Experimental study to

determine concentrated solar

energy in solar parabolic
concentrator

fa Skouri,Salwa bouadila
ssi Ben N asrallah
10926010

Kota Pavan kalya

M.Tech-Manfg

Contents

Introduction
Literature Survey
Experimental setup
Results
Conclusion
References

Introduction
Recently medium-high temperature application is
an important topic in the solar energy field.
Demand for energy is projected to more than
double by 2050 and more than triple by the end
of the century.
Incremental improvements in existing energy
networks will not be adequate to supply this
demand in a sustainable way.
Evaluation of the energy arriving at the focus of a
mobile parabolic dish using two types of solar
heat exchanger designed.

Literature Survey
Shuang-Ying Wua et al. evaluates the overall thermalelectric conversion performance of parabolic dish/
AMTEC solar thermal power system. The overall
conversion efficiency of the system could reach up to
20.6% with a power output of 18.54 kW corresponding
to an operating temperature of 1280K
Yong Shunai Applied Monte Carlo ray tracing method
coupled with optical proprieties to predict radiation
performance of dish solar concentrator/cavity receiver
systems.
Jaramillo and al. for measuring concentrated solar flux
evaluation. They shown that the mean value of the
temperature on the surface of the copper plate of the
calorimeter is lower than when stainless steel is used.
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Experimental setup
The fundamental parts of experimental setup are:
o The solar concentrating system
o The receiver (The flat plate calorimeter or solar
heat exchanger)
o The data acquisition system and
o Instrumentation.
o Thermocouples
o Pyranometer

Experimental
setup

Figure- I. The experimental

setup
Source: journal

Flat plate collector

Figure 2. Flat plate collector.

Source:journal.

 A water calorimeter is a solar concentrated

energy evaluation device placed at the SPC focus
where the used heat transfer fluid is the water.
This calorimeter made of steel is constituted of
two concentric cylindrical conduits, two plates
and two rings.
1. Receiving plate
2. Distributing plate
3. The sealing ring
4. The polyamide ring

 The heat flux extracted by the calorimeter is

expressed as:
Qcc =mw Cpw(T w.outlet - Tw.inlet)
Where;
mw is the mass flow rate of water,
Cpw is the water heat capacity, and
(T w.outlet- T

) is the temperature

w.inlet

difference bettween inlet and outlet.

Solar heat exchanger

The solar heat exchanger is a tube exchanger.
It consists of three main components: spherical
cavity exchanger body and the back cover.
The body of the exchanger is a solid cylinder of
140 mm opening diameter and 240 mm length,
pierced by 52 holes with a 10 mm diameter.
Spherical cavity covered with glass plate placed
in the exchanger received face, captures reflected
rays.

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Figure 3. Solar heat exchanger.

Source:journal.
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Solar heat exchanger(cont.)

This exchanger offers a large heat transfer area and
provides high heat transfer efficiency.
The heat transfer fluid used is thermal oil.
The heat flux extracted by the heat exchanger is
expressed as.
Qcc =mo Cpo(T o,outlet-T o,inlet)
(2)
Where;
mo is the oil mass flow rate,
Cpo is the oil heat capacity,
(To,outlet-To,inlet) is the temperature
difference between inlet and outlet oil.
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Results
Experimental study of the solar water calorimeter is
illustrated and presented inlet and outlet water
temperature of the calorimeter placed in the SPC focus
under clear sky conditions and global solar radiation
around 850 Wm_2.
The outlet water temperature increase rapidly in the
beginning of the experience, then it stabilized at a
maximum value around 65C for an ambient
temperature 25C and a fixed mass flow equal to
0.0192 kg/s.
The mean difference between inlet and outlet
temperature attaint 30Cduring the experience (6
hours).
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Results(cont.)
So this calorimeter can be used to certain
application requesting means temperature like
water desalination, solar cooker and for a fewer
mass flow rate used (outlet water temperature can
achieve 100C), steam production application can
be take in.
The energy efficiency changed between 52 % and
83 %. The higher energy efficiency is obtained at
noon. The average value of energy efficiency is
about 72 %.
The determined value of concentration factor
reach 180.
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Figure 4.Inlet and outlet water temperature of

the calorimeter.
Source: journal
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Figure 5. Thermal SPC efficiencyFigure 6. Experimental variation with time o

using water calorimeter.
SPC energy efficiency using SHE.
Source :journal
Source: journal
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Conclusion
Point focus solar concentrating systems will play
an important role in different industrial
applications like the generation of electricity by
solar thermal power, the production hydrogen.
Calorimeter can be a useful instrument to
evaluate the thermal performance of point focus
solar concentrating systems

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References
F. Kreith, D.Y. Gowami. Handbook of Energy Efliciency And Renewable
Energy 2007.
Republique Tunisienne , Ministere de l"industrie, de l"energie et des
PME, Ie plan solaire tunisien 2009.
S.Y. Wua, LX Yiding Cao, Y.R. Li. A parabolic dish/AMTEC solar thermal
power system and its performance evaluation Appl Energ 20I0;87:452462.
Y. Shuai, X.L. Xia, H.P. Tan. Radiation performance of dish solar
concentrator/cavity receiver systems. Sol Energy 2008;82: 13-21.
S. Ulmer,T. Marez, christoph prahl,wolfgang reinalter, boris belhomme
automated high resolution measurement of heliostat slope errors
solarenergy (20 I 0)
1. Chaves, M. Collares-Pereira. Etendue-matched two-stage
concentrators with multiple receivers. Sol Energy 201 0;84: 196-207.
P.L. Singh, R.M. Sarviya, lL. Bhagoria. Heat loss study of trapezoidal
cavity absorbers for linear solar concentrating collector. Energ Convers
Manage 2010;51:329-337.
l Ballestrin, C.A. Estrada, M. Rodriguez-Alonso, C. Perez-Rabago,L. W.
Langley, Barnes Heat flux sensors: Calorimeters or radiometers.Sol
Energy
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THANK YOU.

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