Parabolic Trough

Introduction:
Parabolic troughs are a type of solar energy concentrator. They consist mainly of a piece of
piping, known as the linear receiver or heat collection element, which is suspended above a parabolic
reflecting structure. The goal of these devices is to concentrate sunlight, which is irradiating the larger
area of the reflective surface, onto the linear receiver. Within the linear receiver a fluid is pumped and
the solar energy which is focused on to the linear receiver is then transferred from the pipe to the fluid.
This heated fluid can then be either to generate electricity or as a heat source.
1



Figure 1: A Parabolic Trough
10

Parabolic troughs are built at many different size scales, from ones for home use to ones made
for large building complexes to even commercial power plants. The size of the commercial power
plants can range from about a total aperture area of 10,000 m
2
to 500,000 m
2
.
2
Where the aperture area
is the length of the trough multiplied by the distance between the ends of the reflective parabola. These
are usually made many up of multiple troughs which can on the scale of about 100 m long and have
about 500 m
2
of aperture area per assembly.
3
The net electric output of these plants can range from 1
MW electric to 80 MW electric.
2



Figure 2: Aperture Length
11
The parabolic reflectors used in parabolic troughs are usually made up of many curved plates of
glass mirror.
1
The parabolic shape of the mirrors is of great importance in the design of the parabolic
trough. The shape of the mirrors determines the amount the energy which is transferred to the working
fluid. The increase in the direct normal radiation on the linear collector is defined either directly
through the concentration ratio or indirectly through the geometric concentration ratio and the collector
efficiency. The concentration ratio is defined as the area averaged irradiance on the linear collector
dived by the irradiance on the on the aperture.
4
Troughs have been seen to have concentration ratios
from about 30 to 80.
5
This means that the linear receiver can experience an flux of solar energy 30 to
80 times more with the parabolic mirror present than without this reflector. The geometric
concentration ratio is the ratio of the aperture area to area of the linear collector. The collector
efficiency is defined as the ratio of the of the rate of energy incident on the aperture to the rate of
energy gain by the working fluid.
6
These two parameters together also can define the increase in solar
energy experienced by the receiver due to the parabolic reflector. The geometric concentration ratio of
parabolic troughs is generally around 80 and the collector efficiency is also generally around 80%.
7

Linear receivers consist of a piece of stainless steel pipe which is specially coated and then
surrounded by evacuated anti-reflective glass tubing. The coating of the pipe is a solar-selective
absorber; what this does is increase the ratio of the radiative energy received to radiative energy
emitted. This is done to increase the efficiency of the parabolic trough so the energy gained from solar
radiation is maximized and the energy lost through radiative emissions is minimized. Surrounding the
coated steel with a vacuum is also done to minimize the heat losses from the system. Since the pipe is
surrounded by a vacuum convection losses will be minimal, so most of the losses from the pipe will be
from radiative emissions, but as previously stated the pipes are coated to be poor emitters of radiative
energy, so heat losses are minimal in parabolic troughs.
1



Figure 3: Linear Receiver
12


Another important feature of the parabolic trough is its alignment and tracking system. Most
parabolic troughs are aligned so that they run from north to south, but some are run from east to west.
1

In the north-south aligned trough the position of trough throughout the day is controlled by a tracking
system which rotates the trough so it is in alignment with the sun as it moves across the sky throughout
the day. In east-west aligned systems the position of the trough is kept constant for most days and
manually adjusted periodically to account for the different seasonal paths of the sun. Both systems have
trade-offs. In the north-south system the trough is better aligned with the sun for longer periods of time
but energy is used to run the tracking system and constantly rotate the trough. The opposite is true of
the east-west system where the trough can be poorly aligned with the sun but it uses much less energy.
8

Many states currently have programs which call for sizable increases in the percentage of their
energy which comes from renewable sources. Parabolic troughs are one of the most mature renewable
technologies and are heavily considered as a means to reach these goals. This is especially true for
states in the southwestern U.S. where the consistent strong sunlight makes the technology more
feasible.
9
This potential growth means that understanding and improving parabolic trough systems
could be very important.


Problem Description:
The goal of this project is to model the temperature distribution in the linear receiver in a
parabolic trough. The domain of this model will consist of wall of the pipe and the working fluid
flowing within the pipe. The model of the pipe will be a 2-D model in radial coordinates using both the
r and the x direction. No variation in the model is assumed to exist in the azimuthal direction. The heat
in to the pipe will be modeled as a multiplied solar flux based off of a reasonable concentration ratio
which is comparable to literature values. In the model the pipe will experience heat losses from
irradiative emissions and natural convection. Natural convection was included in the model so the
model could be valid for both industrial systems, where there would be almost no convective losses,
and home systems where natural convection will most likely be present. This is because industrial
systems are more complex and usually surround the linear receiver with a vacuum. The pipe will be
modeled as a copper pipe coated with a selective absorber. This means that the conductivity of the pipe
used in the model will be that of copper but the absorptivity and the emissivity will be modified values
based of off values comparable with available selective absorber coatings. Both water and Therminol-
77 will be used as a working fluid in the model. The models will be made assuming that the flow rate
of the system will be laminar. This was done because preliminary results showed that for reasonable
pipe lengths the temperature change of the system will be too small if the flow is turbulent. The
velocity profile of the fluid was also assumed to vary only in the r direction. This was done because it
was assumed that the fluid was already fully developed before the fluid entered the domain. Once the
model has been generated it will be used to analyze the effects of changing various parameters on the
system, i.e. the effect of changing the length of the trough on the outlet bulk temperature on the fluid.


Figure 4: Model Description

Model Formulation:





References:
1. http://www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/solar_field.html
2. http://www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/power_plant_data.html#solar_one
3. http://www.nrel.gov/csp/solarpaces/project_detail.cfm/projectID=20
4. http://esc.fsu.edu/documents/lectures/SP07/EML4930L8.pdf
5. http://theenergylibrary.com/node/429
6. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy11osti/49304.pdf
7. http://www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/pdfs/2007/kearney_collector_technology.pdf
8. http://www.sajs.co.za/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/452-4336-4-PB.pdf
9. http://www.nrel.gov/csp/troughnet/market_economic_assess.html
10. http://www.skyfuel.com/why-parabolic-trough.shtml
11. http://www.hyne.cn/english/product/trough.asp
12. http://www.pre.ethz.ch/teaching/topics/?id=87