maximum efficiency, best maximum temperature difference, and maximum range of efficiency change were obtained for water, air, and carbon dioxide, respectively. The effect of inlet temperature is more significant than the mass flow rate effect on the thermal efficiency, whereas this effect is reversed in case of the temperature difference, by which the mass flow rate exerts the least influence on the temperature difference.

A comparative analysis of parabolic trough collector (PTC) using a hybrid nanofluid

A comparative analysis of parabolic trough collector (PTC) using a hybrid nanofluid

Energy, exergy, economic and environmental analysis of parabolic trough collector containing hybrid nanofluid equipped with turbulator

This study aims to examine the effects of twisted tape (TT) turbulators and compound TT turbulators in parabolic trough collector (PTC) in relation to energy, energy efficiency, economic efficiency, and environmental efficiency. The PTC contains a two-phase CuO-SWCNT/Water hybrid nanofluid (HNF). The study has been carried out with the assumption of turbulent flow, the Reynolds number (Re) range of 12,000 to 18,000, and a volume fraction (ϕ) of 2 to 6% of nanoparticles (NPs). A hexagonal spring coil was used in the riser tube as a turbulator, while the TT placed inside the hexagonal spring coil was used to create a continuous rotating flow alongside the tube's wall. Based on the results, the values obtained from the average Nusselt number (Nuave) and the friction coefficient enhance when using the turbulator. In addition, the thermal performance of the PTC when using a two-phase CuO-SWCNT/Water HNF is far more favorable than water base fluid. The heat transfer rate in the PTC with turbulator is enhance between 20 and 60%. These results indicate better performance and reduction of the heat loss of PTC with turbulator within the absorbent tubes rather than the typical type. Also, by increasing the flow velocity and ϕ of NPs, the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) value can be reduced. Therefore, LCOE changes are primarily caused by changes in thermal efficiency. The amount of environmental pollutants created for the PTC operation with nanofluid is less than the base fluid. The thermal performance of the PTC with compound TT and wired coil (Case C) at Re = 18,000 and φ=2% is about 3.58 percent higher than the PTC with TT (Case A). Also, the performance evaluation criterion for Case A is about 20% higher than that for Sample C. Moreover, the exergy efficiency of the fluid containing nanoparticles with a volume fraction of 2% has decreased by approximately 31.7% and 32.2% with increasing velocity for samples A and C, respectively.

Thermodynamic Analysis of Ammonia Based Direct Steam Generation Trigeneration System

The goal of this study is to examine the energetic and exergetic analysis of parabolic trough collector (PTSC) based integrated organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and ejector refrigeration cycle for generate power, refrigeration, and hot water. EES software program is used to carry out the performance evaluation of the trigeneration system. The first and second laws of thermodynamics are used in the calculations. According to the results of the thermodynamic analysis, the energetic and exergetic efficiency of the trigeneration system are computed as 26.67% and 14.21%, respectively. At the same time, parametric studies have been performed to examine the effect of solar radiation, temperature of turbine inlet, and generator temperature on combined cycle performance. When the parametric studies of the trigeneration system are examined, the energetic and exergetic efficiency of the trigeneration system and the total exergy destruction rise with the increase of solar irradiation and turbine inlet temperature, while the total exergetic efficiency reduces as the generator temperature rises. Moreover, the highest rate of irreversibility has the PTSC with 150 kW, while the lowest amount of irreversibility is calculated as 0.02 kW in pump of the ejector cooling system.

A Techno-Economic Analysis of Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) and Solar Power Tower (SPT) as Solar Energy in Malaysia

Malaysia receives an annual average of 2200 hours of solar radiation, making her abundant renewable resources to generate electricity. Thus, a good planning is required to manage the resources efficiently and to utilize the abundant resources fully. Concentrating solar power (CSP) technology is a possible approach to manage renewable resources in Malaysia. Using a techno-economic analysis, the researchers, engineers, industries, or government agencies will be able to identify contributing and discouraging factors of building the CSP technology. This paper presents a techno-economic analysis of two CSP technology: parabolic trough collector (PTC) and solar power tower (SPT), for potential implementation in Malaysia. This paper provides information on two CSP technologies to researchers and industries prior to the planning and design stages. The techno-economic analysis begins with identifying potential locations based on the direct normal irradiation (DNI). Kuah, Kuantan, Miri and Labuan are identified as the potential locations using the RETScreen Expert software. Labuan could be the most promising PTC and SPT technology project because it has the highest DNI received annually. Next, the techno-economic analysis uses two reference projects, ANDASOL-1 and PS-10 systems in Spain, as references for all locations. The techno-economic analysis consists of annual electricity generation, unit cost of electricity, net Present Value (NPV), benefit-to-cost ratio (B/C), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period calculated in Microsoft Excel. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to measure the impact of uncertainties of one or more input variables, leading to uncertainties on the output variables. Two sensitive factors are the annual electricity generation and the initial cost, affecting the construction, installation, and implementation of PTC or SPT technology.

Energetic & exergetic analysis of a parabolic trough: concentrated solar power plant

Solar energy is the most affordable source of energy. Parabolic trough systems are used to concentrate and extract heat, therefore it’s very significant to analyse its performance in terms of energy and exergy. Exergy based analysis of the system ensures the eradication of losses, resulting in the yield of energy of the highest quality. In this paper, an investigation has been carried out using numerical simulation with an objective of analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors on the basis of energy and exergy. Detailed second law analysis has been performed by varying the system and operating parameters through computer simulation. Exergy output has been determined by analysing the effect of major system parameters, namely, mirror reflectivity, glass transmissivity, absorptivity, the diameter of glass envelop, and the receiver. The operating parameters considered in the investigation are insolation and temperature rise parameters. The extensive investigation of the parabolic trough of a concentrated solar power plant for various design parameters in the range of operating parameters reveals that it is beneficial to operate the system at higher temperature as opposed to the preference of the operating system at lower temperature from purely thermal considerations.

Performance analysis of Parabolic Trough Collector using TRNSYS®-A case study in Indian coastal region

A solar water heating system incorporating parabolic trough collector (PTC) with Phase change material (PCM) is simulated using TRNSYS® software. The simulation is carried out to predict the hot water availability during the peak hot water demands of the morning and evening hours. Lauric acid (LA) is used as the primary heat transfer fluid (HTF) to extract the sun’s energy in PTC whereas, water is used as the secondary heat transfer fluid to extract heat from the primary heat transfer fluid. The study models a medium temperature, concentrating parabolic trough collector without any solar tracking components. TRNSYS® simulation components have been studied completely using Type 1245 parabolic trough collector with Type 533 horizontal storage tank with heat exchangers, which fulfils daily hot water demands of domestic and industrial applications. The storage tank is vertically stratified to regulate the temperature of HTF coming out of the collector. The results showed that LA having a thermal conductivity of 0.975 KJ/hr-mK provides a peak energy gain of 18500 KJ/hr in February and 5000 KJ/hr in July along with a 100°C rise in temperature for the city of Mangalore, India. The weather condition of the city provides an average annual collector efficiency of 26%.

Thermo-hydraulic and exergy analysis of parabolic trough collector with wire matrix turbulator: an experimental investigation

Thermo-hydraulic and exergy analysis of parabolic trough collector with wire matrix turbulator: an experimental investigation

Thermo-hydraulic and exergy analysis of parabolic trough collector with wire matrix turbulator: an experimental investigation

The parabolic trough collector (PTC) is being researched extensively due to its inherent characteristics. However, the majority of studies are numerical as its receiver is subjected to non-uniform ...

Parabolic trough solar collectors: A general overview of technology, industrial applications, energy market, modeling, and standards

AbstractMany innovative technologies have been developed around the world to meet its energy demands using renewable and nonrenewable resources. Solar energy is one of the most important emerging renewable energy resources in recent times. This study aims to present the state-of-the-art of parabolic trough solar collector technology with a focus on different thermal performance analysis methods and components used in the fabrication of collector together with different construction materials and their properties. Further, its industrial applications (such as heating, cooling, or concentrating photovoltaics), solar energy conversion processes, and technological advancements in these areas are discussed. Guidelines on commercial software tools used for performance analysis of parabolic trough collectors, and international standards related to performance analysis, quality of materials, and durability of parabolic trough collectors are compiled. Finally, a market overview is presented to show the importance and feasibility of this technology. We believe the compilation of reviews related to the above aspects will further provide impetus for the development of this technology in the near future.

Heat transfer enhancement analysis of parabolic trough collector with straight and helical absorber tube

The use of a helical tube absorber concerning parabolic trough collector (PTC) is a promising technique for environmental-friendly energy generating system. The aim of this study is to analyze the thermal behavior of the absorber tube with and without turns by considering water as well as Al2O3 based water as working fluids by varying mass flow rate 0.025–0.25 kg/s. All 4 cases are analyzed in ANSYS 14 (Design Modeler): three models for helical absorber tube with number of turns 15, 20, and 25, and another model with smooth absorber tube. It is observed that the thermal, exergy, and overall efficiency are higher with higher number of turns. Further, use of nanofluid of volume fraction 0.09, the thermal efficiency enhancement is around 1–10% and exergy as well as overall efficiency are increased by around 0.2%-3.2% and 1%-9% respectively in comparison to water as working fluid.

Thermal analysis of parabolic trough collectors via a swarm intelligence optimizer

The current study deals with developing an efficient strategy to solve the governing equations of the parabolic trough collectors’ heat transfer. In the proposed approach, available system of equations is converted into a single objective constrained optimization problem. Subsequently, the thermal properties of the system are gained via solving proposed optimization problem. This target should be met via implementing an appropriate optimization technique as a solver tool. In this respect, integrated particle swarm optimization (iPSO) is utilized as an efficient optimization method. The objective function of the proposed optimization problem computes the heat losses through the discretized cross-section of the receiver tube. To reduce the model complexity, the receiver tube is modeled in one-dimensional form. In addition, the thermal equilibrium of the entire system is implemented as the constraint of the optimization problem. The validity of the obtained outcomes is assessed via comparing them with existing practical results addressed in Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) reports. The comparison reveals that the achieved theoretical outcomes are in the good agreement with the experimental results.

Comparative experimental study on parabolic trough collector integrated with thermal energy storage system by using different reflective materials

The present study focuses on the performance analysis of parabolic trough collector (PTC) incorporated with single-tank thermal energy storage (TES) system with the use of two different reflective materials in PTC which includes glass and high-reflective stainless steel sheet. It consists of TES tank which contains 110 L of Therminol-66 oil (heat transfer fluid). The experiments are conducted for the use of glass reflective material PTC and stainless steel reflective material PTC when both are integrated with TES system. The various performance parameters like useful energy gained by the PTC, energy collected in the PTC, PTC efficiency, heat loss coefficient and the stored amount of energy in TES tank are calculated to know the overall efficiency of the system during daytime. It has been concluded that the use of glass as the reflective material in PTC has better useful heat gain and high average PTC efficiency in comparison with stainless steel reflective material. However, the overall system performance is almost equal to both reflective materials. Silver-coated stainless steel reflective material may be preferred in PTC when it is coupled with single TES tank system, due to cost effectiveness and ease availability with a high-reflective power about 98.9%.

Performance analysis of Parabolic Trough Collectors with Double Glass Envelope

Abstract In this work, the performance of Parabolic Trough Collectors (PTCs) with Double Glass Envelope (DGE) is studied. A one-dimensional model comprising optical and thermal analyses is developed. The effect of an Inner Glass Envelope (IGE), thermal emittance of the envelopes, and vacuum conditions in the two resulting annuli are analyzed in detail and compared with the performance of a traditional PTC. The incorporation of an additional envelope into a traditional PTC reduces heat losses. At high operating temperatures, the reduction in thermal losses achieved with the DGE PTC leads to a superior efficiency. It is found that an IGE having low emittance values could be used to reduce heat losses and replace the vacuum in conventional PTCs. In addition, in a DGE PTC, vacuum is more important in the annulus between the absorber pipe and the IGE. The effect of solar irradiance on the performance of a DGE PTC is also studied considering clear sky and partially cloudy sky day conditions. In general, higher solar irradiance values favor collectors' efficiency. Finally, the efficiency of a DGE PTC is analyzed considering a commercially architectural glass and a glass for solar applications. The DGE PTC with IGE made of a glass for solar applications exhibits higher performance than a traditional PTC at high temperatures. However, a detailed economic analysis is required in order to determine the total energy cost with the proposed DGE PTC concept. Using a DGE improves the collector efficiency at high temperatures especially during partially cloudy sky days.

Energy and exergy analysis of parabolic trough collectors

Energy and exergy analysis of parabolic trough collectors

Analytical Expression of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector Performance

The parabolic trough collector is one of the most developed solar concentrating technologies for medium and high temperatures (up to 800 K). This solar technology is applied in many applications and so its investigation is common. The objective of this study is to develop analytical expressions for the determination of the thermal performance of parabolic trough collectors. The non-linear equations of the energy balances in the parabolic trough collector device are simplified using suitable assumptions. The final equation set includes all the possible parameters which influence the system performance and it can be solved directly without computational cost. This model is validated using experimental literature results. Moreover, the developed model is tested using another model written in Engineering Equation Solver under different operating conditions. The impact of the inlet fluid temperature, flow rate, ambient temperature, solar beam irradiation, and the heat transfer coefficient between cover and ambient are the investigated parameters for testing the model accuracy. According to the final results, the thermal efficiency can be found with high accuracy; the deviations are found to be up to 0.2% in the majority of the examined cases. Thus, the results of this work can be used for the quick and accurate thermal analysis of parabolic trough collector. Moreover, the analytical expressions give the possibility for optimizing solar thermal systems driven by parabolic trough collectors with lower computational cost.

Thermal analysis of parabolic trough collector operating with mono and hybrid nanofluids

In this paper, the use of mono and hybrid nanofluids in parabolic trough collectors is investigated. The LS-2 PTC module is studied for operation with Syltherm 800 as the base fluid, while the examined nanofluids are the following: 3% Al2O3/Oil, 3% TiO2/Oil and 1.5% Al2O3-1.5% TiO2/Oil. As it is obvious, in all the cases the total volumetric nanoparticle concertation has the same value in order to perform a suitable comparison. The analysis is conducted for turbulent flow conditions with a flow rate equal to 150l/min, a value which leads to sufficient thermal performance results. The solar collector is investigated for inlet temperatures from 300K to 650K in order to cover a great range of possible operating temperature levels. According to the final results, the thermal efficiency enhancement for the hybrid nanofluid reaches up to 1.8%, while it is up to 0.7% with for mono nanofluids. This higher thermal efficiency enhancement is based on the great Nusselt number enhancement for the hybrid nanofluid case which is about 2.2 higher than the respective for operation with pure oil. The analysis is conducted with a developed thermal model in EES (Engineering Equation Solver) which is validated with literature results.

A detailed exergetic analysis of parabolic trough collectors

The objective of this study is to present a detailed exergetic analysis of the commercial parabolic trough collector LS-2. A complete thermal model is developed in EES (Engineering Equation Solver) and it is validated with literature results. The solar collector is examined for operation with Therminol VP1 and air in order to examine the most representative liquid and gas working fluids. In the exergetic analysis, detailed presentation of the exergetic losses and the exergy destruction is given for various operation cases. More specifically, different combinations of flow rates and inlet temperature levels are tested for both working fluids and the results indicate the reasons for the exergetic reduction in every case. According to the final results, the global maximum exergetic efficiency for operation with air is 25.62% for an inlet temperature of 500K and flow rate of 10,000l/min, while for Therminol VP1 is 31.67% for 500K and 100l/min. Moreover, it is proved that the exergy destruction is more intense in the thermal oil case, while the exergetic losses are more important in the air case. The final results and conclusions clearly present the exergetic analysis of parabolic trough collector for a great range of operating conditions.