Comparative study of advanced exergy analysis of parabolic trough and linear Fresnel collectors

Abstract

Abstract Parabolic Trough collectors and Linear Fresnel reflectors are considered the most commonly used types of solar thermal systems. Numerous theoretical and practical research studies have been conducted on these collectors. The aim and the novelty of this research is to investigate and compare the performance of linear Fresnel and parabolic trough collectors from the perspective of advanced exergy analysis in order to determine the main irreversibility sources in each collector component and the potential for improving each component of the collector. The behavior of these two types of collectors in response to changes in solar radiation, collector length, flow rate, and fluid type is also analyzed. For this purpose, commercial collectors (Eurotrough ET100) and (LF-11) were selected for investigation. Simple and improved thermodynamic process methods were used to calculate the internal exergy destruction values for each component. Energy and exergy equations were solved using MATLAB software. The results indicate that the highest internal exergy destruction in both collectors is attributed to the absorber tube, but only a very small portion of it is avoidable. On the other hand, the highest avoidable internal exergy destruction occurs in the concentrator, making it the highest priority for technological improvements.