Dynamic simulation and thermal investigation of a PTC for building integration under the climatic conditions of South eastern MOROCCO

Abstract

This paper aims to report a detailed study of a Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) prototype’s thermal system that requires a sizing and dimensioning investigation of its main parts. This PTC system possesses a field-type evacuated tube solar collector with U-shaped. Furthermore, a simulation study developed with TRNSYS is carried out to evaluate the validity and the feasibility of this system, in particular, for the low-temperature range. The solar collector is oriented to the south and follows the sun from east to west through a single-axis tracking system under real weather conditions. From the simulation results we noticed that for the operating configuration considered in this study, the solar fraction is significantly large throughout the year. During the summer, needs are covered almost 100 %. Whereas, it is necessary to integrate an auxiliary system for the winter period. The tank temperature reached a maximum of around 90 °C during the summer period. The system constantly ensures a heated floor temperature of around 28 °C. This reported simulation and analysis may enable to design and estimate of the region potential and the system productivity over the year, for different applications such as heating domestic water and underfloor systems.