Numerical study of the transparent cover effects with miscellaneous shapes on the parabolic trough solar collector performance

Authors : Behnam Pourkafi, Behrooz M. Ziapour, Ali Reza Miroliaei

Pages : 13-23

Doi:10.5541/ijot.601417

View : 11 | Download : 4

Publication Date : 2020-02-29

Article Type : Research

Abstract :Optimization of energy production equipment due to significant production cost of each unit of energy is one of the most significant factors for economic development and countries progress. The aim of this work is to improve the efficiency of the parabolic trough collector (PTC) by reducing the heat losses from it. Therefore, it was utilized a PTC with a receiver tube in the focal center of the concentrator that was applied a phase change material (PCM) inside it to store better energy. In the present work, by adding a new section called transparent cover to envelope the PTC, waste of thermal energy from the receiver tube was prevented. The numerical solutions were performed for both summer and winter days. By using of existing formulas, energy and exergy efficiency of the PTC system with different geometrical shapes and heights were obtained and their performance were compared. The results showed that by reducing the height of the covers (i.e. reduction of the space), energy and exergy efficiencies were increased and by providing the triangular cover shape, the system performed better than two others elliptical and rectangular shapes. 
Keywords : Efficiency, optimization, parabolic trough collector, phase change material, solar energy