Experimental and simulation studies of parabolic trough collector design for obtaining solar energy

Abstract Concentrated solar power has great potential for large scale renewable energy sources, and is currently an eye catching one for its utilization with wide area of improvement. Especially, parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSCs) are gaining popularity due to their increased efficiency as compared to photovoltaics. In this work, an effort has been made to evaluate the performance of a designed 5-m length PTSC model. Heat collecting element was made of stainless steel with water as working fluid. The authentication of the proposed model is justified based on the results obtained on a yearly scale with respect to average inlet and outlet temperatures, surface temperatures and thermal efficiency for the climatic conditions of Ramanagaram. It was observed that March to May yielded better outlet temperatures ranging from 93 °C to 103 °C. Experiments were carried out at different flow rates of 0.4 LPM, 0.8 LPM and 1.2 LPM and corresponding Reynolds number was calculated. It was seen that February to May gave good surface and outlet temperatures as compared with other months while the liquid flow is laminar. Simulation studies were carried out using ANSYS software on receiver tube to ensure the robustness and design effectiveness under static loading conditions.