Heat transfer analysis of parabolic trough solar receiver

The Heat transfer fluid (HTF) is a key component of solar thermal power plant because it significantly impacts the receiver efficiency, determines the type of thermodynamic cycle and the performance it can achieve, and determines the thermal energy storage technology that must be used. This paper reviews current and future liquid, gas, supercritical, two-phase and particulate HTFs. Thermophysical properties are presented as well as correlations to determine the receiver tube-HTF heat transfer coefficients. Variations of convective heat transfer coefficients as a function of temperature are illustrated for all selected HTFs in their stable operation temperature ranges. Finally, recent developments on new HTFs working at 700 °C and beyond are discussed.

Review of heat transfer fluids in tube-receivers used in concentrating solar thermal systems: Properties and heat transfer coefficients

A novel parabolic trough solar collector model – Validation with experimental data and comparison to Engineering Equation Solver (EES)

The Solar Advisor Model (SAM) provides a consistent framework for analyzing and comparing power system costs and performance across the range of solar technologies and markets, from photovoltaic systems for residential and commercial markets to concentrating solar power and large photovoltaic systems for utility markets. This manual describes Version 2.0 of the software, which can model photovoltaic and concentrating solar power technologies for electric applications for several markets. The current version of the Solar Advisor Model does not model solar heating and lighting technologies.

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Solar Advisor Model User Guide for Version 2.0

The heat loss of a receiver in a parabolic trough collector plays an important role in collector performance. A number of methods have been used to measure the thermal loss of a receiver tube depending on its operating temperature. This paper presents methods for measuring receiver heat losses including field measurements and laboratory set-ups both based on energy balances from the hot inside of the receiver tube to the ambient. Further approaches are presented to measure and analyze the temperature of the glass envelope of evacuated receivers and to model overall heat losses and emissivity coefficients of the receiver. Good agreement can be found between very different approaches and independent installations. For solar parabolic trough plants operating in the usual 390°C temperature range, the thermal loss is around 300W/m receiver length.

Experimental Analysis of Overall Thermal Properties of Parabolic Trough Receivers

This paper describes a technique that uses an infrared camera to evaluate the in-situ thermal performance of parabolic trough receivers at operating solar power plants.

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H. Price

Papers

Field Survey of Parabolic Trough Receiver Thermal Performance: Preprint