Experimental and simulation studies of parabolic trough collector design for obtaining solar energy

Abstract

Concentrated solar power has great potential for large scale renewable energy sources, and is currentlyan eye catching one for its utilization with wide area of improvement. Especially, parabolic trough solarcollectors (PTSCs) are gaining popularity due to their increased efficiency as compared to photovoltaics.In this work, an effort has been made to evaluate the performance of a designed 5-m length PTSC model.Heat collecting element was made of stainless steel with water as working fluid. The authentication ofthe proposed model is justified based on the results obtained on a yearly scale with respect to averageinlet and outlet temperatures, surface temperatures and thermal efficiency for the climatic conditionsof Ramanagaram. It was observed that March to May yielded better outlet temperatures ranging from93 °C to 103 °C. Experiments were carried out at different flow rates of 0.4 LPM, 0.8 LPM and 1.2 LPM andcorresponding Reynolds number was calculated. It was seen that February to May gave good surface andoutlet temperatures as compared with other months while the liquid flow is laminar. Simulation studieswere carried out using ANSYS software on receiver tube to ensure the robustness and design effectivenessunder static loading conditions.