Experimental Evaluation of a Solar Parabolic Trough Collector under Libyan climate
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International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) |  |
| © 2016 by IJETT Journal | ||
| Volume-38 Number-1 |
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| Year of Publication : 2016 | ||
| Authors : Ahmed M. Ahmed, Abdelhafeed A. Albusefi, Husni. T. Izweik |
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| DOI : 10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V38P207 |
Citation
Ahmed M. Ahmed, Abdelhafeed A. Albusefi, Husni. T. Izweik"Experimental Evaluation of a Solar Parabolic Trough Collector under Libyan climate", International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT), V38(1),32-37 August 2016. ISSN:2231-5381. www.ijettjournal.org. published by seventh sense research group
Abstract
Solar energy is the oldest form of renewables utilized by human, and it is the future energy source. It can meet the increasing energy demand without raising the environmental concerns. In this paper, the performance of parabolic trough solar collectors fabricated from the locally available materials has been experimentally investigated under Libyan climate. It was outdoor tested at the roof of Environmental Department, Sabratha University which located at latitude 32.8°N, longitude 12.5°E, and 10 m elevation. It was East- West oriented with a manual tracking mechanism. The heat transfer fluid (water) flows naturally from a supply tank. The experimental results showed that the maximum instantaneous thermal efficiency reached 43.9% for a direct solar radiation of 474 W/m2at a flow rate of 0.24 L/min at 11:00 AM on 27th of January 2016.Moreover, a maximum outlet temperature of 79.5 °C for a direct solar radiation of 650W/m2at a flow rate of 0.24 L/min at 12:45 PM on the same day. These results proved that Cities of Libyan coast holds a real potential for such energy generation technology and highly encourage the commercial companies to invest in the Parabolic Trough Concentrator technology in Libya to meet the increasing demand for water heating systems.
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Keywords
Parabolic Trough Collector, useful heat gained, collector thermal Efficiency, Industrial process heat.