Performance of cylindrical parabolic solar collector with the tracking system

Abstract

A parabolic solar collector collects the radiant energy emitted from the sun and focuses on a point. Parabolic trough collectors are the low-cost implementation of concentrated solar power technology that focuses incident sunlight onto a tube filled with a heat transfer fluid. However, the fundamental problem with the cylindrical parabolic collector without tracking was that the solar collector does not move with the sun's orientation. The development of an automatic tracking system for cylindrical parabolic collectors will increase solar collection and the efficiency of devices. The present study of this project work presents an experimental platform based on the design, development, and performance characteristic of water heating by tracking solar cylindrical parabolic concentrating system. The tracking mechanism is to be made by stepper motor arrangement to receive the maximum possible energy of solar radiation as it tracks the sun's path. The performance of the parabolic trough collectors is experimentally investigated with the water circulated as heat transfer fluid. The collector efficiency is calculated.