Volume 24: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part VII

Numerical Analysis and Comparison of Thermal Performance of a New Homogeneous Parabolic Trough Solar Receiver Peijing Li, Taixiu Liu, Qibin Liu

Abstract

In order to limit the negative effects of large circumferential thermal gradient in parabolic trough collectors (PTCs), enhancing the flow and heat exchange of the working fluid by embedding spiral slices in the absorber tube is a promising method. The absorber tube with the secondary reflector (SRAT) was proposed which solar flux is significantly uniformly distributed. The thermodynamic performance of the embed spiral slices absorber tube (ESAT) is analyzed and compared with that of the SRAT by building a thermal-structure coupled model. It can be found that compared to traditional absorber tubes, the circumferential temperature difference of ESAT with different pitches is reduced by 13%-53%, and the maximum thermal stress displacement is reduced by 32%-50%, which is much less than that of SRAT. However, under the simulated conditions, ESAT eliminates the high-temperature boundary zone of the working fluid and the useful energy of the working fluid increases by about 7% compared to SRAT, but the outlet pressure loss increases. This research can improve the energy efficiency, economy, and reliability of parabolic trough collectors.

Keywords homogeneous, spiral slice, secondary-mirror, thermal deformation