Analyses of Absorber Tube of Parabolic Trough Solar Collector (PTSC) based on Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient of Fluid

Abstract

In this article, analyses of a PTSC absorber tube are carried out comparing three modes of a PTSC, which are PTSC with: 1) plain smooth absorber tube, 2) plain enhanced absorber tube 3) absorber tube with vacuum glass tube. For this, a PTSC of a solar power plant situated in Shiraz, Iran is considered as the article reference model. In the paper, the influence of convective heat transfer coefficient of fluid on thermal efficiency of PTSC is analyzed for the three different modes mentioned above, regarding the heat losses. In addition, the dimensionless numbers Nusselt, Reynolds, and Prandtl are used within formulas and diagrams to help the analyses. Finally, it is numerically and graphically shown how the integration of the second and third modes of PTSC will increase PTSC thermal efficiency in comparison with the first mode of PTSC.