Performance analyses of a novel finned parabolic trough receiver with inner tube for solar cascade heat collection

Designing highly-efficient parabolic trough receiver(PTR)contributes to promoting solar thermal utilization and alleviating energy crisis and environmental problems.A novel finned PTR with inner tube(FPTR-IT),which can provide different grades of thermal energy with two heat transfer fluids(oil and water),is designed to improve thermal efficiency.In this FPTR-IT,an inner tube and straight fins are employed to respectively lessen heat loss at upper and lower parts of the absorber.Based on the design,a numerical model is developed to investigate its performance.Comparisons with other PTRs indicate that the FPTR-IT can combine the advantages of PTR with inner tube and finned PTR and obtain the best performance.Moreover,performance evaluation under broad ranges of direct normal irradiances(300–1000 W/m^(2)),flow rates(50–250 L/min)and inlet temperatures(400–600 K)of oil as well as flow rates(3.6–10 L/min)and inlet temperatures(298.15–318.15 K)of water is investigated.Compared with conventional PTR,heat loss is reduced by 20.7%–63.2%and total efficiency is improved by 0.03%–4.27%.Furthermore,the proportions of heat gains for water and oil are located in 8.3%–73.9%and-12.0%–64.3%,while their temperature gains are located in 11.6–37.9 K and-1.2–19.6 K,respectively.Thus,the proposed FPTR-IT may have a promising application prospect in remote arid areas or islands to provide different grades of heat for electricity and freshwater production.

Characteristics of the transient thermal load and deformation of the evacuated receiver in solar parabolic trough collector

As a core element in solar parabolic trough collector, the evaluated receiver often runs under severe thermal conditions. Worse still, the transient thermal load is more likely to cause structural deformation and damage. This work develops an efficient transient multi-level multi-dimensional(M2) analysis method to address photo-thermal-elastic problems, thereby estimating transient thermal load and deformation for the receiver:(i) one-dimensional(1-D) thermo-hydraulic model is adopted to determine the transient thermo-hydraulic state,(ii) 3-D finite volume method(FVM) model for the receiver tube is established to obtain the real-time temperature distribution,(iii) 3-D finite element method(FEM) model is employed to make thermoelastic analysis. Based on this M2 method, the typical transient cases are conducted in cold-start, disturbed-operation and regulatedprocess. Three indicators(average temperature of the wall(ATW), radial temperature difference(RTD), circumferential temperature difference(CTD)) are defined for overall analysis of the receiver thermal load. It is found that in the transient process,receivers face response delay and endure significant thermal load fluctuation. The response time for a single HCE(heat collecting element) under lower mass flow rate(1.5 kg s-1) could sustain 280 s. During the cold-start stage(DNI=200 W m-2 to 800 W m-2), the maximum value of CTD in receiver is as high as 11.67℃, corresponding to a maximum deflection of 1.05 cm.When the mass flow rate decreases sharply by 80%, the CTD reaches 33.04℃, causing a 2.06-cm deflection. It should be pointed out that in the cold-start stage and the lower mass flow rate operation for solar parabolic trough collector, alleviating the transient thermal load and deformation is of importance for safely and efficiently running evaluated receiver.