scholarly journals Modeling and Characteristic Analysis of a Solar Parabolic Trough System: Thermal Oil as the Heat Transfer Fluid

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhai Rongrong ◽  
Yang Yongping ◽  
Yan Qin ◽  
Zhu Yong
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Working Condition ◽  
Heat Transfer Fluid ◽  
System Dynamic Model ◽  
Parabolic Trough ◽  
Characteristic Analysis ◽  
Collector System ◽  
Typical Summer ◽  
Thermal Oil

The thermal oil is applied as the heat transfer fluid in a solar parabolic trough collector system. Firstly, the system dynamic model was established and validated by the real operating data in typical summer and spring days in references. Secondly, the alteration characteristics of different solar radiation, inlet water temperature and flow rate, and collectors’ area and length are analyzed and compared with the normal working condition. The model can be used for studying, system designing, and better understanding of the performance of parabolic trough systems.

scholarly journals Comparative Modeling of a Parabolic Trough Collectors Solar Power Plant with MARS Models

Energies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Rogada ◽  
Lourdes Barcia ◽  
Juan Martinez ◽  
Mario Menendez ◽  
Francisco de Cos Juez
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Water Vapor ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Heat Transfer Fluid ◽  
Solar Field

Power plants producing energy through solar fields use a heat transfer fluid that lends itself to be influenced and changed by different variables. In solar power plants, a heat transfer fluid (HTF) is used to transfer the thermal energy of solar radiation through parabolic collectors to a water vapor Rankine cycle. In this way, a turbine is driven that produces electricity when coupled to an electric generator. These plants have a heat transfer system that converts the solar radiation into heat through a HTF, and transfers that thermal energy to the water vapor heat exchangers. The best possible performance in the Rankine cycle, and therefore in the thermal plant, is obtained when the HTF reaches its maximum temperature when leaving the solar field (SF). In addition, it is necessary that the HTF does not exceed its own maximum operating temperature, above which it degrades. The optimum temperature of the HTF is difficult to obtain, since the working conditions of the plant can change abruptly from moment to moment. Guaranteeing that this HTF operates at its optimal temperature to produce electricity through a Rankine cycle is a priority. The oil flowing through the solar field has the disadvantage of having a thermal limit. Therefore, this research focuses on trying to make sure that this fluid comes out of the solar field with the highest possible temperature. Modeling using data mining is revealed as an important tool for forecasting the performance of this kind of power plant. The purpose of this document is to provide a model that can be used to optimize the temperature control of the fluid without interfering with the normal operation of the plant. The results obtained with this model should be necessarily contrasted with those obtained in a real plant. Initially, we compare the PID (proportional–integral–derivative) models used in previous studies for the optimization of this type of plant with modeling using the multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) model.

scholarly journals Contribution to the Parametric Study of the Performance of A Parabolic Trough Collector

2021 ◽  
Vol 321 ◽  
pp. 02016
Author(s):  
Belkacem Bouali ◽  
Hanane-Maria Regue
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Optimal Operation ◽  
Heat Transfer Fluid ◽  
Parabolic Trough ◽  
Parabolic Trough Collector ◽  
Heat Transfer Fluids ◽  
Ansys Cfx ◽  
Different Seasons

This paper presents an analysis of the performance of a parabolic trough collector (PTC) according to some key operating parameters. The effects of the secondary reflector, the length and thickness of the absorber tube (receiver tube) and the flow rate of the heat transfer fluid (HTF) are investigated. The main objective is to determine an optimal operation, which improves the performance of a traditional PTC. The target variables are the temperature at the outlet of the tube, the amount of energy collected by the HTF and the efficiency of the system. The solar flux data concern the city of LAGHOUAT located in the south of Algeria. Four days in different seasons are considered. The optical analysis of the system is performed by using the open source SolTrace code. The output of this analysis is used as a boundary condition for the CFD solver. The conjugate heat transfer and the fluid flow through the absorber tube are simulated by using ANSYS-CFX solver. Water is considered as heat transfer fluids. The obtained results show that the use of a curved secondary reflector significantly improves the performance of the traditional PTC. As the thickness of the tube increases, the heat storage in the material increases, which increases the temperature at the exit of the tube and therefore the efficiency of the system. However, the length of the tube depends on the mass flow of the HTF and vice versa. To keep the efficiency constant by choosing another length, it is necessary to choose a mass flow rate proportional to the flow rate corresponding to the initial length.

Computational Study on Estimating the Surface Heat Transfer Coefficient of Absorber Tube in Solar Parabolic Trough Collector

2013 ◽  
Vol 446-447 ◽  
pp. 1546-1551
Author(s):  
Harshit Saxena ◽  
Arpit Santoki ◽  
Nimish Awalgaonkar ◽  
Arpan Jivani ◽  
Ganni Gowtham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Computational Study ◽  
Surface Heat ◽  
Parabolic Trough ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Surface Heat Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Mass Flow Rates ◽  
The Given

Solar Parabolic Trough collectors are commonly used to harness the solar power for power generating applications involving high temperatures. In the given paper study we have made use of the SolTrace software which uses the Monte Carlo algorithm for finding out the radiation received on the absorber tube of the collector. The computational study was performed taking into account the solar radiation received at Vellore city in India (12.92oN, 79.13oE) as on 16th February 2013. Further a 3D model of the absorber tube used in the parabolic trough collector was created and meshed with the help of the Ansys Gambit software. The absorber tube which we considered for our study is made up of Stainless Steel AISI 302 material. The meshed model so created was then exported to the Ansys Fluent 6.3 software and simulations were performed for different mass flow rates of the fluid. The fluid which we used in the computational analysis study is Therminol 55. The temperature differences for different mass flow rates of the liquid passing through the absorber tube were found out and based on the temperature rise contours plots so obtained, we have plotted the surface heat transfer coefficient for the absorber tube. We also found out the static temperature contour plot for the fluid flowing through the given absorber tube taking into account the heat flux acting on the absorber tube due to the hourly and daily average solar radiation.

Optimizing an Active Solar still for Sea Water Desalination

2014 ◽  
Vol 1051 ◽  
pp. 985-991
Author(s):  
Osman Ali Hamadou ◽  
Khamlichi Abdellatif
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Saline Water ◽  
Phase Changes ◽  
Water Desalination ◽  
Heat Transfer Fluid ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Glass Cover

Sea water desalination through solar radiation distillation process can achieve low cost and sustainable fresh water for remote dry areas. In conventional passive solar stills, the solar radiation passes through the transparent cover and supplies heat to sea water with limited back reflection. The evaporative heat transfer between the water surface and the glass cover produces the distillate by means of film type condensation at the inner surface of the glass cover. In order to enhance evaporation/condensation phase changes, active solar stills were introduced. In these last, saline water is circulated and put in contact with a heat source which supplies heat to the saline water. With this extra energy, the distillate productivity is increased. In this work, heat supply is assumed to be controlled such that the temperature at the inlet of the still can be adjusted through regulation of the circulating heat transfer fluid rate. Using a modelling based on uniform temperature in each still component, a set of ordinary differential equations was derived. The input variables comprised heat transfer fluid rate, inlet temperature as well as sea water rate and basin depth. Extensive parametric studies were performed after that and optimization of the distilled water yield and rate was discussed.

Assessment of a Molten Salt Heat Transfer Fluid in a Parabolic Trough Solar Field

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Kearney ◽  
U. Herrmann ◽  
P. Nava ◽  
B. Kelly ◽  
R. Mahoney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Molten Salt ◽  
Mojave Desert ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Eutectic Mixture ◽  
Heat Transfer Fluid ◽  
Diphenyl Oxide ◽  
Parabolic Trough ◽  
Electricity Cost ◽  
Solar Field

An evaluation was carried out to investigate the feasibility of utilizing a molten salt as the heat transfer fluid (HTF) and for thermal storage in a parabolic trough solar field to improve system performance and to reduce the levelized electricity cost. The operating SEGS (Solar Electric Generating Systems located in Mojave Desert, California) plants currently use a high temperature synthetic oil consisting of a eutectic mixture of biphenyl/diphenyl oxide. The scope of this investigation included examination of known critical issues, postulating solutions or possible approaches where potential problems exist, and the quantification of performance and electricity cost using preliminary cost inputs. The two leading candidates were the so-called solar salt (a binary salt consisting of 60% NaNO3 and 40% KNO3) and a salt sold commercially as HitecXL (a ternary salt consisting of 48% CaNO32, 7% NaNO3, and 45% KNO3). Assuming a two-tank storage system and a maximum operation temperature of 450°C, the evaluation showed that the levelized electricity cost can be reduced by 14.2% compared to a state-of-the-art parabolic trough plant such as the SEGS plants. If higher temperatures are possible, the improvement may be as high as 17.6%. Thermocline salt storage systems offer even greater benefits.

Volume Element Model for Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization of Parabolic Trough Solar Collectors

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tugba S. Sensoy ◽  
Sam Yang ◽  
Juan C. Ordonez
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Differential Equations ◽  
Mathematical Formulation ◽  
Element Model ◽  
Volume Element ◽  
Heat Transfer Fluid ◽  
Solar Collectors ◽  
Parabolic Trough ◽  
Simulation And Optimization ◽  
Proposed Model

In this paper we present a dynamic three-dimensional volume element model (VEM) of a parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) comprising an outer glass cover, annular space, absorber tube, and heat transfer fluid. The spatial domain in the VEM is discretized with lumped control volumes (i.e., volume elements) in cylindrical coordinates according to the predefined collector geometry; therefore, the spatial dependency of the model is taken into account without the need to solve partial differential equations. The proposed model combines principles of thermodynamics and heat transfer, along with empirical heat transfer correlations, to simplify the modeling and expedite the computations. The resulting system of ordinary differential equations is integrated in time, yielding temperature fields which can be visualized and assessed with scientific visualization tools. In addition to the mathematical formulation, we present the model validation using the experimental data provided in the literature, and conduct two simple case studies to investigate the collector performance as a function of annulus pressure for different gases as well as its dynamic behavior throughout a sunny day. The proposed model also exhibits computational advantages over conventional PTC models-the model has been written in Fortran with parallel computing capabilities. In summary, we elaborate the unique features of the proposed model coupled with enhanced computational characteristics, and demonstrate its suitability for future simulation and optimization of parabolic trough solar collectors.

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