IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v74y2015icp727-736.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Design, manufacture, and test of a prototype for a parabolic trough collector for industrial process heat

Author

Listed:
  • Coccia, Gianluca
  • Di Nicola, Giovanni
  • Sotte, Marco

Abstract

The manufacture of low-cost parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) for industrial process heat applications ranging from 70 to 250 °C is crucial for the widespread availability of this solar technology. Thus, we present a prototype of a PTC with a 90° rim angle and a small concentration ratio of 9.25 built in fiberglass and extruded polystyrene, called UNIVPM.01. Fiberglass is used as the external shell and extruded polystyrene as the inside fill component. The receiver is an aluminum pipe of circular cross-section, contained within a low-iron glass envelope. The tracking system is based on a solar-position computer program. The main features of this prototype are its cost-effectiveness, low weight, high mechanical resistance, and ease of manufacture. First, we show the design and manufacturing process in detail. Then, we describe the test bench used to evaluate the collector thermal efficiency. Tests were performed following the directives of ASHRAE Standard 93-2010 and using demineralized water for temperatures up to 85 °C. Results show that the equation for thermal efficiency is comparable to that of other similar collectors available in the literature: the intercept is 0.658 and the slope is −0.683.

Suggested Citation

  • Coccia, Gianluca & Di Nicola, Giovanni & Sotte, Marco, 2015. "Design, manufacture, and test of a prototype for a parabolic trough collector for industrial process heat," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 727-736.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:74:y:2015:i:c:p:727-736
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2014.08.077
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148114005473
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2014.08.077?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. Jaramillo, O.A. & Venegas-Reyes, E. & Aguilar, J.O. & Castrejón-García, R. & Sosa-Montemayor, F., 2013. "Parabolic trough concentrators for low enthalpy processes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 529-539.
    2. Kalogirou, Soteris, 1996. "Parabolic trough collector system for low temperature steam generation: Design and performance characteristics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Kalogirou, S. A. & Lloyd, S. & Ward, J. & Eleftheriou, P., 1994. "Design and performance characteristics of a parabolic-trough solar-collector system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 341-354.
    4. Kalogirou, Soteris & Eleftheriou, Polyvios & Lloyd, Stephen & Ward, John, 1994. "Low cost high accuracy parabolic troughs construction and evaluation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 384-386.
    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. Wang, Qiliang & Pei, Gang & Yang, Hongxing, 2021. "Techno-economic assessment of performance-enhanced parabolic trough receiver in concentrated solar power plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 629-643.
    2. Fei Cao & Jiarui Pang & Xianzhe Gu & Miaomiao Wang & Yanqin Shangguan, 2023. "Performance Simulation of Solar Trough Concentrators: Optical and Thermal Comparisons," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-18, February.
    3. Salgado Conrado, L. & Rodriguez-Pulido, A. & Calderón, G., 2017. "Thermal performance of parabolic trough solar collectors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1345-1359.
    4. Wang, Qiliang & Shen, Boxu & Huang, Junchao & Yang, Honglun & Pei, Gang & Yang, Hongxing, 2021. "A spectral self-regulating parabolic trough solar receiver integrated with vanadium dioxide-based thermochromic coating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    5. Fuqiang, Wang & Ziming, Cheng & Jianyu, Tan & Yuan, Yuan & Yong, Shuai & Linhua, Liu, 2017. "Progress in concentrated solar power technology with parabolic trough collector system: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1314-1328.
    6. Hussein, Ahmed Kadhim, 2016. "Applications of nanotechnology to improve the performance of solar collectors – Recent advances and overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 767-792.
    7. Moosavian, Seyed Farhan & Borzuei, Daryoosh & Ahmadi, Abolfazl, 2021. "Energy, exergy, environmental and economic analysis of the parabolic solar collector with life cycle assessment for different climate conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 301-320.
    8. Forman, Patrick & Penkert, Sebastian & Kämper, Christoph & Stallmann, Tobias & Mark, Peter & Schnell, Jürgen, 2020. "A survey of solar concrete shell collectors for parabolic troughs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Wang, Qiliang & Hu, Mingke & Yang, Honglun & Cao, Jingyu & Li, Jing & Su, Yuehong & Pei, Gang, 2019. "Performance evaluation and analyses of novel parabolic trough evacuated collector tubes with spectrum-selective glass envelope," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 793-804.
    11. Jamal-Abad, Milad Tajik & Saedodin, Seyfollah & Aminy, Mohammad, 2017. "Experimental investigation on a solar parabolic trough collector for absorber tube filled with porous media," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 156-163.

    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. Kalogirou, Soteris, 1998. "Use of parabolic trough solar energy collectors for sea-water desalination," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 65-88, June.
    2. Shakeel, Mohammad Raghib & Mokheimer, Esmail M.A., 2022. "A techno-economic evaluation of utility scale solar power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    3. Kalogirou, Soteris, 1996. "Parabolic trough collector system for low temperature steam generation: Design and performance characteristics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-19, September.
    4. 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.
    5. Jaramillo, O.A. & Borunda, Mónica & Velazquez-Lucho, K.M. & Robles, M., 2016. "Parabolic trough solar collector for low enthalpy processes: An analysis of the efficiency enhancement by using twisted tape inserts," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 125-141.
    6. Wu, Shaobing & Wang, Changmei & Tang, Runsheng, 2022. "Optical efficiency and performance optimization of a two-stage secondary reflection hyperbolic solar concentrator using machine learning," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 437-449.
    7. 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).
    8. Okoye, Chiemeka Onyeka & Bahrami, Arian & Atikol, Ugur, 2018. "Evaluating the solar resource potential on different tracking surfaces in Nigeria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1569-1581.
    9. Borunda, Mónica & Garduno-Ramirez, Raul & Jaramillo, O.A., 2019. "Optimal operation of a parabolic solar collector with twisted-tape insert by multi-objective genetic algorithms," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 540-550.
    10. Taehong Sung & Sang Youl Yoon & Kyung Chun Kim, 2015. "A Mathematical Model of Hourly Solar Radiation in Varying Weather Conditions for a Dynamic Simulation of the Solar Organic Rankine Cycle," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-12, July.
    11. Jaramillo, O.A. & Venegas-Reyes, E. & Aguilar, J.O. & Castrejón-García, R. & Sosa-Montemayor, F., 2013. "Parabolic trough concentrators for low enthalpy processes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 529-539.
    12. Majedul Islam & Prasad Yarlagadda & Azharul Karim, 2018. "Effect of the Orientation Schemes of the Energy Collection Element on the Optical Performance of a Parabolic Trough Concentrating Collector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    13. Karimi, Reza & Gheinani, Touraj Tavakoli & Madadi Avargani, Vahid, 2018. "A detailed mathematical model for thermal performance analysis of a cylindrical cavity receiver in a solar parabolic dish collector system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 768-782.
    14. Abdulhamed, Ali Jaber & Adam, Nor Mariah & Ab-Kadir, Mohd Zainal Abidin & Hairuddin, Abdul Aziz, 2018. "Review of solar parabolic-trough collector geometrical and thermal analyses, performance, and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 822-831.
    15. Lubitz, William David, 2011. "Effect of manual tilt adjustments on incident irradiance on fixed and tracking solar panels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(5), pages 1710-1719, May.
    16. Ng, Yi Cheng & Lipiński, Wojciech, 2012. "Thermodynamic analyses of solar thermal gasification of coal for hybrid solar-fossil power and fuel production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 720-731.
    17. Wang, Qiliang & Hu, Mingke & Yang, Honglun & Cao, Jingyu & Li, Jing & Su, Yuehong & Pei, Gang, 2019. "Performance evaluation and analyses of novel parabolic trough evacuated collector tubes with spectrum-selective glass envelope," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 793-804.
    18. Reddy, K.S. & Singla, Hitesh & Natraj,, 2019. "Gravity & wind load analysis and optical study of solar parabolic trough collector with composite facets using optimized modelling approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    19. Achkari, O. & El Fadar, A. & Amlal, I. & Haddi, A. & Hamidoun, M. & Hamdoune, S., 2021. "A new sun-tracking approach for energy saving," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 820-835.
    20. Laveet Kumar & Junaid Ahmed & Mamdouh El Haj Assad & M. Hasanuzzaman, 2022. "Prospects and Challenges of Solar Thermal for Process Heating: A Comprehensive Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-27, November.

    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:74:y:2015:i:c:p:727-736. 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.