Design, Fabrication, and study of Solar Parabolic Trough for solar thermal Applications in Tikrit, Iraq

Abstract

This study presents the design and manufacture of solar parabolic trough for a purpose of conducting a practical study of the performance of this collector, which was tested on the surface of building of Physics Department a college of Science at University of Tikrit at the longitude (43.67°) and latitude (34.59°) the collector has been manufactured with length (1.5 m) and width (1 m) from the materials available locally. Stainless steel tapes were used as a reflective surface and an absorbent iron tube with internal diameter (0.023 m) and outer diameter (0.027 m), has been painted in black color as a receiving surface, and a tank with capacity (40 L) for storage of hot water, and the water that was recycled from the main tank was used as a conveyor fluid for heat. All the variables have been calculated using a computer program designed for this purpose. It was found that the concentration ratio of the collector is (11.47676), and the useful thermal energy absorbed by the water which passes in the absorber tube (786W), and the maximum practical efficiency of the system is (59.5%) at Noon time in April 17/4/2018 with a flow rate of a fluid of (0.036111 kg/sec).