Experimental Study on Solar Heat Battery using Phase Change Materials for Parabolic Dish Collectors

Abstract

Energy consumption has increased withthe population increase, and fossil fuel dependency has risen and causing pollutions. Solar energy is suitableto provide society's thermo-electric needs. Thermal energy storage-based concentrated solar receivers are aimed at store heat energy and transportable to the applications. Acavity receiver with two-phase change materials (PCM) is experimentally investigated using a parabolic dish collector to act as the solar heat battery. The selected PCMs are MgCl2.6H2O and KNO3-NaNO3. PCMs are chosen and placed as perthe temperature zones of the receiver. The outdoor test wasconductedto determine the conical receiver's storage performance using cascaded PCMs. The complete melting of PCM attainsat an average receiver surface temperature of 230°C. The complete melting of the PCM in the receiver took around 30 minutes at average radiation around 700 W/m2, and heat stored is approximately 5000 kJ. The estimated number of cavity receivers to be charged on a sunny day is about 10-15 according to the present design and selected PCMs, for later use

Prototype of a Solar Collector with the Recirculation of Nanofluids for a Convective Dryer

“…Currently, the use of solar thermal collectors is widespread because of their low cost and easy maintenance; however, the major drawbacks of solar thermal systems are intermittent solar radiation and lack of solar energy after sunshine hours. Hence, thermal energy storage plays a pivotal role in managing such radiation discontinuity (Mekahlia et al, 2020;Senthil et al, 2021). The collector most used at an industrial level is the flat plate collector, which is used for medium to hightemperature applications; however, it presents limited solar conversion efficiency and low operating temperatures (Eltaweel et al, 2019).…”