Experimental analysis of parabolic trough collector system with multiple receiver geometries and reflective materials

Abstract

Solar parabolic trough collector systems provide an attractive solution especially for solar thermal power generation. The performance of these systems significantly depends on receiver geometries. Therefore, in the current study, an experimental analysis has been performed using three different receiver geometries along-with two reflective materials. These receiver geometries include: simple tube (reference geometry A), receiver tube with straight absorber plate (geometry B), and receiver tube with curved absorber plate (geometry C), whereas, the reflective materials include: aluminum and stainless steel. The experimentation was performed under subtropical climate conditions of Taxila, Pakistan. From experimentation, it was identified that peak heat gain obtained from receiver geometries C and B were 71%, and 30% higher as compared to the reference geometry A, respectively. The, thermal efficiency of the system with geometry A was 20%, geometry B was 28%, and geometry C was 34%. Furthermore, two reflective materials i.e. aluminum and Stainless steel were used on geometry C which yielded best results for further parabolic trough collector performance analysis. It was observed that peak thermal efficiencies were 34.8% and 31% with aluminum and stainless steel as reflector materials. The results indicated that aluminum reflector was approximately 12% efficient as compared to stainless steel reflector. The results will help to cultivate the advantages of innovative receiver geometries and alternative reflective materials.