Thermal analysis of linear solar concentrator for indirect steam generation

The thermal performance of a Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plant (PTSPP) is critical to the overall efficiency of the system. The advancement of this technologies has led to the development of steam production and efficient solution that utilizes the sun’s energy for thermal power generation. In this work a parabolic trough concentrator with aperture area of 10.8 m² was designed and evaluated in the Research and Technology Center of Energy (CRTEn) in Tunisia. This type of concentrating solar power collector is analyzed for indirect steam generating system. Several parameters, as thermal characterization of absorber; thermal efficiency of mixed heat exchangers; thermal efficiency, concentration ratio and quantification of steam generation, were considered in order to study their effects on energy efficiency. Experimental results show that the receiver of parabolic trough concentrator extracts 552.73 W of absorbed energy. We found that the thermal energy efficiency varies from 24% to 28% for PTSPP system and reach an average concentration factor around 200. As results, the maximum value of the steam generated by parabolic trough concentrator is 8 kg/h.