槽式太阳能新型腔式吸热器的热性能研究

提出一种适用于抛物槽集热器的新型太阳能腔式吸热器,该装置具有较高的集热效率,同时连接安装和日常运行维护也相对便利。对其建立一套三维传热模型,并搭建采用新型腔式吸热器的抛物槽集热器实验系统,通过实验测试对比吸热器瞬时效率,验证模型的准确性。此外,定量分析不同环境参数与工作参数对新型腔式吸热器热性能的影响,结果表明:集热效率随着法向直接日射辐照度、环境温度的升高而增加,随着环境风速和吸热器入口传热流体温度的升高而降低,而受传热流体质量流量的影响较小。     

Modelling of parabolic trough direct steam generation solar collectors

Solar electric generation systems (SEGS) currently in operation are based on parabolic trough solar collectors using synthetic oil heat transfer fluid in the collector loop to transfer thermal energy to a Rankine cycle turbine via a heat exchanger. To improve performance and reduce costs direct steam generation in the collector has been proposed. In this paper the efficiency of parabolic trough collectors is determined for operation with synthetic oil (current SEGS plants) and water (future proposal) as the working fluids. The thermal performance of a trough collector using Syltherm 800 oil as the working fluid has been measured at Sandia National Laboratory and is used in this study to develop a model of the thermal losses from the collector. The model is based on absorber wall temperature rather than fluid bulk temperature so it can be used to predict the performance of the collector with any working fluid. The effects of absorber emissivity and internal working fluid convection effects are evaluated. An efficiency equation for trough collectors is developed and used in a simulation model to evaluate the performance of direct steam generation collectors for different radiation conditions and different absorber tube sizes. Phase change in the direct steam generation collector is accounted for by separate analysis of the liquid, boiling and dry steam zones.     

Numerical simulation of a parabolic trough solar collector with nonuniform solar flux conditions by coupling FVM and MCRT method

In this paper, a more detailed three-dimensional computational model of the whole parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) system and corresponding numerical simulations by combining the Finite Volume Method (FVM) and the Monte Carlo Ray-Trace (MCRT) method were presented. Corresponding codes and solving methods were also developed and applied to simulate and analyze the total involuted photo-thermal conversion process of an experimental LS2 PTC system. The numerical results were compared with experimental data and good agreement was obtained, proving that the model and method used in the present study is feasible and reliable. More details of the characteristics of solar concentrating, solar collecting, fluid dynamics, coupled heat transfer and the whole flow and temperature fields in the receiver were also revealed and discussed. Then some typical heat transfer fluid (HTF) types and residual gas conditions were further studied. It was revealed that the properties of these HTFs/conditions and their varying relations of the fluid temperature affected the characteristics of fluid dynamics, coupled heat transfer and the whole temperature distributions in the receiver, thus affected the thermal loss and the collector efficiency synthetically.     

Performance of Cylindrical Parabolic Collector with Automated Tracking System

Parabolic solar collector collects the radiant energy emitted from the sun and focuses it at a point. Parabolic trough collectors are the low cost implementation of concentrated solar power technology that focuses incident sun light on to a tube filled with a heat transfer fluid. However, the basic problem with the cylindrical parabolic collector without tracking was the solar collector does not move with the orientation of sun. Development of automatic tracking system for cylindrical parabolic collectors will increase solar collection as well as efficiency of devices. The main aim of this paper is to design, fabricate and analyze the performance of parabolic collector with automated tracking system. The automated tracking mechanism is used to receive the maximum possible energy of solar radiation as it tracks the path of sun. The performance of the parabolic trough collector is experimentally investigated with the water circulated as heat transfer fluid. The collector efficiency will be noted.     

Effect of using nanofluids on efficiency of parabolic trough collectors in solar thermal electric power plants

In this paper, forced convection heat transfer nanofluid flow inside the receiver tube of solar parabolic trough collector is numerically simulated. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are carried out to study the influence of using nanofluid as heat transfer fluid on thermal efficiency of the solar system. The three-dimensional steady, turbulent flow and heat transfer governing equations are solved using Finite Volume Method (FVM) with the SIMPLEC algorithm. The results show that the numerical simulation are in good agreement with the experimental data. Also, the effect of various nanoparticle volume fraction on thermal and hydrodynamic characteristics of the solar parabolic collector is discussed in details. The results indicate that, using of nanofluid instead of base fluid as a working fluid leads to enhanced heat transfer performance. Furthermore, the results reveal that by increasing of the nanoparticle volume fraction, the average Nusselt number increases.     

Numerical study of heat transfer enhancement by unilateral longitudinal vortex generators inside parabolic trough solar receivers

This study presents numerical computation results on turbulent flow and coupled heat transfer enhancement in a novel parabolic trough solar absorber tube, the unilateral milt-longitudinal vortexes enhanced parabolic trough solar receiver (UMLVE-PTR), where longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs) are only located on the side of the absorber tube with concentrated solar radiation (CSR). The novel absorber tube and the corresponding parabolic trough receiver with smooth absorber tube (SAT-PTR) are numerical studied by combining the finite volume method (FVM) and the Monte Carlo ray-trace (MCRT) method for comparison and verification from the viewpoint of field synergy principle (FSP). Then the effects of Reynolds number, heat transfer fluid (HTF) inlet temperature, incident solar radiation and LVG geometric parameters were further examined. It was found that the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement of this novel absorber tube can be explained very well by the field synergy principle, and that the proposed novel UMLVE-PTR has good comprehensive heat transfer performance than that of the SAT-PTR within a wide range of major influence factors of diverse working conditions and geometric parameters.     

A novel PVT/PTC/ORC solar power system with PV totally immersed in transparent organic fluid

A novel hybrid PVT/parabolic trough concentrator (PTC)/organic Rankine cycle (ORC) solar power system integrated with underground heat exchanger has been proposed. The evaporator unit consists of a transparent flat PVT solar collector and a PTC connected in series. The first transparent solar collector has transparent covers and consists of solar cells totally immersed within a pressurized transparent organic fluid that allows the solar radiation to reach the solar cells, cools them effectively, and captures all thermal losses from the solar cells. The second concentrator is a conventional one with opaque black receiver used to reheat the transparent organic fluid to higher temperatures. Both solar collectors (the PVT and PTC) perform as the boiler and superheater for the ORC. The performance of the proposed system is investigated by a steady‐state mathematical model. The results show that, at design conditions, the efficiency of the PV modules stabilizes around 12%, absorber efficiency varies within 64% to 75%, and the ORC efficiency varies within 7% to 17%.     

中温太阳集热器系统热状态特性数值模拟的三维动态热网络实验验证

以中温太阳集热器系统单元段分节点热阻、热容网络概念,建立腔体式吸收器－槽形抛物镜中温太阳集热器系统的热性能动态模型。利用所建立的集热器单元测试系统对模型进行实验验证。     

Experimental and numerical investigation on solar parabolic trough collector integrated with thermal energy storage unit

Solar parabolic trough collector (PTC) is the best recognized and commercial‐industrial‐scale, high temperature generation technology available today, and studies to assess its performance will add further impetus in improving these systems. The present work deals with numerical and experimental investigations to study the performance of a small‐scale solar PTC integrated with thermal energy storage system. Aperture area of PTC is 7.5 m², and capacity of thermal energy storage is 60 L. Paraffin has been used as phase change material and water as heat transfer fluid, which also acts as sensible heat storage medium. Experiments have been carried out to investigate the effect of mass flow rate on useful heat gain, thermal efficiency and energy collected/stored. A numerical model has been developed for the receiver/heat collecting element (HCE) based on one dimensional heat transfer equations to study temperature distribution, heat fluxes and thermal losses. Partial differential equations (PDE) obtained from mass and energy balance across HCE are discretized for transient conditions and solved for real time solar flux density values and other physical conditions of the present system. Convective and radiative heat transfers occurring in the HCE are also accounted in this study. Performance parameters obtained from this model are compared with experimental results, and it is found that agreement is good within 10% deviations. These deviations could be due to variations in incident solar radiation fed as input to the numerical model. System thermal efficiency is mainly influenced by heat gain and solar flux density whereas thermal loss is significantly influenced by concentrated solar radiation, receiver tube temperature and heat gained by heat transfer fluid. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Potential of a parabolic trough solar concentrator for electric energy production

At present, parabolic trough technology is considered as the most low‐cost and powerful large‐scale technology to utilize solar energy for electricity generation and produce steam for different industrial usages. This article recommends the generation of electricity by using a parabolic trough solar concentrator in the central area of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) at Dawadmi city. Pressurized water is used as the heat‐transfer working fluid. A computer algorithm was built using the Matlab program to simulate the performance parameters of the Euro Trough collector (ETC). The input data included the properties of the working fluid (pressurized water) and the designing parameters of ETC. The output data were the outlet water temperature, the coefficient of heat transfer, the heat loss, and the thermal, solar, and global efficiencies. The obtained results indicated the ability of this type of parabolic trough in KSA to generate electric power due to the high‐performance parameters achieved. Also, the validity of using the simulation technique was measured and it showed good conformity.     

Heat losses from parabolic trough solar collectors

Parabolic trough solar collector usually consists of a parabolic solar energy concentrator, which reflects solar energy into an absorber. The absorber is a tube, painted with solar radiation absorbing material, located at the focal length of the concentrator, usually covered with a totally or partially vacuumed glass tube to minimize the heat losses. Typically, the concentration ratio ranges from 30 to 80, depending on the radius of the parabolic solar energy concentrator. The working fluid can reach a temperature up to 400°C, depending on the concentration ratio, solar intensity, working fluid flow rate and other parameters. Hence, such collectors are an ideal device for power generation and/or water desalination applications. However, as the length of the collector increases and/or the fluid flow rate decreases, the rate of heat losses increases. The length of the collector may reach a point that heat gain becomes equal to the heat losses; therefore, additional length will be passive. The current work introduces an analysis for the mentioned collector for single and double glass tubes. The main objectives of this work are to understand the thermal performance of the collector and identify the heat losses from the collector. The working fluid, tube and glass temperature's variation along the collector is calculated, and variations of the heat losses along the heated tube are estimated. It should be mentioned that the working fluid may experience a phase change as it flows through the tube. Hence, the heat transfer correlation for each phase is different and depends on the void fraction and flow characteristics. However, as a first approximation, the effect of phase change is neglected. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DSG太阳能槽式集热器动态特性

采用数值模拟方法,分析了以水,水蒸气为工质的DSG槽式集热器的动态流动与传热特性.首先建立了管内流体的一维多相流动与传热模型,并利用差分法对该模型进行求解,计算结果与现有文献数据吻合较好.分析了稳态条件下,集热器出口流体工质参数受太阳辐射强度、流体质量流量、人口温度和入口压力的影响规律.在动态分析中,研究了辐射强度变化所导致的出口参数变化特性.从阶跃响应和脉冲响应的分析中得出,虽然热惯性存在,但短期的辐射强度波动对出口温度仍有较大影响,但对出口压力的影响较小.辐射波动将对一次直通DSG系统出口温度产生很大波动.     

Heat transfer analysis of receiver for large aperture parabolic trough solar collector

Parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) is one of the most proven technologies for large‐scale solar thermal power generation. Currently, the cost of power generation from PTSC is expensive as compared with conventional power generation. The capital/power generation cost can be reduced by increasing aperture sizes of the collector. However, increase in aperture of the collector leads to higher heat flux on the absorber surface and results in higher thermal gradient. Hence, the analysis of heat distribution from the absorber to heat transfer fluid (HTF) and within the absorber is essential to identify the possibilities of failure of the receiver. In this article, extensive heat transfer analysis (HTA) of the receiver is performed for various aperture diameter of a PTSC using commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS Fluent 19.0. The numerical simulations of the receiver are performed to analyze the temperature distribution around the circumference of the absorber tube as well as along the length of tube, the rate of heat transfer from the absorber tube to the HTF, and heat losses from the receiver for various geometric and operating conditions such as collector aperture diameter, mass flow rate, heat loss coefficient (HLC), HTF, and its inlet temperature. It is observed that temperature gradient around the circumference of the absorber and heat losses from the receiver increases with collector aperture. The temperature gradient around the circumference of the absorber tube wall at 2 m length from the inlet are observed as 11, 37, 48, 74, and 129 K, respectively, for 2.5‐, 5‐, 5.77‐, 7.5‐, and 10‐m aperture diameter of PTSC at mass flow rate of 1.25 kg/s and inlet temperature of 300 K for therminol oil as HTF. To minimize the thermal gradient around the absorber circumference, HTFs with better heat transfer characteristics are explored such as molten salt, liquid sodium, and NaK78. Liquid sodium offers a significant reduction in temperature gradient as compared of other HTFs for all the aperture sizes of the collector. It is found that the temperature gradient around the circumference of the absorber tube wall at a length of 2 m is reduced to 4, 8, 10, 13, and 18 K, respectively, for the above‐mentioned mass flow rate with liquid sodium as HTF. The analyses are also performed for different HTF inlet temperature in order to study the behavior of the receiver. Based on the HTA, it is desired to have larger aperture parabolic trough collector to generate higher temperature from the solar field and reduce the capital cost. To achieve higher temperature and better performance of the receiver, HTF with good thermophysical properties may be preferable to minimize the heat losses and thermal gradient around the circumference of the absorber tube.     

A technical note on application of internally finned tubes in solar parabolic trough absorber pipes

The heterogeneous incoming heat flux in solar parabolic trough absorber tubes generates huge temperature difference in each pipe section. Helical internal fins can reduce this effect, homogenising the temperature profile and reducing thermal stress with the drawback of increasing pressure drop. Another effect is the decreasing of the outer surface temperature and thermal losses, improving the thermal efficiency of the collector. The application of internal finned tubes for the design of parabolic trough collectors is analysed with computational fluid dynamics tools. Our numerical approach has been qualified with the computational estimation of reported experimental data regarding phenomena involved in finned tube applications and solar irradiation of parabolic trough collector. The application of finned tubes to the design of parabolic trough collectors must take into account issues as the pressure losses, thermal losses and thermo-mechanical stress, and thermal fatigue. Our analysis shows an improvement potential in parabolic trough solar plants efficiency by the application of internal finned tubes.     

An Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Ferrofluids on the Efficiency of Novel Parabolic Trough Solar Collector Under Laminar Flow Conditions

ABSTRACT

The paper is related to the use of magnetic nanofluids (ferrofluids) in a direct absorption solar parabolic trough collector, which enhances thermal efficiency compared to conventional solar collectors. By applying the right magnetic intensity and magnetic field direction, the thermal conductivity of the fluid increased higher than typical nanofluids. Moreover, the ferrofluids exhibit excellent optical properties. The external magnetic source is installed to alter the thermo-physical properties of the fluid, and the absorber tube does not have selective surface allowing ferrofluids to absorb the incoming solar irradiance directly. In this paper, an experimental investigation of the performance of small scale direct absorption solar collector using ferrofluids as an absorber was conducted. Nanoparticle concentrations of 0.05 vol% at the operational temperatures between 19°C and 40°C were used in the current study. The results show that using ferrofluids as a heat transfer fluid increases the efficiency of solar collectors. In the presence of the external magnetic field, the solar collector efficiency increases to the maximum, 25% higher than the conventional parabolic trough. At higher temperatures, the ferrofluids show much better efficiency than conventional heat transfer fluid. The study indicated that nanofluids, even of low-content, have good absorption of solar radiation, and can improve the outlet temperatures and system efficiencies. The study shows the potential of using ferrofluids in the direct absorption solar collector.     

Numerical study of conduction and radiation heat losses from vacuum annulus in parabolic trough receivers

Parabolic trough receiver is a key component to convert solar energy into thermal energy in the parabolic trough solar system. The heat loss of the receiver has an important influence on the thermal efficiency and the operating cost of the power station. In this paper, conduction and radiation heat losses are analyzed respectively to identify the heat loss mechanism of the receiver. A 2-D heat transfer model is established by using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method for rarefied gas flow and heat transfer within the annulus of the receiver to predict the conduction heat loss caused by residual gases. The numerical results conform to the experimental results, and show the temperature of the glass envelope and heat loss for various conditions in detail. The effects of annulus pressure, gas species, temperature of heat transfer fluid, and annulus size on the conduction and radiation heat losses are systematically analyzed. Besides, the main factors that cause heat loss are analyzed, providing a theoretical basis for guiding the improvement of receiver, as well as the operation and maintenance strategy to reduce heat loss.     

槽式太阳能电站集热管热性能测试

采用硅碳棒加热技术和热平衡法测试了桑普生产的具有自主知识产权的槽式太阳能电站集热管的热性能。在40～300℃温度范围内,共测试8个工况下集热管热性能。实验结果显示,集热管中低温性能与肖特公司的PTR70相差不大,完全满足中低温槽式太阳能电站和其他太阳能中低温利用领域的应用。红外图像结果表明,玻璃-金属封接温度明显高于玻璃外管温度,对集热管进行理论分析时不能忽略此部分漏热量。实验数据的获得为国内太阳能槽式电站的设计、建设提供了实验参数,为集热管漏热测试相关标准的制定提供了基础。     

槽式太阳能集热器热损失计算模型适用性分析

为精确预测太阳能槽式集热器（parabolic trough collector, PTC）的传热损失,基于美国桑迪亚国家实验室（Sandia National Laboratory, SNL）、西班牙太阳能热发电站（Plataforma Solar de Almería, PSA）以及美国安柏瑞德航空航天大学（Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, ERAU）的实测数据,对16个既有的PTC热损失模型的准确性和适用性进行了分析。结果表明,WANG等模型与SNL的实测数据吻合度最高;DICKES模型与ERAU的实测数据吻合度最高;PATNODE模型与PSA的实测数据吻合度最高。整体而言,在30 ~ 450℃ PTC载热介质工作温度范围内,PATNODE模型计算精度最高,适用性最好;直射辐射强度、入射角以及载热介质温度对集热器热损失的大小起着决定性的作用。     

Modeling and optimizing parabolic trough solar collector systems using the least squares support vector machine method

Investigating the complicated thermal physics mechanisms of the parabolic trough solar collector systems plays a vital role in efficiently utilizing the solar energy. In this paper, the least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) method is developed to model and optimize the parabolic trough solar collector system. Numerical simulations are implemented to evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of the LSSVM method, where the sample data derived from the experiment and the simulation results of two solar collector systems with 30 m² and 600 m² solar fields, and the complicated relationship between the solar collector efficiency and the solar flux, the flow rate and the inlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid (HTF) is extracted. Some basic rules, such as the solar collector efficiency increases with the increase of the solar flux and the flow rate of the heat transfer fluid, and decreases with the increase of the inlet temperature of the HTF, are obtained, which indicates the LSSVM method is competent to optimize the solar collector systems. As a result, the new approach will provide meaningful data for developing the parabolic trough solar thermal power plant in China.     

Optimization of parabolic trough solar collector system

Process heat produced by solar collectors can contribute significantly in the conservation of conventional energy resources, reducing CO₂ emission, and delaying global warming. One of the major problems associated with solar process heat application is fluctuation in system temperature during unsteady state radiation conditions which may cause significant thermal and operation problems. In this paper a transient simulation model is developed for analysing the performance of industrial water heating systems using parabolic trough solar collectors. The results showed that to prevent dramatic change and instability in process heat during transient radiation periods thermal storage tank size should not be lower than 14.5 l m^?2 of collector area. Small periods of radiation instability lower than 30 min do not have significant effect on system operation. During these periods when water flow rate of collector loop is doubled the time required to restore system normal operating condition increased by a ratio of 1.5. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.