Thermal performance analysis of parabolic trough solar collector system in climatic conditions of Errachidia City, Morocco

Abstract

The water heating with parabolic trough solar collectors (PTC) is a very widespread and at the same time quite promising solar technology. However, PTC presents several problems in terms of the profitability of water heating. For this reason, our study of water heating with PTC collectors consists of two main parts. In the first part, we investigate the effect of direct normal irradiation in the absorber tube using the TRNSYS software of the Errachidia city. In the second part, the study is entirely focused on the heat balance of the absorber tube in order to estimate the fluid outlet temperature. Besides, a mathematical model is developed to simulate and control the fluid outlet temperature circulating through the absorber tube of the collector. The water outlet temperature prediction was carried out by a thermal performance study of the PTC in weather conditions of Errachidia city (Morocco) using TRNSYS software and Matlab Code in the year’s typical days.