A small parabolic trough collector as a solar water heater: an experimental study in Ouargla region, Algeria

Abstract

This study aims to conduct an experimental thermal examination of a parabolic trough collector in Ouargla region at Algeria, which will be used as a solar water heater. The solar collector was manufactured and then experimentally tested, as its theoretical optical performance was estimated at 75.06%, while the values of its true thermal performance are 10.61, 10.68 and 8.85 % for 13 May, 14 May and 15 May. Although its thermal performance is somewhat low, the studied PTC is effective in heating the water, whereas, using a volumetric flow of 0.011 l/s, about 317 liters of water can be heated daily at 42°C, knowing that the daily average consumption of hot water in a typical house is 250 liters because the Ouargla region is strategically located that receives huge amounts of solar irradiance

Optical Numerical Investigation of a Solar Power Plant of Parabolic Trough Collectors

“…It is a solar radiation that can be used in several fields, the most important of which are: electricity production and charge the batteries [3][4][5][6][7], air conditioning [8][9][10][11], heat swimming pools [12], air heating [13][14][15], water heating [16][17][18], nanofluids applications [19,20], solar irrigation [21,22], cook food [23,24], desalination [25,26], drying [27,28] and process heat applications [29,30]. For good use and more efficient use of solar energy, there are many techniques for solar collectors that can be used, including the compound parabolic collectors (CPCs) [31,32], the evacuated tube collectors (ETCs), the Flat-plate collectors (FPCs) [33][34][35], the Heliostat field collectors (HFCs) [36], the linear Fresnel reflectors (LFRs) [37][38][39], the parabolic dish reflector (PDRs) [40,41] and the parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) [42][43][44]. Based on several rigorous scientific researches, it has been possible to improve the efficiency of the above-mentioned solar collectors using nanoparticles suspended in...…”