CFD Simulation and Experimental Study of a Parabolic Trough Collector Alternative

Abstract

Concentrated solar thermal (CST) systems require high manufacturing technology and expensive costs which explain their low adoption in developing countries. In a search for more affordable CST, parabolic trough collector with stainless steel sheet (PTC-SS) seems to be a good alternative. In this study, the PTC-SS performance were evaluated using optical and thermal studies. The optical evaluation was carried out by simulating the PTC-SS on Soltrace software and the thermal evaluation was conducted by simulating the PTC-SS receiver on Ansys software. Additionally, the simulation results have been validated by comparing the amount of heat gained by the water between the simulation and the experiment. The results show that the heat gained by the water was approximately 502.6 W. The simulation results were 33.32% higher comparing to experimental data. Finally, further studies to evaluate the PTC-SS overall performance will be carried out.