Optimal Heat Collection Element Shapes for Parabolic Trough Concentrators

Natural convection heat transfer in V-trough solar concentrators

The use of V-trough concentrators offers a simple approach to increasing the radiation incident on a solar receiver; this is particularly useful for increasing the temperature in thermal systems. However in order to accurately predict the performance of thermal systems under concentrated radiation, there is a need to understand the heat loss from them. This study experimentally shows that, for ...

Conceptual Study of a Thermal Storage Module for Solar Power Plants with Parabolic Trough Concentrators

An Air-Based Cavity-Receiver for Solar Trough Concentrators

A cylindrical cavity-receiver containing a tubular absorber that uses air as the heat transfer fluid is proposed for a novel solar trough concentrator design. A numerical heat transfer model is developed to determine the receiver’s absorption efficiency and pumping power requirement. The 2D steady-state energy conservation equation coupling radiation, convection and conduction heat transfer is ...

Particle Collection and Concentration for Cyclone Concentrators

Four cyclone concentrators were designed and fabricated to compare their particle separation and concentration behavior, such as the major, minor, outlet, and wall deposition fractions. Two of the cyclone concentrators were the conventional type, with the minor flow tube connected to the particle outlet at the bottom of the cyclone. The others were modified cyclone concentrators with a gap betw...

Adaptive Mixed Finite Element Methods for Parabolic Optimal Control Problems

We will investigate the adaptive mixed finite element methods for parabolic optimal control problems. The state and the costate are approximated by the lowest-order Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element spaces, and the control is approximated by piecewise constant elements. We derive a posteriori error estimates of themixed finite element solutions for optimal control problems. Such a posteriori ...