Cfd Analysis for Receiver Tube of Solar Parabolic Through Collector

Abstract

In this study, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis for the receiver tube of a parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) is conducted in the COMSOL Multiphysics program. This system consists of PTC system with an aperture area of 4.4 m² and a transparent mirror is used as a reflector. This work has been carried out to investigate the most effective material for the receiver tube to obtain higher thermal efficiency. The performance of the receiver tube of PTC was evaluated with a three-dimensional model in COMSOL Multiphysics software using 4 different materials. Therminol VP-1 is used as heat transfer fluid (HTF). The boundary conditions were considered those of October 3rd 2020, when the concentration value was C = 23 and the Sun's radiation was constant at around I_o=1000 W/m². The mass flow rate of the heat transfer fluid through the absorber was varied from 0.01 kg/sec to 0.07 kg/sec. The result revels that the copper receiver tube shows good performance for the given mass flow rates of HTF when compared to iron, steel, and aluminum receiver tubes. Maximum HTF temperature of copper receiver tube was 195.71 ⁰C at 0.01 kg/sec, when the HTF temperature of steel receiver tube was relatively low approximately 190.71 ⁰C. The temperature variation of the absorber tube and of the HTF during this process is presented in the discussion section of the article.