Experimental investigation of absorbed flux circumferential distribution of an absorber with U-pipe tube exchanger for Parabolic Trough Collectors

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering 2018-01, Vol.129, p.1230-1239
• Main Authors: Halimi, Mohammed, Outana, Imane, Diouri, Jaouad, El Amrani, Aumeur, Messaoudi, Choukri
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorbers; Accumulators; Analysis; Circumferences; Circumferential distribution; Energy efficiency; Experiments; Parabolic Trough Collectors; Pipe; Radiation; Solar collectors; Solar flux; Thermal efficiency; Thermodynamic efficiency; U-pipe
• ISSN: 1359-4311; 1873-5606
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.10.075

[Display omitted] •The effect of the circumferential distribution of absorbed flux has been studied.•Three positions of the U-pipe exchanger for PTC have been proposed.•Temperatures evolution of various positions of U-pipe exchanger are investigated.•An efficiency comparison for all positions of the U-pipe exchanger was reported. In this work, an experimental study on a parabolic trough collector with U shaped exchanger has been investigated for normal incidence radiation. This study was focused on the effects of the focal length (as well as the rim angle) and the diameter of the absorber on the flux circumferential distribution. Thus, the heat losses related to the dimensioning of the U-pipe position were studied. The inlet, outlet, absorber and ambient temperatures as well as instantaneous beam normal radiation were reported. Our analysis concerned the concentrated solar flux distribution on the circumferential absorber for different rim angles and diameters, and it relation with the position of U-pipe. We noticed a higher thermal efficiency of about 0.4 of the Parabolic Trough Collector for the focal length 0.19 m (parallel position of exchanger). These first results remain enough interesting to investigate advanced Parabolic Trough Collector prototype.