VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

BELAGAVI, KARANATAKA- 590018

A PROJECT REPORT ON

“FABRICATION AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF SOLAR PARABOLIC DISH

COLLECTOR WITH ALUMINIUM AS REFLECTING SURFACE”

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the completion of requirements for the
Bachelor of Engineering in

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Submitted By
BHARATH V 1MJ15ME145
HARSHITH.S 1MJ16ME407
BYRESH M 1MJ16ME40
BASAVARAJA G K 1MJ16ME401

Under the guidance of

Mr. SUCHITH.K.S
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
M V J College of Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Near ITPB, Channasandra, Bengaluru- 560067
Academic Year 2018-2019
 ABSTRACT

The development of a solar parabolic dish collector prototype for rural areas with high
solar resource availability, which have no access to electricity service or budget resources to
purchase a stove (electric or gas). The solar collector prototype proposes a solution to solve
these kinds of issues and use sunlight to work it. Through aluminum foil parabolic dish, solar
radiation is concentrated into a specific area called focus, where thermal energy is generated
and is used for cooking or fulfilling a necessity without high investment and helping the
environment.

Solar energy is very large, in exhaustible source of energy. The use of renewable energy
is receiving growing interest worldwide. Cooking is the measure necessity for people all
over the world. The power from the sun is 1.8×1011 MW on the Earth is thousand times
greater than all other commercial sources of energy available on the Earth. Everybody
demand clean and safe energy devices with cost effective.
 CONTENTS

ABSTRACT
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
1.1 SOLAR DISH COLLECTOR
1.2 SOLAR REFLECTOR
1.3 List Of Figures

CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE SURVEY

 INTRODUCTION

Solar energy is one of the alternative energy sources that have vast potential. It is
estimated that the earth receives approximately 1000W/m2 amount of solar irradiation in
a day. Amount of irradiation could generate around 85,000TW and estimates that the
current global energy consumption is about 15TW. The selection of type of energy source
depends on economic, environmental and safety considerations. Solar energy is
considered to be more suitable on the basis of environmental and safety considerations.
The world energy requirement is increasing at a faster rate. Almost all the non-renewable
energy sources will be depleted in the near future. These sources also cause
environmental hazards. Thus the dependence on such sources has to be reduced. Thus the
only viable option to meet the future energy requirement is to use the renewable energy
sources.

With the growing population and fast pace of development, energy is becoming more
expensive and our cities and towns face a major power crisis. The reality is that resources
like coal, oil and natural gas will not be around forever. We all realise today, that we need
alternatives sources of energy that are renewable. Renewable energy is derived from
natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat. Solar energy is one of
the most promising future renewable energy sources as reflector. Solar energy consists
of light and heat emitted by the sun, in the form of electromagnetic radiation. Technology
today helps to capture this radiation and turn it into usable forms of solar energy - such as
heating or electricity.

In the past two decade there has been a significant increase in the use of domestic solar
water heaters around the world, with solar water heater production now a major industry
in China, Australia, Greece, Israel and the USA {Morrison et al, 1999} Solar water
heaters are simple solar thermal applications that convert solar radiation into heat that is
used to warm water for bathing, washing, cleaning, and cooking (Hankins, 1995). Solar
water heating is now recognised as a reliable practice that saves substantial amounts of
electricity or other conventional fuels, leads to peak load reduction and prevents emission
of carbon dioxide. A domestic solar water heating system can provide close to 60% of the
energy required annually for water heating in a household (Dintchev, 2006). Solar water
heaters generally fall into two broad categories: concentrating type and non-concentrating
type. Flat plate collectors and evacuated tube collectors are the two most widely used non
concentrating type of solar water heaters. The concentrating type of heaters usually
employs parabolic/concave mirrors/reflectors to concentrate the total solar energy
incident on the collector surface. So the collector surface is usually very wide and the
temperature achieved is very high. Some of the collectors in this category are parabolic
trough, compound parabolic concentrator, parabolic dish, and cylindrical parabolic
concentrator. Parabolic dish has the highest efficiency in terms of the utilization of the
reflector area because in a fully steerable dish system there are no losses due to aperture
projection effects. Also radiation losses are small because of the small area of the
absorber at the focus (Rai, 2005).
 1.1 SOLAR DISH COLLECTOR

The concentrating solar collector that optically reflects and focuses the suns incident solar
energy onto a small receiving area using mirrors or lenses is called a Solar Dish Collector,
or more technically, a point focusing collector. By concentrating the sunlight to a single spot,
the intensity of the receiving solar energy is magnified many times over with each
Aluminium foil acting as a single sun shining directly at the same focal point on the dish
meaning that more overall power per square meter of dish is achieved.

The concentration factor, also known as the “number of suns”, of a solar dish
collector can be greater than 1,000 suns reaching temperatures at the focal point of the
receiver (called the “target”) approaching several hundred or even several thousand degrees
Celsius depending upon the size of dish and its location.

Unlike the previous solar collector which was in the shape of a long trough, a parabolic
solar dish collector is very similar in appearance to a large satellite TV or radar dish making
it much smaller than a long trough collector. The curved parabolic shaped dish, which is
generally referred to as a “solar concentrator” is the main solar component for this type of
solar heating system.
 2.2 SOLAR REFLECTOR

The solar dish is formed into a paraboloidal shape by stamping them out from thin
aluminium coated Mylar, and which themselves can be anywhere between a few feet to
several metres in diameter. The parabolic dish collects the incoming solar energy directly
from the sun and concentrates or focuses it on a small focal point area positioned in front of
the dish.

The parabolic solar dish is covered with many small mirror reflectors all around its shape
to help concentrate the thermal energy into a single focal point were the heat absorber is
located producing more overall thermal energy per square meter of dish.

These Aluminium foil can reflect more than 90% of the sunlight that hits them increasing
the efficiency of the dish by more than 20% compared to the parabolic trough collector.
Aluminium foil are used instead of a single highly polished dish because they are relatively
inexpensive, can be easily cleaned and last a long time in an extreme outdoor environment,
making them an excellent choice for the reflective surface of a solar dish collector. Also
Aluminium foil can be easily changed if damaged.
 Power available from Renewable sources

Energy Source Max Power(TW)

Total Surface Solar 85,000

Desert Solar 7650

Ocean thermal 100

Wind 72

Geothermal 44

River hydroelectric 7

Biomass 7

Open ocean wave 7

Tide wave 4

Coasta lwave 3
2.3 LIST OF FIGURES
LITERATURE SURVEY

IBRAHIM LADAN MOHAMMED

This literature review will search and analyze the published literature related to
concentrating solar collector studies that have taken place in Middle Eastern countries in the
last thirteen years. The purpose of this study is to identify the availability of alternative
energy formulas related to concentrating solar collectors. The literature results are shown in
the outline of the principle framework to allow an overall analysis of renewable energy
systems and to determine possible future directions for research throughout the region. The
potentiality of using concentrating solar collectors in Middle Eastern countries reveals
excellent results; the temperature steam generation reached up to 250 oC and the thermal
efficiency of winter more than in the summer about 5%, and the average thermal efficiency
was around 50%. In general, developed instructions will encourage governments to adopt the

Front photograph of the parabolic dish solar water heater

Summary of useful energy, energy at aperture and efficiency of PDSWH
S/NO MONTH/YEAR Eu (J) Ea (J) η (%)

1 APR (2008) 3002407.2 5311188.0 56.3

2 MAY (2008) 3087511.2 5886720.0 52.4

3 JUN (2008) 3130113.6 5851242.0 53.5

4 JUL(2008) 3130113.6 5722470.0 54.7

5 AUG (2008) 3044930.4 5637060.0 54.0

6 SEP (2008) 3087511.2 5794740.0 53.3

SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PDSWH.

Material for the Body of the Dish:
Aluminium was selected over steel because of its lightness, lower cost, ease of fabrication
and energy effectiveness in use of material. Its light weight reduces the overall weight of the
PDSWH, and also reduces the amount of work to be done by the Super Jack in turning the
dish from east to west and vice versa.
Material for the Reflecting Surface.
To reduce the overall weight of the solar water heater, a light glass mirror of 2mm thickness,
of high surface quality and good specular reflectance was selected. A glass mirror was
selected over polished aluminium surface because its reflectivity of 95% is better than that of
aluminium (85%). Also, glass surface is easier to clean than aluminium surface.
Material for the Absorber
Aluminium was selected over copper and steel because of its lower cost, light weight, ease of
fabrication and energy effectiveness in use of material. Its light weight reduces the overall
weight of the solar water heater and also reduces the amount of work to be done by the Super
Jack in turning the dish about its horizontal axis.
Material for the Absorber Surface Coating
Black paint was selected for the absorber coating. It is selected over other coatings because
of its higher absorptivity at angles other than normal incidence, adherence and durability
when exposed to weathering, sunlight and high stagnation temperatures, cost effectiveness
and protection to the absorber material.
Heat Transfer Fluid
Water was selected as the heat transfer fluid for the solar heater because of its stability at
high temperatures, low material maintenance and transport costs, safe to use, and is the most
commonly used fluid for domestic heating applications.
Material for the Vertical Support of the Dish
A rectangular, hollow, steel bar was selected for the support of the dish and the SuperJack.
This is because of its strength, rigidity, resistance to deflection by commonly encountered
winds, and its ability to withstand transverse and cross-sectional loads of the entire heating
portion of the PDSWH.
Material for the Base of the PDSWH
A combination of angle and flat, steel bars were chosen for the base which supports the
whole solar water heater structure. Flat and angle bars were chosen to provide solid and rigid
support for the rectangular, vertical axis steel bar which supports the parabolic dish.