Thermal performance analysis of a novel linear cavity receiver for parabolic trough solar collectors

Xueling Li, Huawei Chang, Chen Duan, Yao Zheng and Shuiming Shu

Applied Energy, 2019, vol. 237, issue C, 439 pages

Abstract: The trough solar thermal power generation system is one of the most mature solar thermal power generation systems. A novel major arc-shaped linear cavity receiver with a lunate channel based on the black cavity effect principle for parabolic trough solar collectors is proposed in this work. The effects of the inclination angle, collecting temperature, surface emissivity and aperture width on the heat loss are thoroughly analyzed with a two-dimensional numerical model coupling natural convection with surface radiation. In addition, the thermal performance of the proposed linear cavity receiver is compared with that of the Solel’s UVAC series evacuated collector tube. The results show that: (1) The natural convection heat loss is significantly affected by the inclination angle, while the radiation heat loss is mainly affected by the surface emissivity and the collecting temperature. (2) The aperture width of the receiver has a great impact on the thermal performance. The larger the aperture width is, the greater the heat losses. However, the aperture width can also affect the optical performance and the manufacturing cost. The reasonable aperture width for this kind of linear cavity receiver is about 50–70 mm with consideration of all these factors. (3) The proposed linear cavity receiver demonstrates comparative or even better thermal performance as traditional evacuated collector tubes, especially in high temperature range.

Keywords: Cavity receiver; Linear receiver; Parabolic trough solar collector; Thermal performance; Natural convection; Surface radiation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261919300108
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:237:y:2019:i:c:p:431-439

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.01.014

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().