Abstract:
In this paper, a numerical investigation of thermal and thermodynamic performance of a
receiver for a parabolic trough solar collector with perforated plate inserts is presented. The
analysis was carried out for different perforated plate geometrical parameters including
dimensionless plate orientation angle, the dimensionless plate spacing, and the dimensionless
plate diameter. The Reynolds number varies in the range 1.02×104 ≤ Re ≤ 7.38 × 105 depending
on the heat transfer fluid temperature. The fluid temperatures used are 400 K, 500 K, 600 K and
650 K. The porosity of the plate was fixed at 0.65. The study shows that, for a given value of
insert orientation, insert spacing and insert size, there is a range of Reynolds numbers for which
the thermal performance of the receiver improves with the use of perforated plate inserts. In this
range, the modified thermal efficiency increases between 1.2 – 8 %. The thermodynamic
performance of the receiver due to inclusion of perforated plate inserts is shown to improve for
flow rates lower than 0.01205 m3/s. Receiver temperature gradients are shown to reduce with the
use of inserts. Correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor were also derived and
presented.
