MAPPING THE PERFORMANCE OF A SOLAR PARABOLIC TROUGH COLLECTOR USING A NEW EVALUATION TECHNIQUE

Authors

  • Sasa Pavlovic Faculty od Mechanical engineering, University of Niš
  • Mica Vukic Faculty od Mechanical engineering, University of Niš
  • Jelena Janevski Faculty od Mechanical engineering, University of Niš
  • Marko Peric Faculty od Mechanical engineering, University of Niš
  • Branka Radovanovic Faculty od Mechanical engineering, University of Niš

Keywords:

Performance map, Solar thermal efficiency, Exergy efficiency, Parabolic trough collector, Parametric study

Abstract

The present paper is devoted to a new concept regarding the solar collector efficiency map, which is a two-dimensional depiction of the performance of a solar collector. This depiction shows thermal efficiency on the horizontal axis and exergy efficiency on the vertical axis. Specifically, this depiction includes results for various mass flow rates and inlet fluid temperatures in order to investigate the collector’s performance in different operating conditions. The main objective of this depiction is to present in a simple and direct way the optimum operating area of the collector in order for the system designers to select the proper application for every type of solar technology. The present work investigates a Eurotrough commercial parabolic trough solar collector, with a validated thermal model developed in EES under steady-state conditions. Optimum operating conditions were found for inlet temperatures between 450 K and 650 K, while mass flow rate has to be over 1 kg/s, according to the developed efficiency map. The maximum found exergy efficiency was 42.4% and the respective thermal efficiency was 73.1% for the inlet temperature of 650 K and mass flow rate of 5 kg/s. This map can be used to quickly determine both thermal and exergy efficiency and to know in which cases the collector has to be used for thermal or electricity applications.

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Published

2025-01-28

Issue

ONLINE FIRST

Section

Articles