1

DESIGN, FABRICATION AND ANALYSIS OF

PARABOLIC TROUGH COLLECTOR FOR WATER
HEATING

2
 Group Members
• Inam-ul-haq (2kx6-MECH-101)
• Hasnain Abbas (2kx6-MECH-104)
• Faizan Raza (2kx6-MECH-105)
• Haroon Rasheed (2kx6-MECH-146)

Supervisor
Sir Sarfraz Sb.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

PAKISTAN INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,
MULTAN

3
Contents

• Importance of solar energy

• Introduction to PTC
• Problem Statement
• Objective
• Literature Survey
• Research Gap
• Research Methodology
• Nomenclature
• Analytical Expressions
• Material

4
• Design Steps
• Design (2D , 3D)
• Calculations
• Excel Graphs
• ANSYS Simulation
• MATLAB Simulation
• References
• Next Generation
• Recommendations

5
Importance of solar energy
• The sun is the most plentiful energy source for the earth.
• Solar energy falls on the earth at a rate of 179 petawatts, (1petawatt=10 15 watts)
• It means that all the solar energy received by the sun in one day can satisfy the whole world’s demand for
more than 20 years.
• Solar energy power from the sun is a vast, inexhaustible, and clean resource. Sunlight, or solar energy, can be
used directly for
• Heating and lighting homes and businesses
• For generating electricity.
• And also for hot water heating
• Solar cooling
• Variety of other commercial and industrial uses.

6
 Consumption of Solar Energy

7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy#/media/File:Breakdown_of_the_incoming_solar_energy.svg
Introduction
• Curved shaped structure which converges the sunrays at a focal point and absorbed on the receiver
tube.
• This structure is preferred due to its more concentration ability of sunrays.
• Different heat transfer fluids can be used on their basis of absorbing capacity in the tube.

8
 Effect Of Heat transfer Fluid(HTF) on thermal
performance
Sr. No. HTF Detail of findings
1 Syltherm 800 and oil Thermal loss of the collector was lower when using with water than those predicted by using Syltherm
800 oil
2 Therminol VP-1, Xceltherm 600, Syltherm 800, Hitec XL Salt Effect of working fluid was smaller than other parameters. The max. thermal efficiency was provided
by Xceltherm 600 and Syltherm 800, but these fluids are relatively expensive.
3 Molten salt, water Better efficiency has been obtained by using water
4 Syltherm 800, Santotherm 59, Marlo-therm X, and Therminol D12 The Syltherm 800 can be operated at temperature higher than 700k,while the working fluids
marlotherm X and Syltherm XLT can be operated at a temperature less than 650K,whereas other can
operate b/w 650-750K.
5 Syltherm 800, Santotherm 59,LT, Marlo-therm X, and Therminol D12 and Marlo- The most appropriate choice was Syltherm 800 which provided the max. range of (700-800K). The
therm SH. highest cost when using Santotherm LT was 129US$/KWh/day. Moreover the best HTF was Syltherm
800 for the thermal capacity.
6 Pressurized nitrogen gas and synthetic oil A slight difference in the net electrical power between fluids, only(-0.91%), while the gross electrical
production per year was same.
7 Gas The highest temperature achieved by the gas was 400 0C which cannot be reached by synthetic oil.
8 Molten salt compared with PTR70 It was deduced that heat loss of the examined tube using PTR70 is smaller than that of molten salt.
9 (S-CO2) using Rankine and Brayton cycle The collector efficiency in two cycles increased to 81.93-84.7%(Rankine cycle) and 18.78-84.17%
(Brayton cycle).
10 Thermal oil, water The performance obtained by the water was better than oil.
11 Pressurized water, Therminol Vp-1, nitrate molten salt, sodium liquid, air,CO 2 & The performance of the liquids was higher than gases. The pressurized water is the most appropriate
helium fluid upto 500K, while sodium liquid is better for temperature upto 100K.

9
https://crimsonpublishers.com/acet/fulltext/ACET.000563.php
Introduction

Parabolic solar trough is widely used in :

 Domestic heat and space
 Steam generation
• Solar cooker
• Industrial process heat
• Desalination of water

10
Problem Statement

• The depletion of fossil fuels is the current burning issue on our planet.
• The dependency on these resources is increased world-wide.
• CO2 is emitted which is going to harm global warming and climate change.
• By the burning of fossil fuels, the pollutants are emitted.

11
%age Of CO2 Emissions

https://ourworldindata.org/fossil-fuels 12
Objective
• To mitigate the harmful impact on the environment by using the renewable energy resources.
• The main theme of utilizing this technology Parabolic trough collector (PTC) is to:
 Reduce dependency on fossil fuels
 Use for various purpose which we obtained with fossil fuels such as steam generation, RAC
etc.

13
 Literature Survey
Sr. Paper Name
No.
1 Thermal performance enhancement in a parabolic
trough receiver tube with internal toroidal rings: A
numerical investigation
2 Energy and exergy analyses of a parabolic trough
solar power plant using carbon dioxide power cycle
3 Review on parabolic solar trough collector regarding
geometrical , thermal, analysis, performance,
applications
4 Experimental and simulation studies of parabolic
trough collector design for obtaining solar energy
Year Concept used
2019 Toroidal rings are used in the absorber tube to
increase the thermal efficiency of SPTC by using
nine different cases of dia ratios and pitch size
2018 Energy and exergy performance is analyzed. A
supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle is used to
convert PTC heat into power
2018 PTC technology is used, it’s brief history,
geometries, analyses and applications in different
fields
2017 Evaluation is done to determine the performance of a
designed 5-m length PTSC model. Heat collecting
element was made of stainless steel with water as
working fluid
Results
When the inlet temperature is 600K then thermal
efficiency in enhanced by 3.74%
The energy and exergy efficiencies are 65 and 33%with
the output temperature of 600C and 3950C. This plant is
implemented in Al Madinah in Saudi Arabia which
produces 1MW of electric power
Changes in geometry and by using different working
fluids increase thermal efficiency,
March to May yielded better outlet temperatures ranging
from 93 °C to 103°C. Experiments at different flow rates
of 0.4 LPM, 0.8 LPM and 1.2 LPM are done and
corresponding Reynolds number was calculated.
February to May gave good surface and outlet
temperatures as compared with other months while the
liquid flow is laminar. Simulation carried out using
ANSYS software on receiver tube to ensure the
robustness and design effectiveness under static loading
conditions
14
Literature Survey
Sr. Paper Name
No.
5 Experimental performance Analysis of Low
Concentration Ratio Solar Parabolic Trough Collectors
with Nanofluids in Winter Condition
6 Thermal enhancement SPTC by using nano fluids and
converging-diverging absorber tube
7 Design and performance characteristic of solar
adsorption refrigeration using parabolic solar trough
collector : Experimental and statistical optimizing
technique
8 An experimental investigation of a natural circulation
heat pipe system applied to parabolic trough solar
collector steam generation system
Year Concept used
2017 The hot water we use for domestic purpose is limited to
only flat and evacuated tubes. Concentration ratio is of 11
for domestic purpose. Two metallic oxides of water based
nano-fluids Al2O3/H2O and Fe2O3 with the three particle
concentration of 0.20,0.25,0.30% by weight at 1.0,1.5 and
2.0 L/min
2016 PTC is the utilized where high temperature is required.
The two main factors enhance this working fluid and
absorber geometry. The working fluid used are thermal
oil, thermal oil with nano-particles and pressurized water .
2013 This unit is run by the PTC in which olive waste is used as
adsorbent and methanol is used as adsorbate.
2012 A U-type heat pipe system and coupled with PTC for mid-
temperature steam generation and in detailed heat transfer
analysis is done
Results
The maximum thermal efficiency obtained with
Al2O3 is 13% and with Fe2O3 is 11%.
So Al2O3/H2O is more preferred than other one for
domestic purposes.
Al2O3 with nanoparticles increase 4.25% and
6.34% efficiency. If the wavy geometry is used in
tube then mean efficiency is 4.55% than usual
geometry absorber .
The lowest refrigeration temperature attained is
40C with a COP of 0.75 between the mass of 30-
40kg and volume is 0.2-0.3 m3 .
It can generate the mid-temperature steam of a
pressure up-to 0.75MP and the thermal efficiency
is 38.52%at discharging pressure up-to 0.5MPa
during summer.
15
Research Gap
• Use of phase change material (PCM)
 Paraffin wax
 Salt Hydrates
• Nano-fluids which can be used for this purpose :
 De-ionized water and alumina as nanofluids
 Carbon nanotubes
Paraffin wax Vs Salt Hydrates Properties
Paraffin wax   Salt hydrates
A white waxy solid which is used to   Salt which is loosely attached by water
store heat. molecules
In solid In liquid ------
M.P=560C M.P=560C M.P=440C
Latent heat=142.7(KJ/kg) Latent heat=142.7(KJ/kg) Latent Heat=170-340 (KJ/kg)
K=0.4 (W/m0C) K=0.2 (W/m0C) K=0.6-1.2 (W/m0C)
ρ=670(kg/m3) ρ=640(kg/m3) ρ=900-2200 (kg/m3)
Cp=2.4(KJ/kg0C) Cp=1.6(KJ/kg0C) Cp=4.18
Temperature range=370C-510C -------- Temperature Range=400C-1000C 16
Research Gap

SWCNTs
• A single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) may
be thought of as a single atomic layer thick sheet
of graphene rolled into a seamless cylinder.
• Most single-walled nanotubes (SWNT) have a
diameter of close to 5 nanometer, with a tube
length that can be many 104 times longer.
MWCNTs
• Multi-walled nanotubes (MWNT) consist of
multiple rolled layers (concentric tubes) of
graphite.
• MWCNTs can have OD ~ 20nm, ID ~ 3nm
length can be 104 times longer.

Density Thermal Specific heat Density Thermal Specific heat

 (kg/m3) Conductivity Cp(kg-1/k-1)  (kg/m3) Conductivity Cp(kg-1/k-1)
(k) (k)
2600 6600 425 1600 3000 796

17
 Effect Of Nano-fluids on thermal performance
Sr. No. Np HTF (CR)(%) Main Achievements
1 Al2O3 Ionic liquids 0.18,0.36,0.9 0.9% of CR, thermal conductivity by about 11% and heat capacity by 49%.
2 Al2O3 Synthetic oil 0,1,2,3,4,5 11.5% and 36% increase the eat transfer coefficient (HTC) using 5% of CR single –phase and
two-phase model respectively.
3 Al2O3 Synthetic oil 1,3,5 Considerable increase in the heat transfer coefficient recorded with increasing CR.

4 Al2O3 Synthetic oil 0-4,0-6,0-8 The thermal efficiency reached 76% with CR of 8% and the max. efficiency recorded at the
smallest temperature and minimum Re Number.
5 CuO-Al2O3 water CuO: 0.1-0.3 The extinction co-efficient increased with CR of nano-particles.
Al2O3: 4,6,8
6 Al2O3 Syltherm 800 0-4 10% enhancement were obtained in the collector efficiency at CR of 4%.
7 NiO Biphenyl, Diphenyl oxide Wt%(1,5,10)10-4 Increasing the heat transfer co-efficient upto 50%, and ”k” by 96%.
8 CuO+-Al2O3 Water, Water-EG 0.5,0.1,0.2 The thermal efficiency is higher in the case of dispersing only water since the mixture of water-
EG has a disadvantage of boiling and freezing temp. is higher than pure water.
9 Al2O3 Synthetic oil 0,0.01,0.03,0.05 The absorber deformation decreased moderately from 2.11mm to only 0.54mm by increasing CR
to 0.05%
10 Al2O3 Water 0.20,0.25,0.30 The thermal efficiency enhanced by 13% and 11% respectively.
Fe2O3
11 TiO2 Water 0.05, 0.1,0.2 th is enhanced by 8.66% at CR of 0.2%.
12 MWCNT Oil 0.2,0.3 th enhanced was 5-7% when using CR of 0.2%.

13 Al2O3,CuO,TiO2 Syltherm 800 3,5 th is enhanced by 1.46,1.25,1.40 using Al2O3, CuO, TIO2

14 Cu Therminol VP-1 0,1,2,4,6 At CR of 6%, th is enhanced by 32 and 12.5% while entropy decreased upto 20-30%.

18
https://crimsonpublishers.com/acet/fulltext/ACET.000563.php
Research Methodology

Future
Scope
Market
Value
Validation
of Results
Fabrication
Calculation
s
Cost
Estimation
Material
Selection
Market
Survey
Literature
Survey

19
Research Methodology
Literature
Survey

Phase Change Results & Recommendatio

Solar Collectors Design Fabrication Testing
Material Conclusions ns

Whether results What changes

Material Simulation(if
Evacuated Plate Paraffin Wax 2D are favorable or should be
Selection required)
not made?

Experimental
Flat Plate Salt Hydrates 3D Cost Estimation
Testing

Compound
Parabolic
Concentrating

Parabolic
Trough
Collector

Linear Fresnel

Parabolic Dish

20
Nomenclature
Qloss Heat loss
Tc Cover Temperature
Tam Ambient Temperature
K1 Co-efficient of eqn.(ii)
K2 Co-efficient of eqn.(iv)
K3 Co-efficient of eqn.(vi)
K4 Co-efficient of eqn.(vii)
K5 Co-efficient of eqn.(viii)
Tr Receiver Temperature
Tin Inlet Temperature
Qu Useful heat
M Mass flow rate
Cp Specific heat capacity
Ari Receiver inner surface area
21
Continue….
Tout Outlet temperature
hout Heat transfer coefficient
between cover and
ambient
h Heat transfer coefficient
between fluid and absorber
Tfm Fluid medium temperature
Qs Solar beam irradiation
th Thermal efficiency

opt Optical efficiency

Aco Cover outer area
 Stefan–Boltzmann constant
[=5.67 × 10-8 W/m2 K4]
c Reflectance
Aa Area of aperture
22
Continue….

 Intercept factor
τ Cover transmittance
 Absorbance
 Density
V Vol. flow
Nu Nusselt No.
Dri Receiver Inner Dia
L Length
Re Reynold’s No.
Pr Prandtl No.
Ɛc Cover emittance
Ɛr Absorber emittance
Ɛc * Equivalent emittance 23
Analytical expressions for PTC

24
Analytical Expressions

• 
• Step-1
• By neglecting the thermal losses(with convection and radiation losses), from cover to ambient are:
• (i)
• where 3 + (ii)
• Step-2
• By neglecting convection losses:
• 4-4) (iii)
• where * [1+ (iv)
•  *
r = (v)
• Here Tr can be determined as:
• 4-4) (vi)
• Here K3,K4,K5 are knowns, we can find them by equations one by one

25
Continue….
•• (vii)
 
• (viii)
• * (ix)
• Step-3
• The useful heat can be calculated using the energy balance in the fluid volume:
• (x)
• It can also be evaluated by using heat transfer from receiver to fluid:
• (xi)
• Here Tout and Tfm are unknowns, so first evaluate them:
• 4-4) (xii)
• (xiii)

26
Continue….
•• Step-4
 
• Using Taylor's series to simplifying eqn.#3
• 4-4) (xiv)
• The energy balance in the absorber indicates that the absorbed energy is converted into useful heat and to
thermal losses.
• At this point, a uniform heat flux over the absorber is assumed. The absorbed energy is equal to the optical
efficiency multiplied by the direct beam solar irradiation. Thus, it can be written:
• (xv)
• 4-4) (xvi)

27
Other Parametric calculations
•• The thermal efficiency of the solar collector is:
 
• (xvii)
• The cover temperature(Tc) can de determined as:
• 4-4) (xviii)

28
Extra Eqns.
•• Optical efficiency is given as:
 
• ( xvix)
• Max. optical efficiency is the product of following:
• = (xx)
• For mass flowrate
• (xxi)
• The heat transfer co-efficient between fluid and absorber
• (xxii)

29
Continue….
•• Nusselt no. for flow through pipe
 
• For laminar flow
• Nu=3.66+ (xxiii)
• For turbulent flow
• (xxiv)
• Reynold no. for tube
• (xxv)
• If Re is less than 2300 than flow is laminar.
Prandtl Number
• (xxvi)

30
Material

M.S Pipes for support S.S Reflector

31
Continue….

Copper Tube Collectors Worm Gear for rotation

32
Continue….

Schematic Figure of PTC 33

Design Steps of PTC

Geometric Design
• Assembly Size
• Optical and thermal
calculations

Geographical Estimate concentration Integration with

Temperature Range Solar sizing
conditions ratio applications

34
Design Of PTC (3D)

Parabolic Trough
(Reflector)

Hot water outlet

(stream)

Cold water inlet

Solar absorber Tube

MS Base Stand

35
Dimensions (3D)

1st Angle Projection/ Front View 3rd Angle Projection/Side View

1st Angle Projection/ Front View 3rd Angle Projection/Side View

36
Dimensions (2D)

37
Design Of PTC (2D)

38
References
• Zhang, L., et al., An experimental investigation of a natural circulation heat pipe system
applied to a parabolic trough solar collector steam generation system. Solar Energy, 2012.
86(3): p. 911-919.
• Abu-Hamdeh, N.H., K.A. Alnefaie, and K.H. Almitani, Design and performance
characteristics of solar adsorption refrigeration system using parabolic trough collector:
experimental and statistical optimization technique. Energy conversion and management,
2013. 74: p. 162-170.
• Hafez, A., et al., Design analysis of solar parabolic trough thermal collectors. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018. 82: p. 1215-1260.
• Rehan, M.A., et al., Experimental performance analysis of low concentration ratio solar
parabolic trough collectors with nanofluids in winter conditions. Renewable Energy, 2018.
118: p. 742-751..
• Abed, N. and I. Afgan, Enhancement Techniques of Parabolic Trough Collectors: A Review
of Past and Recent Technologies. 2019.

39
References
• Murtuza, S.A., H. Byregowda, and M. Imran, Experimental and simulation studies of parabolic
trough collector design for obtaining solar energy. Resource-Efficient Technologies, 2017. 3(4): p.
414-421
• Abdulhamed, A.J., et al., Review of solar parabolic-trough collector geometrical and thermal
analyses, performance, and applications. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018. 91: p.
822-831.
• AlZahrani, A.A. and I. Dincer, Energy and exergy analyses of a parabolic trough solar power plant
using carbon dioxide power cycle. Energy conversion and management, 2018. 158: p. 476-488.
• Ahmed, K.A. and E. Natarajan, Thermal performance enhancement in a parabolic trough receiver
tube with internal toroidal rings: A numerical investigation. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2019.
162: p. 114224.
• Bellos, E. and C. Tzivanidis, Analytical expression of parabolic trough solar collector
performance. Designs, 2018. 2(1): p. 9.

40
Next Generation to Parabolic Trough Collector

41
42