Optical and Heat Transfer Performance of Conical Receivers for Desalination Application

This study involves numerical analyses of a 7.5 m parabolic dish concentrator for membrane distillation desalination applications. Optical and heat transfer performance of conical receivers with an angle of 45°, 75°, and a spiral receiver was investigated. Receiver designs considered here have helical coil receivers that carry heat transfer fluid (HTF). The optical performance of these three conical receivers was studied based on the distance of receivers from the focal point. This study considered three distances: 0.06m, 0.12m, and 0.18m. Ray tracing simulation has been carried out to obtain the receiver’s radiation heat flux distribution data. It is observed that the 45° conical receiver yields the highest optical efficiency, 82%, when the receiver is placed 0.12m from the focal point. Heat flux data obtained during the optical simulations have been utilized as a boundary condition. In addition, numerical simulations are carried out to evaluate the heat transfer performance of the 45° conical receiver. The study included Reynolds numbers of 1,917, 10,222, and 19,167. The outlet temperatures have been examined.