Workbench for a Parabolic Trough Solar Collector with a Tracking System

Solar energy found abundantly in nature is considered a renewable energy source. It is also of great interest as an option for energy generation and CO₂ emissions reduction. Several technologies of solar concentrating systems, known internationally as CSP (concentrated solar power), are found in the industrial and scientific environment. One of the most mature and internationally known technologies is the parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC), which has several applications, such as electricity generation, desalination, steam generation, and refrigeration systems, among others. However, more research and development (R&D) has been done to improve its performance, using new materials, absorber tube geometries, solar tracking systems, and work (thermal oils, nanofluids). Thus, the present work describes the development of a low-cost PTSC for academic and research purposes. The PTSC was built with an edge angle of 120°, an opening area of 2.2 m², and a copper absorber tube of 42 mm in outer diameter without a glass envelope. The gutter structure is composed of wooden sheets cut in a parabolic shape, where a 1.2 mm-thick galvanized steel sheet coated with a reflective film is supported, thus functioning as the reflective surface of the PTSC. The solar tracking system is one of the active types with two axes containing photoresistive sensors, which are used to determine the solar position and electric actuators to correct the positioning of the gutter. The monitoring system was developed through an interactive panel to visualize the operating parameters of the sensing elements, thermocouples that measure the inlet and outlet temperature in the absorber tube, and the flow sensor to measure the flow of the heat transport fluid. Laboratory tests were performed with deionized water as a transport fluid, establishing two testing conditions. The first test condition analyzed the efficiency of the collector at different temperatures. Thus, the inlet temperature varied, between 30 and 70°C, presenting a flow of 0.020 kg/s. The second one evaluated the collector efficiency for different flows, subjecting the collector to flows from 0.002 to 0.030 kg/s. Thus, the proposed collector obtained an efficiency as a function of the temperature represented by the expression η = 0.324-2.47443 c', where c' is a parameter that relates the inlet temperature to the ambient temperature as a function of the solar radiation available. Yet, the efficiency in function of the flow became optimal when the flow regime became turbulent. It was concluded that the proposed solar collector obtained lower efficiency when compared with other collectors in the literature, which was assumed to be due to the diffusion losses of the parabolic trough reflector and thermal losses by convection in the parabolic trough absorber tube (optical efficiency, removal factor, and heat loss coefficient).