ABSTRACT

Concentrating collectors absorbs solar energy and convert it into heat for generating hot
water, steam at required temperature, which can be further used for solar thermal applications.
The developing countries like India where solar energy is abundantly available; there is need to
develop technology for harnessing solar energy for power production, but the main problem
associated with concentrating solar power technology is the high cost of installation and low
output efficiency. To solve this problem, a prototype cylindrical parabolic solar collector having
aperture area of 1.89 m2 is designed and developed using low cost highly reflecting and
absorbing material to reduce initial cost of project and improve thermal efficiency. ASHRAE
Standard 93, 1986 was used to evaluate the thermal performance and it was observed that this
system can generate hot water at an average temperature of 500C per day with an average
efficiency of 49% which is considerable higher than flat plate solar collectors. Hot water
produced by this system can be useful for domestic, agricultural, industrial process heat
applications.

LITERATURE REVIEW

1) PARAMETRIC STUDY OF HEAT CHARACTERISTICS OF FLUID IN

CYLINDRICAL PARABOLIC CONCENTRATING SOLAR COLLECTOR.

This paper presents a numerical investigation of heat transfer characteristics of fluid in

Cylindrical Parabolic Concentrating Solar Collector in Ogbomoso Climatic Conditions (lat 8 o
01 I , long 4 o 11 I ). The parametric studies were conducted to investigate the effects of twist
tape ratio, H /D in different fluids and length on the system performance as function of
instantaneous efficiency in order to obtain the optimum performance of the system. A computer
simulation program written in C++ language was developed to study the effect of Reynold
numbers (Re) from 2,000 to 12,000 for the fixed value of incident solar insolation flux (Ib) of
186 W/m 2 on the system thermal performance, Nusselt number (Nu) as a function of Reynolds
number (Re) rate with variable tape twist factor (X = H/Di) for different Prandtl number, Pr in
the range of 0.0001 > 1). The results show that oil has highest heat transfer characteristics,
Nusselt number values both with and without tape twist factor. It is observed that tape twist
factor enhances the heat transfer characteristics of the fluids in cylindrical parabolic
concentrating solar collector. The higher value of heat transfer characteristics is obtained with
Nusselt number (Nutw) having tape twist factor (X = H/Di: 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15) in all the fluids
considered. It is observed that performance of the cylindrical parabolic trough collector with
twisted tape has been enhanced appreciably. These results can guild practicing engineers and
designers in the evaluation of the existing real systems and design of future system

2) OPTICAL AND THERMAL ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT CAVITY RECEIVER

DESIGNS FOR SOLAR DISH CONCENTRATORS

Cavity receivers are the most usual design in solar dish concentrators in order to achieve
high thermal performance. The objective of this work is the investigation of five different cavity
receivers under different operating temperature levels and the selection of the most appropriate
designs. More specifically, the examined cavities have the following shapes: cylindrical,
rectangular, spherical, conical and cylindrical-conical. All the cavities are optimized in order to
determine the best design which maximizes the thermal efficiency of the solar collector. The
optimization variables are different for every design and they regard the cavity length, the cone
angle and the distance from the concentrator base. According to the results, the best design is the
novel one with cylindrical-conical shape, while the conical and the spherical are the next choices.
The worst design is rectangular, while the cylindrical is the fourth design in the performance
sequence. For operation at 300 °C, the cylindrical-conical design is found to have 67.95%
thermal efficiency, 35.73% exergy efficiency while the optical efficiency is 85.42%. The
analysis is conducted with a developed model in SolidWorks Flow Simulation which is validated
with literature experimental data.

3) PERFORMANCE STUDY OF A CYLINDRICAL PARABOLIC

CONCENTRATING SOLAR WATER HEATER WITH NAIL TYPE TWISTED
TAPE INSERTS IN THE COPPER ABSORBER TUBE

This paper reports the overall thermal performance of a cylindrical parabolic

concentrating solar water heater (CPCSWH) with inserting nail type twisted tape (NTT) in the
copper absorber tube for the nail twist pitch ratios, 4.787, 6.914 and 9.042, respectively. The
experiments are conducted for a constant volumetric water flow rate and during the time period
9:00 a.m. to 15:00 p.m. The useful heat gain, hourly solar energy collected and hourly solar
energy stored in this solar water heater were found to be higher for the nail twist pitch ratio
4.787. The above said parameters were found to be at a peak at noon and observed to follow the
path of variation of solar intensity. At the start of the experiment, the value of charging
efficiency was observed to be maximal, whereas the maximum values of instantaneous
efficiency and overall thermal efficiency were observed at noon. The key finding is that the nail
twist pitch ratio enhances the overall thermal performance of the CPCSWH.

4) EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PARABOLIC TROUGH SOLAR

COLLECTOR (PTC) PERFORMANCE FOR WATER DESALINATION

Due to depleting traditional energy resources, solar energy appears a promising

alternative renewable preference for many demonstrational applications including solar
desalination plants. In this respect, an experimental study on the performance of pre-designed
and manufactured Lab-scaled water desalination used parabolic trough solar collector PTC was
carried out for the first time in Al-Najaf City-Iraq (32° 1' N / 44° 19' E). The proposed designed
is to enhance the production of the water still by integrated with a parabolic trough solar. The
used PTC with 90o-rim angle mirrored reflector that focused the sun on its focal line of a copper
tube with black chrome coating receiver. Primary results reveal 11% improvement in system
efficiency is obtained over the used vacuumed copper tube with black chrome coating receiver.
Results also confirm PTC facing North or South positions is best for maintaining better system
efficiency.

5) DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A PARABOLIC TROUGH SOLAR

CONCENTRATOR

A prototype solar desalination system (SODESAL) with a parabolic-trough solar

concentrator (PTSC) and evacuated tube was designed and analyzed to determine the solar
thermal capabilities for small-scale distillation and energy generation. A proof-of-concept study
verified that distillation is possible with the system as designed, however a rupture occurred in
the copper heat-pipe heat exchanger due to overheating. The internal temperatures of an
aluminum heat transfer fin were measured inside an evacuated tube typically used in solar water
heater systems to understand the lateral heat distribution and identify possible causes of the
rupture. Solar radiation was measured for both the summer and winter solstices to understand the
relationship between incident solar radiation and the potential freshwater yield of the system.
The lateral heat distribution of the AHTF is dependent upon the PTSC’s solar incident angle. A
consistent lateral heat distribution occurred across the AHTF approximately 40 mins after solar
noon. The temperature difference between each end of the AHTF can exceed over 225 °C
leading up to and following solar noon when the PTSC was set at a static slope. The SODESAL
system’s future applications, system improvements and additional research are also discussed
along with the capability of small-scale CSP systems.