IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v187y2022icp774-789.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Safety and efficiency assessment of absorber with an initial offset in a parabolic trough collector

Author

Listed:
  • Hao, Menghao
  • Chen, Lizhi
  • Chen, Jianxun
  • Lu, Luyi
  • Li, Jianlan

Abstract

The non–uniform solar flux distribution on the absorber surface in a parabolic trough collector results in a large temperature gradient and stress, thus leading to safety hazards. This study proposed a installation mode of the absorber in a parabolic trough collector, with an initial offset. The geometric centre of the absorber deviates from the focal line by an initial offset to increase the uniformity of the solar flux distribution and reduce the stress on the absorber surface, without incurring an additional cost. A mechanism model of the parabolic trough collector was established, and a theoretical equation for the critical initial offset was derived. Moreover, an optical–thermal–fluid–structural multiphysics coupled model of the system was developed via the software COMSOL to study the system performance with an absorber having an initial offset. The simulation results indicated that the absorber with an initial offset of −24 mm significantly decreased the circumferential temperature difference and maximum stress of the absorber by up to 45% and 39.5%, respectively, and the optical–thermal efficiency is slightly increased by 2.5%, in comparison with that without an initial offset.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao, Menghao & Chen, Lizhi & Chen, Jianxun & Lu, Luyi & Li, Jianlan, 2022. "Safety and efficiency assessment of absorber with an initial offset in a parabolic trough collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 774-789.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:187:y:2022:i:c:p:774-789
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.01.114
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148122001240
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2022.01.114?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Qiu, Yu & Zhang, Yuanting & Li, Qing & Xu, Yucong & Wen, Zhe-Xi, 2020. "A novel parabolic trough receiver enhanced by integrating a transparent aerogel and wing-like mirrors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    2. Reddy, K.S. & Ananthsornaraj, C., 2020. "Design, development and performance investigation of solar Parabolic Trough Collector for large-scale solar power plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1943-1957.
    3. Lei, Dongqiang & Wang, Zhifeng & Li, Jian, 2010. "The calculation and analysis of glass-to-metal sealing stress in solar absorber tube," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 405-411.
    4. He, Ya-Ling & Qiu, Yu & Wang, Kun & Yuan, Fan & Wang, Wen-Qi & Li, Ming-Jia & Guo, Jia-Qi, 2020. "Perspective of concentrating solar power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    5. Evangelos Bellos & Christos Tzivanidis, 2018. "Enhancing the Performance of Evacuated and Non-Evacuated Parabolic Trough Collectors Using Twisted Tape Inserts, Perforated Plate Inserts and Internally Finned Absorber," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-28, May.
    6. Rodriguez-Sanchez, David & Rosengarten, Gary, 2015. "Improving the concentration ratio of parabolic troughs using a second-stage flat mirror," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 620-632.
    7. Tang, X.Y. & Yang, W.W. & Yang, Y. & Jiao, Y.H. & Zhang, T., 2021. "A design method for optimizing the secondary reflector of a parabolic trough solar concentrator to achieve uniform heat flux distribution," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    8. He, Ya-Ling & Xiao, Jie & Cheng, Ze-Dong & Tao, Yu-Bing, 2011. "A MCRT and FVM coupled simulation method for energy conversion process in parabolic trough solar collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 976-985.
    9. Zhao, Dongming & Xu, Ershu & Wang, Zhifeng & Yu, Qiang & Xu, Li & Zhu, Lingzhi, 2016. "Influences of installation and tracking errors on the optical performance of a solar parabolic trough collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 197-212.
    10. Song, Jifeng & Tong, Kai & Luo, Geng & Li, Lei, 2017. "Influence of non-ideal optical factors in actual engineering on the safety and stability of a parabolic trough collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1293-1301.
    11. Liang, Hongbo & You, Shijun & Zhang, Huan, 2016. "Comparison of three optical models and analysis of geometric parameters for parabolic trough solar collectors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 37-47.
    12. Lei, Dongqiang & Fu, Xuqiang & Ren, Yucong & Yao, Fangyuan & Wang, Zhifeng, 2019. "Temperature and thermal stress analysis of parabolic trough receivers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 403-413.
    13. Norouzi, Amir Mohammad & Siavashi, Majid & Khaliji Oskouei, MohammadHasan, 2020. "Efficiency enhancement of the parabolic trough solar collector using the rotating absorber tube and nanoparticles," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 569-584.
    14. Rehan, Mirza Abdullah & Ali, Muzaffar & Sheikh, Nadeem Ahmed & Khalil, M. Shahid & Chaudhary, Ghulam Qadar & Rashid, Tanzeel ur & Shehryar, M., 2018. "Experimental performance analysis of low concentration ratio solar parabolic trough collectors with nanofluids in winter conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 742-751.
    15. Widyolar, Bennett & Jiang, Lun & Ferry, Jonathan & Winston, Roland & Kirk, Alexander & Osowski, Mark & Cygan, David & Abbasi, Hamid, 2019. "Theoretical and experimental performance of a two-stage (50X) hybrid spectrum splitting solar collector tested to 600 °C," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 514-525.
    16. Gong, Jing-hu & Wang, Jun & Lund, Peter D. & Hu, En-yi & Xu, Zhi-cheng & Liu, Guang-peng & Li, Guo-shuai, 2020. "Improving the performance of a 2-stage large aperture parabolic trough solar concentrator using a secondary reflector designed by adaptive method," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 23-33.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Natraj, & Reddy, K.S., 2023. "Investigations of thermo-structural instability on the performance of solar parabolic trough collectors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 381-393.
    2. Gao, Datong & Wu, Lijun & Hao, Yong & Pei, Gang, 2022. "Ultrahigh-efficiency solar energy harvesting via a non-concentrating evacuated aerogel flat-plate solar collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 1455-1468.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ajbar, Wassila & Parrales, A. & Huicochea, A. & Hernández, J.A., 2022. "Different ways to improve parabolic trough solar collectors’ performance over the last four decades and their applications: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Tang, X.Y. & Yang, W.W. & Yang, Y. & Jiao, Y.H. & Zhang, T., 2021. "A design method for optimizing the secondary reflector of a parabolic trough solar concentrator to achieve uniform heat flux distribution," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    3. Halimi, Mohammed & El Amrani, Aumeur & Messaoudi, Choukri, 2021. "New experimental investigation of the circumferential temperature uniformity for a PTC absorber," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    4. Shaaban, S., 2021. "Enhancement of the solar trough collector efficiency by optimizing the reflecting mirror profile," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 40-49.
    5. Liu, Shuaishuai & Yang, Bin & Yu, Xiaohui, 2023. "Impact of installation error and tracking error on the thermal-mechanical properties of parabolic trough receivers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 197-211.
    6. Qiu, Yu & Xu, Yucong & Li, Qing & Wang, Jikang & Wang, Qiliang & Liu, Bin, 2021. "Efficiency enhancement of a solar trough collector by combining solar and hot mirrors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    7. Liu, Shuaishuai & Yang, Bin & Hou, Yutian & Yu, Xiaohui, 2022. "Effects of geometric configurations on the thermal-mechanical properties of parabolic trough receivers based on coupled optical-thermal-stress model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 929-942.
    8. Yılmaz, İbrahim Halil & Mwesigye, Aggrey, 2018. "Modeling, simulation and performance analysis of parabolic trough solar collectors: A comprehensive review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 135-174.
    9. Gong, Jing-hu & Wang, Jun & Lund, Peter D., 2021. "Improving stability and heat transfer through a beam in a semi-circular absorber tube of a large-aperture trough solar concentrator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    10. Ben Taher, M.A. & Pelay, U. & Russeil, S. & Bougeard, D., 2023. "A novel design to optimize the optical performances of parabolic trough collector using Taguchi, ANOVA and grey relational analysis methods," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    11. Jing-hu, Gong & Yong, Li & Jun, Wang & Lund, Peter, 2023. "Performance optimization of larger-aperture parabolic trough concentrator solar power station using multi-stage heating technology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    12. Zou, Bin & Jiang, Yiqiang & Yao, Yang & Yang, Hongxing, 2019. "Impacts of non-ideal optical factors on the performance of parabolic trough solar collectors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1150-1165.
    13. Ye, Kai & Li, Qing & Zhang, Yuanting & Qiu, Yu & Liu, Bin, 2022. "An efficient receiver tube enhanced by a solar transparent aerogel for solar power tower," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    14. Zou, Bin & Yao, Yang & Jiang, Yiqiang & Yang, Hongxing, 2018. "A new algorithm for obtaining the critical tube diameter and intercept factor of parabolic trough solar collectors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 451-467.
    15. Gong, Jing-hu & Huang, Ji & Hu, Xiaojian & Wang, Jun & Lund, Peter D. & Gao, Caiyun, 2021. "Optimizing research on large-aperture parabolic trough condenser using two kinds of absorber tubes with reflector at 500 °C," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 2187-2197.
    16. Song, Jifeng & Tong, Kai & Luo, Geng & Li, Lei, 2017. "Influence of non-ideal optical factors in actual engineering on the safety and stability of a parabolic trough collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1293-1301.
    17. Yang, Bin & Liu, Shuaishuai & Zhang, Ruirui & Yu, Xiaohui, 2022. "Influence of reflector installation errors on optical-thermal performance of parabolic trough collectors based on a MCRT - FVM coupled model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1006-1017.
    18. Huang, Gan & Wang, Kai & Curt, Sara Riera & Franchetti, Benjamin & Pesmazoglou, Ioannis & Markides, Christos N., 2021. "On the performance of concentrating fluid-based spectral-splitting hybrid PV-thermal (PV-T) solar collectors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 590-605.
    19. Liu, Peng & Dong, Zhimin & Xiao, Hui & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2021. "Thermal-hydraulic performance analysis of a novel parabolic trough receiver with double tube for solar cascade heat collection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    20. Gong, Jing-hu & Wang, Jun & Lund, Peter D. & Zhao, Dan-dan & Xu, Jing-wen & Jin, Yi-hao, 2021. "Comparative study of heat transfer enhancement using different fins in semi-circular absorber tube for large-aperture trough solar concentrator," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1229-1241.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:187:y:2022:i:c:p:774-789. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.