Thermal numerical investigation of a small parabolic trough collector under desert climatic conditions
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Blida 1, Algeria
2College of Engineering - Mechanical Engineering Department – University of Babylon - Babylon City – Hilla – Iraq
3Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
4School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Fazhan Lu Street, Daqing 163318, China
J Ther Eng 2021; 7(3): 429-446 DOI: 10.18186/thermal.884657
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Abstract

The main objective of this study is to conduct a controlled thermal investigation of a small Parabolic Trough Concentrator (PTC) under real climatic conditions for El-Oued region on 16/03/2018, where the water was adopted as a heat transfer fluid. One-dimensional and transient energy balance equations have been analyzed, simplified and then programmed with the Matlab code. What distinguishes this study is the precise tracking of all heat coefficients that would give an accurate representation of the thermal behavior of the studied device. The average optical efficiency of the device has reached 78.55 %, the average value of the thermal efficiency has reached 74.30 %, while the average value of the overall coefficient of the thermal loss is 5.96 W/m²°C. Water steam has been formed under the effect of practical conditions between 10:20 and 11:50. The results obtained in this study encouraged the research team to start manufacturing this device with the dimensions mentioned in this paper, in order to direct this prototype setup to conduct scientific experiments will be in the field of solar cooling, desalination, water heating and other areas that serve the society welfare and maintain the environment integrity.