Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Parabolic trough collectors for industrial process heat in

Cyprus
Soteris A. Kalogirou ∗
Mechanical Engineering Department, Higher Technical Institute, P.O. Box 20423, Nicosia 2152, Cyprus
Received 12 April 2001

Abstract

The thermal utilization of solar energy is usually confined to domestic hot water systems and somewhat
to space heating at temperatures up to 60 °C. Industrial process heat has a considerable potential for solar
energy utilization. Cyprus has a small isolated energy system, almost totally dependent on imported fuels
to meet its energy demand. The abundance of solar radiation together with a good technological base,
created favorable conditions for the exploitation of solar energy in the island. The number of units in
operation today corresponds to one heater for every 3.7 people in the island, which is a world record.
Despite this impressive record no solar industrial process heat system is in operation today. The main
problem for this is the big expenditure required for such a system and the uncertainty of the benefits. The
objective of this work was to investigate the viability of using parabolic trough collectors for industrial
heat generation in Cyprus. The system is analyzed both thermally and economically with TRNSYS and
the TMY for Nicosia, Cyprus, in order to show the magnitude of the expected benefits. The load is hot
water delivered at 85 °C at a flow rate of 2000 kg/h for the first three quarters of each hour from 8:00–
16:00 h, 5 days a week. The system consists of an array of parabolic trough collectors, hot water storage
tank, piping and controls. The optimum collector area for the present application is 300 m2, the optimum
collector flow rate is 54 kg/m2 h and the optimum storage tank size is 25 m3. The system covers 50% of
the annual load of the system and gives life cycle savings of about C£6200 ( 10800). This amount represent
the money saved from the use of the system against paying for fuel. The savings however refer to a non-
subsidized fuel price, which will be in effect from 2003. The optimum system can deliver a total of 896
GJ per year and avoids 208 tons of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. The effect of various design changes
on the system performance was investigated. The E–W tracking system (collector axis aligned in N–S
direction) was found to be superior to the N–S one. The required load temperature affects the performance
of the system as for higher temperatures the auxiliary energy required is bigger. Also a number of variations
in the load use pattern have been investigated and presented in this paper. It was found that the bigger
the load (double shift, full hour use pattern) the bigger the collector area required, the greater the first year

∗
Tel.: +357-22-406-466; fax: +357-22-494-953.
E-mail address: skalogir@spidernet.com.cy (S.A. Kalogirou).

0360-5442/02/$ - see front matter  2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 6 0 - 5 4 4 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 1 8 - X
814 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

fuel savings and the greater the life cycle savings of the installation. This means that it is more viable to
apply solar industrial process heat to higher energy consumption industries.  2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean with an area of 9251 km2 and a popu-
lation of about 650,000. It is located at the Eastern Mediterranean at 35° north latitude. Cyprus
has no natural oil resources and relies entirely on imported fuel for its energy demands. The only
natural energy resource available is solar energy. The climatic conditions of Cyprus are predomi-
nantly very sunny with daily average solar radiation of about 5.4 kWh/m2 on a horizontal surface.
In the lowlands the daily sunshine duration varies from 5.5 h in winter to about 12.5 h in summer.
On the mountains, the cloudiest winter months receive an average of 4 h of bright sunshine per
day whereas in July this figure reaches 12 h. Mean daily global solar radiation varies from about
2.3 kWh/m2 in the cloudiest months of the year, December and January, to about 7.2 kWh/m2 in
July [1]. Statistical analysis shows that all parts of Cyprus enjoy a very sunny climate. The amount
of global radiation falling on a horizontal surface with average weather conditions is 1727 kWh/m2
per year [2]. Of this amount 69.4% reaches the surface as direct radiation (1199 kWh/m2) and
the rest (30.6%) as diffuse radiation (528 kWh/m2).
With the exception of solar energy, Cyprus has no other resources of its own and has to rely
heavily on fossil fuel imports. The energy consumption is predominantly oil based. The only
other form of commercial energy used is coal, which is used at times for cement production,
when its price is competitive to that of heavy oil. Due to the developmental nature of the economy
of Cyprus, energy consumption during the last 10 years is increasing at an average annual rate of
about 6.9%, which is approximately equal to the rate of increase of the Gross National Product [3].
Cyprus has no natural energy sources except solar energy, the use of which at present covers
about 6.5% of the total annual energy requirements. Furthermore, it contributes to a reduction in
the atmospheric pollution by approximately 260,000 tons of CO2 per year [4].
The energy consumption of various sectors of the economy in tons of oil equivalent (TOE), in
terms of type of energy consumed, is shown in Table 1 [5]. This table shows that the agricultural

Table 1
Energy consumption by different sectors of the economy for 1994

Sector Fuel oil (TOE)a Electricity (TOE) Solar (TOE)

Agricultural 64 104 5289 –

Commercial 107 432 63 859 5660
Domestic 63 612 58 055 80 820
Industrial 124 476 38 788 –
Transport 611 955 8727 –
TOTAL 971 579 174 718 86 480

a
TOE=Tons of oil equivalent=41.8 GJ.
 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830 815

and transport sectors have low demand for electricity whereas the transport sector is the predomi-
nant consumer of fuel oil. The commercial and industrial sectors use primarily fuel oil mainly
for heating purposes and electricity. In the domestic sector there is an even balance of requirement
from the three types of fuels investigated. Solar energy is used almost exclusively (93.5%) by
the domestic sector for hot water production.
Given the strong dependence of Cyprus on imported energy, the future energy policies of the
Government involve further promotion of modern energy technologies and equipment for rational
use of energy, maximum exploitation of renewable energy sources and probable use of clean
coal technologies.
The low population, the almost exclusive reliance on oil for energy needs, the relatively high
cost of electricity, the reasonably high level of technology available in the island and the popu-
lation acceptance of solar energy make the renewable energy options in Cyprus extremely viable
from a technical, social and economic point of view.
Compared to other Mediterranean countries and the European Union, Cyprus is in a very good
position with respect to the exploitation of solar energy. The estimated park of flat plate solar
collectors in working order is 560,000 m2, which corresponds to approximately 0.86 m2 per inhabi-
tant as compared to 0.56 and 0.2 for Israel and Greece respectively (see Fig. 1).
It is estimated that the number of solar water heaters installed in Cyprus exceeds 190,000 units.
This is equivalent to one solar water heater for every 3.7 persons in the island, which is a world
record. From the estimated collector area installed up today (560,000 m2) including central sys-
tems in hotels and hotel apartments, 540,000 m2 are installed in houses and flats. In the tourist
industry, it is estimated that about 44% of the existing hotels and 80% of the existing hotel
apartments are equipped with solar-assisted water heating systems and the contribution of solar
energy to the total energy consumption in the hotel industry is about 2% [3]. An important market
potential exists for the development of solar water heaters in the commercial and industrial sectors.
This is proved by the amounts of fuel oil required, mainly for heating purposes (shown in Table
1), a commodity that can be partly covered from solar energy. Additionally the use of solar energy
for space heating and cooling and for process heat in industry is a further challenge. For this it
is necessary to employ other more efficient solar collectors. One such collector, which can work
at elevated temperatures with good efficiency, is the parabolic trough.
There is no commercial application of industrial process heat in Cyprus due to the “chicken
and egg” theory, i.e., no entrepreneur will invest on research and development funds without a

Fig. 1. Installed flat plate solar collector area per inhabitant, 1994.
816 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

sizeable market and there is no sizeable market until low-cost, proven technology units are avail-
able. Perhaps only Government or aid agencies could break this impasse.
Most of the process heat is used in the food and textile industry for such diverse applications
as drying, cooking, cleaning, extraction and many others. Large-scale solar applications for pro-
cess heat benefit from the effect of scale. Therefore the investment costs should be comparatively
low, even if the costs for the collector are higher. Economically the best way is to design a system
without heat storage, i.e., the solar heat is fed directly into suitable processes (fuel saver). In this
case the maximum rate at which the solar energy system delivers energy must not be appreciably
larger than the rate at which the process uses energy. This system however cannot be cost effective
in cases where heat is needed at the early or late hours of the day or at night-times when the
industry operates on a double shift basis.
One type of industry that can use solar process heat is the food industry. The amount of money
spent on fuels by the food, beverages and tobacco industries in 1996 was 2.06 million Cyprus
pounds (C£) with a mean annual increase of 8.1% [6]. This figure constitutes 3.5% of the total
diesel oil sold that year. Other types of industry which could employ solar process heat are the
milk and cooked pork meats (sausage, salami etc.) industries and breweries. The temperatures
required in these industries range from 65 to 95 °C. Favorable conditions exist in the food industry
because food treatment and storage are processes with high energy consumption and high running
time. In breweries solar process heat can be used in the bottle washer. Dairies are also very
interesting applications for solar energy, because they often work 7 days a week, thus would fully
utilize the solar system compared to other industries which would allow the system to be idle for
2 days per week. Due to their high constant energy demand, drying processes are promising.
During production, milk and whey are spray-dried in huge towers with air, which is heated from
60 to 180 °C. The drying process can have a running time up to about 8000 h per annum [7].
In solar process heat systems, interfacing of the collectors with conventional energy supplies
must be done in a way compatible with the process. The easiest way to accomplish this is by
using heat storage, which can also allow the system to work in periods of low irradiation and/or
night-time. Where feasible, collectors can be mounted on the roof of a factory especially when
no land area is available. In this case shading between adjacent collector rows should be avoided
and considered.
The objective of this work is to investigate, through the TRNSYS computer program, the
viability of solar industrial process heat systems for Cyprus industry. For this purpose the climatic
conditions of Cyprus will be calculated using the typical meteorological year (TMY) for Cyprus.
The basic system considered is one where 2000 kg/h hot water are used at 85 °C (load). The
load is required for the first three quarters of each hour. The industry is assumed to work on a
single shift basis from 8:00 to 16:00 h. The collector circuit flow rate, collector area and storage
tank volume are optimized. The effect of various design and mode of operation modifications,
like the load temperature and the load demand (double shift and various use patterns), will be
investigated. Finally the energy flows of the basic system are presented.

2. The solar system

In order to deliver the required temperature with good efficiency a high performance solar
collector is required. Systems with light structures and low cost technology for process heat appli-
 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830 817

cations up to 250 °C could complete the variety of solar thermal collectors. Such a collector is
the parabolic trough.
Parabolic trough collectors (PTC) can effectively produce heat at temperatures between 50 and
400 °C. The biggest application of this type of system is the Southern California power plants,
known as Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS), which have a total installed capacity of 354
MWe [8]. Other applications of PTC collectors are reported by Bakos et al. [9] and Kalogirou
et al. [10].
After a period of research and commercial development of the parabolic trough collectors in
the 1980s a number of companies entered into the field producing this type of collectors. The
solar collectors produced by the Industrial Solar Technology (IST) Corporation are considered
here. IST erected several process heat installations in the States with up to 2700m2 of collector
aperture area [11]. The characteristics of the IST collector system are shown in Table 2. The
performance equation of the collector as given by the manufacturer is:

n ⫽ 0.762⫺0.2125 冉 冊
⌬T
Gb
⫺0.001672
⌬T
Gb 冉 冊 2
(1)

where: ⌬T=temperature difference (Tin⫺Ta); Gb=beam solar radiation (W/m2); Tin=collector inlet
temperature (°C); Ta=ambient temperature (°C).
The incidence angle modifier kατ of the collector, given by the manufacturer is:
kατ ⫽ cos(q) ⫹ 0.0003178(q)⫺0.00003985(q)2 (2)
where q is the incidence angle in degrees.
A schematic of the solar industrial process heat system is shown in Fig. 2. It consists of an
array of parabolic trough collectors, a circulating pump and a storage tank. The system also
includes the necessary controls and thermal relief valve, which relieves energy when storage tank
temperature is above 100 °C. The system is once through, i.e., there is no hot water return to
storage, which is what usually happens in food industry applications. The used hot water is

Table 2
Characteristics of the parabolic trough collector system

Parameter Value/type

Collector rim angle 70°

Reflective surface Silvered acrylic
Receiver material Steel
Collector aperture 2.3m
Receiver surface treatment Highly selective blackened nickel
Absorptance 0.97
Emittance (80 °C) 0.18
Glass envelope transmittance 0.96
Absorber outside diameter 50.8 mm
Tracking mechanism accuracy 0.05°
Collector orientation Axis in N–S direction
Mode of tracking E–W horizontal
818 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the parabolic trough collector system.

replaced by mains water. Mean monthly ground temperature values are used for the mains water
temperature in simulations.
If no water of adequate temperature is available in the storage tank its temperature is topped-
up with an auxiliary heater before use. A number of variations on the load temperature, time the
heat is required (use pattern) and the effect of double shifts is investigated.
For the modeling and simulation of the system the well-known program TRNSYS is employed.

3. Modeling of the system

The proper sizing of the components of a solar system is a complex problem, which includes
both predictable (collector and other performance characteristics) and unpredictable (weather data)
components. This section indicates how all the necessary components of the solar thermal system
can be formulated into a single model with the aid and use of the TRNSYS simulation pro-
gram [12].
There are two categories of analytical methods, simplified and detailed. Although the simplified
ones can easily be used they have limitations with respect to flexibility for optimization and the
types of systems that can be analyzed. Thus, if the system application, configuration or load
characteristics under consideration are significantly non-standard, a detailed computer simulation
may be required to achieve accurate results. The TRNSYS program offers such detailed mode-
ling capabilities.
The initial step in modeling a system is the derivation of a structure to be used to represent
the system. It will become apparent that there is no unique way of representing a given system.
The structure that represents the system should not be confused with the real system. The structure
will always be an imperfect copy of reality. However, the act of developing a system structure
and the structure itself will foster an understanding of the real system.
 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830 819

3.1. TRNSYS program description

TRNSYS is an acronym for a “transient simulation program” and is a quasi-steady simulation

model. The program consists of many subroutines that model subsystem components. With a
program such as TRNSYS, which has the capability of interconnecting system components in
any desired manner, solving differential equations and facilitating information output, the entire
problem of system simulation reduces to a problem of identifying all the components that comprise
the particular system and formulating a general mathematical description of each.
Once all of the components of the system have been identified and a mathematical description
of each component is available, it is necessary to construct an information flow diagram for the
system. The purpose of the information flow diagram is to facilitate identification of the compo-
nents and the flow of information between them. A simplified information flow diagram for the
solar system under investigation is shown in Fig. 3.
From the flow diagram shown in Fig. 3 a deck file has to be constructed containing information
on all the system components, weather data file, and the output format. The piping distance
required to join the collectors with the hot water cylinder is 30m modeled by the component
named “piping”.
TRNSYS Type 1 employing the mode that considers the second order collector performance

Fig. 3. Information flow diagram for the solar system model.

820 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

Fig. 4. Comparison of incidence angle modifier estimated with Eqs. 2 and 3.

equation with the factors shown in Eq. 1 is used to model the collector. This Type employs the
following model for the incidence angle modifier:

kατ ⫽ 1⫺b0 冉 1
cos(q) 冊 冉
⫺1 ⫺b1
1
cos(q)
2
⫺1 . 冊 (3)

Factors b0 and b1 required to estimate the same values of kατ of Eq. (2) by using Eq. (3) are:
b0=0.958 and b1=⫺0.298.
These have been estimated by trial and error using a spreadsheet program. A comparative graph
of the two curves calculated with Eqs. (2) and (3) and the above factors is shown in Fig. 4. The
maximum angle of incidence that can be obtained when such a collector is operating in Cyprus
is 58° occurring during the winter solstice. As can be seen from Fig. 4 up to this angle no
significant difference between the two curves is present.
A summary of the characteristics of the basic system is shown in Table 3.

Table 3
Characteristics of the basic system

Parameter Value/type

Load temperature 85 °C
Load flow rate 2000 l/h
Use pattern 5 days a week, 8:00–16:00 h each day, load used for the
first 3/4 of each hour
Collector tracking E–W horizontal
Collector to storage distance 30m
Piping UA value 20 W/°C
Piping diameter 75mm
Relief valve set temperature 100 °C
 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830 821

3.2. Typical meteorological year

The system was simulated with TRNSYS using Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data for
Nicosia, Cyprus. TMY is defined as a year which sums up all the climatic information characteriz-
ing a period as long as the mean life of the system. The selection of typical weather conditions
for a given location is very crucial in computer simulations for performance predictions and has
led various investigators either to run long periods of observational data or to select a particular
year, which appears to be typical from several years of data. Klein et al. [13] have constructed
the “average year” by selecting the monthly data from an 8-year period, which corresponded most
closely to the average monthly insolation and ambient temperature. Petrakis et al. [14] have gener-
ated the TMY used in the present study from hourly measurements of solar irradiance (global
and diffuse) on a horizontal surface, ambient temperature, wind speed and direction, and humidity
ratio, for a 7-year period, from 1986 to 1992 using the Filkenstein–Schafer statistical method.
The measurements were recorded by the Cyprus Meteorological Service at the Athalassa region,
an area in the suburbs of the town of Nicosia. The TMY is considered as a representative year
for the Cypriot environment. Using this approach the long-term integrated system performance
can be evaluated and the dynamic system’s behavior can be obtained.

4. Results

The results of the simulation of the system are shown in this section. The optimization is
performed by considering the cost of equipment against the fuel saved. The economics of the
solar heat are mainly determined by the investment costs for the solar system in relation to the
amount of energy it can deliver. For the parabolic trough from IST the costs for several existing
collector installations are known [15]. Since a fraction of the fixed costs decrease with increasing
plant size, costs per square meter of the collector aperture installed decrease. In equation form
the cost (C) in C£/m2 of the collector system, including the cost of the tracking unit, installation
cost, civil works, field piping and engineering is given by:
C ⫽ 8.84 × 10⫺6A2⫺0.05024A ⫹ 188.44 (4)
2
where A=collector aperture area (m ).
Because the concentrating collector field cannot be left unattended and also requires some
additional work for the periodic cleaning of the mirror surfaces, their maintenance costs are
assumed to be higher than those of the flat plate collectors. These are estimated to be 2% of the
initial investment and are assumed to increase at a rate of 1% per year of the system operation.
To determine the optimum collector area the cost of the solar system must be compared against
the energy utilized by the system. The economic method used is the life cycle analysis. The
scenario considered is that 30% of the initial cost of the system is paid at the beginning and the
rest is paid in equal installments throughout the life of the system (20 years). The present price
of the diesel is C£ 0.1711 per l. The results of the economic analysis indicate that for the present

1
In February 2002 1C£=1.55 US$ and 1C£=1.74 .
822 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

diesel price none of the collector systems considered is viable since negative life cycle savings
are obtained for all cases. However, the present price of the diesel in Cyprus is subsidized by
the price of the petrol, which is now C£ 0.461 per l. This situation is to change soon (before
2003) and diesel is going to be sold at a “balanced” price compared with petrol. A new minimum
price of C£ 0.28 per l is assumed in the economic analysis. In the analysis that follows, FYFS-
1 refers to the first year fuel savings for the current diesel price (C£0.171/l), FYFS-2 refers to
the first year fuel savings for the non subsidized diesel price (C£0.28/l) and the LCS-2 refers to
the life cycle savings of the installation by considering the non subsidized fuel price.

4.1. System optimization

A number of runs are carried out in order to optimize the various factors affecting the perform-
ance of the system. All runs consider the weather data for Nicosia, Cyprus contained in a TMY
file. The parameters considered are as follows.

4.1.1. The collector flow rate

The collector flow rate determines the collector outlet temperature at the particular weather and
system conditions considered. The net energy obtained from the solar collectors for various collec-
tor flow rates is shown in Fig. 5. The net energy is equal to the useful energy collected minus
any energy that is relieved from the relief valve and the losses from the storage tank to ambient.
All these depend on the collector outlet temperature, which depends on the collector circuit flow
rate. As is seen the net energy is increasing steadily approaching an asymptote. The optimum
value is 54 kg/h m2 of collector area. This figure agrees with the optimum flow rate of other
types of collectors, like the flat plate ones. The net energy is lower at low flow rates as in this
condition a high temperature is produced by the collector, which is relieved, thus not effectively
collected and used. On the other hand the pumping power required is increased for flow rates
higher than the optimum with a fractional increase of net energy.

Fig. 5. Optimization of the collector flow rate.

 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830 823

Fig. 6. Optimization of the collector aperture area.

4.1.2. Collector aperture area

In general, the bigger the collector aperture area the higher the amount of solar heat collected
but the higher is the cost to purchase the collector system. The results of various runs are shown
in Fig. 6. As can be seen the fuel savings resulting from the use of the system increase with the
increase of the collector area and the bigger savings are for the non-subsidized fuel price (FYFS-
2). These savings are directly proportional to the useful energy collected by the system and the
auxiliary energy required to cover the load. However, on integrating all these factors into the life
cycle savings of the complete system this exhibits the behavior shown by the curve (LCS-2). The
optimum value of the collector area corresponds to 300m2. Higher values result in lower savings
than this optimum value.

4.1.3. Storage tank size

This factor also plays a role in the optimization of the system. The results of this optimization
are shown graphically. The boiler heat required by the system (Qaux) for different storage volumes
is shown in Fig. 7 together with the useful energy collected (Qu), the energy relieved (Qrel) and

Fig. 7. Optimization of the storage tank size.

824 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

the storage tank losses to the environment (Qenv). As can be seen the storage tank size affects
the life cycle savings of the system. The size of the storage tank also affects the energy flows of
the system. Smaller tanks result in higher storage temperatures, thus more losses are present due
to relief valve operation and due to storage tank envelope losses to the environment. Therefore
for a bigger storage capacity the auxiliary energy needed to cover the load is reduced, but the
cost to purchase a bigger tank is higher. The optimum size of the storage tank, according to the
life cycle savings of the system, is 25m3. It should be noted that, in the range considered, the
useful energy collected (Qu) from the solar system is insensitive to the storage tank volume.
It can be concluded from the above that the optimum system employs a collector of 300m2
aperture area, the collector circuit flow rate is 54 kg/h m2 and the optimum storage tank size
is 25m3.

4.2. Effect of design changes

A number of design changes were tried in order to investigate their effect on the performance
of the system.

4.2.1. Collector azimuth angle

For the basic system the collector axis was assumed to be oriented in a N–S direction and the
collector to track the sun from East to West. The effect of having the collector axis in the E–W
direction employing N–S tracking is shown in Table 4. As can be seen the E–W tracking system
is superior both with respect to the incident energy falling on the collector surface (Qins) and the
useful energy extracted (Qu) which results in a higher annual collector efficiency and smaller
auxiliary energy requirement (Qaux).

4.2.2. Load temperature

The effect of varying the desired load temperature is shown in Fig. 8. As can be seen the
higher the load temperature the lower the heat loss from the relief valve (Qrel) and the storage
tank (Qenv) i.e. the tank is kept at a lower temperature, but the higher the auxiliary energy required
(Qaux) and vice versa. It should be noted that systems with load temperature requirements above
the ones shown here, need to be optimized as shown in Section 4.1. The results of one example

Table 4
The effect of collector azimuth anglea

Collector mode Incident radiation Useful heat extracted Auxiliary energy Annual collector
(Qins)×109 (kJ) from collector required (Qaux)×108 efficiency (%)
(Qu)×108 (kJ) (kJ)

N–S axis 2.783 8.960 4.328 32.2

E–W tracking
E–W axis 2.237 6.871 5.318 30.7
N–S tracking

a
Collector area=300m2; Collector flow rate=54 kg/h m2; Load flow rate=2000 kg/h; Load temperature=85 °C; Storage
tank volume=25 m3.
 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830 825

Fig. 8. Effect of load temperature on system performance.

for a load temperature of 180 °C, a temperature that is within the range needed in dairy industries,
is shown in Fig. 9. The load use pattern of the basic system is considered and the optimum
collector area for this system is equal to 700m2. A high pressure system is assumed in this case
and the costs of the various items required to withstand this pressure are considered.

4.2.3. Effect of load use pattern

A number of use patterns are considered as shown in Table 5. These differ with respect to the
number of shifts per day, the time of use and the number of days the system is used per week.
For each of the load use patterns an optimization was carried out in order to find the optimum
collector area maximizing the life cycle savings. The results are shown graphically in Fig. 10. A
summary of the results is shown in Table 6.
As can be seen the bigger the load (double shift, full hour use pattern) the bigger the collector
area required, the greater the first year fuel savings and the greater the life cycle savings of the

Fig. 9. System performance and life cycle analysis for a load temperature of 180 °C.
826 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

Table 5
Various load use patterns considered

Pattern number Number of shiftsb,c Time of used Number of days per week

#1 1 1/2 5
#2a 1 3/4 5
#3 1 1 5
#4 2 1/2 5
#5 2 3/4 5
#6 2 1 5
#7 1 3/4 7

a
Pattern #2 is the load use pattern of the basic system.
b
Working hours for one shift is from 8:00 to 16:00 h.
c
Working hours for second shift is from 16:00 to 24:00h.
d
Time of use indicated is for the first part of the hour.

installation. This means that it is more viable to apply solar industrial process heat to higher
energy consumption industries.

5. Basic system long-term performance

The energy flows of the basic system are shown in Fig. 11. As can be seen the incident solar
radiation (Qins) is maximized during the month of July (329.3 GJ). Another important point is
the reduced incident solar radiation and consequently the useful energy collected during the month
of May. This is a characteristic of the climatic conditions of Nicosia and is due to the development
of clouds as a result of excessive heating of the ground and thus excessive convection, especially
in the afternoon hours. The collector useful energy delivered (Qu) is also maximized during the
month of July (137.5 GJ) whereas the auxiliary energy (Qaux) is minimized (3.6 GJ). It should
be noted that the energy losses (Qrel and Qenv) are drawn in a different scale for clarity (right Y-
axis). The monthly solar contribution (f) defined as (Qload⫺Qaux)/Qload is shown in Fig. 12. The
system covers about 50% of the total energy needs of the present application. The auxiliary energy
needed is maximum during the month of December (69 GJ, f=0.1) and is greatly minimized during
the month of July (3.6 GJ, f=0.95). The total useful energy delivered by the system in 1 year is
896 GJ. This amount of energy avoids 208 tons of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere per year,
which is a significant amount from just one such system.

6. Conclusions

The objective of this work was to investigate the viability of using parabolic trough collectors
for industrial process heat generation in Cyprus. The load is hot water delivered at 85 °C at a
flow rate of 2000 kg/h for the first three quarters of each hour from 8:00–16:00 h, 5 days a week.
A system consisting of an array of parabolic trough collectors, hot water storage tank, piping and
 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

Fig. 10. The effect of use pattern on the system performance and economic viability.
827
828 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830

Table 6
Summary of the results for the optimum cases of the various load use patterns considereda

Pattern number Collector area Life cycle Qu (kJ×109) Qaux (kJ×109) First year fuel savings
(m2) savingsc (C£) (FYFS)d (C£)

#1 200 1201 0.599 0.303 2814 (1719)

#2b 300 6177 0.896 0.433 4390 (2681)
#3 400 11267 1.193 0.569 5922 (3617)
#4 400 8913 1.193 0.598 5695 (3478)
#5 600 18395 1.785 0.897 8540 (5216)
#6 800 27463 2.376 1.225 11163 (6818)
#7 400 15343 1.193 0.582 6315 (3857)

a
In all cases: Load temperature=85 °C; Load flow rate=2000 kg/h; Collector flow rate=54 kg/h m2; Storage tank
volume=25 m3.
b
Pattern #2 is the load use pattern of the basic system.
c
Life cycle savings calculated with non-subsidized fuel price (0.28 C£/l).
d
First year fuel savings is for fuel price=0.28 C£/l (in parenthesis for 0.171C£/l).

Fig. 11. System energy flows.

controls is modeled with TRNSYS and the TMY for Nicosia, Cyprus. The optimum collector
area for the present application is 300 m2, the optimum collector flow rate is 54 kg/m2 h and the
optimum storage tank size is 25 m3. The system covers 50% of the annual load of the system
and gives life cycle savings of about C£6200. This amount represents the money saved from the
use of the system against paying for fuel. The savings, however, refer to a non-subsidized fuel
price, which will be in effect from 2003. The optimum system can deliver a total of 896 GJ per
year and avoids 208 tons of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.
The effect of various design changes on the system performance was investigated. The E–W
tracking system was found to be superior to the N–S one. The required load temperature affects
the performance of the system as for higher temperatures the auxiliary energy required is bigger.
 S.A. Kalogirou / Energy 27 (2002) 813–830 829

Fig. 12. Solar contribution and auxiliary energy required.

Also a number of variations in the load use pattern have been investigated and presented in this
paper. It was found that the bigger the load (double shift, full hour use pattern) the bigger the
collector area required, the greater the first year fuel savings and the greater the life cycle savings
of the installation. This means that it is more viable to apply solar industrial process heat to higher
energy consumption industries.
In conclusion the use of solar industrial process heat in Cyprus is viable provided that the fuel
subsidization is removed or the cost of the system is lowered. Given the good solar potential of
Cyprus, the opportunities for the application of PTC solar energy systems for industrial process
heat are enormous and should be utilized whenever possible.

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