Simulation of a Standalone, Portable Steam Generator Driven by a Solar Concentrator

Solar energy is a good solution for energy-deficiency problems, especially in regions such as rural areas in the Middle East that have not been electrified yet or are under electrification. In this paper, with the aid of a Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation, we propose a system that comprises a trough solar concentrator and a pipe—with flowing water—that is set in the concentrator focus. The aim of this work is to investigate the feasibility of generating steam from such a system as well as analyzing the generated steam quantitatively and qualitatively. Effects of variation of solar radiation intensity, ambient temperature, water flow rate and pipe diameter on the quantity and quality of the generated steam have been investigated. The results show that a quantity of about 130 kg of steam could be generated per day with a 0.01 m diameter with 0.0042 kg/s flowing water, although qualitatively, a narrower pipe achieves better performance than a wider one. About 74 kg of daily accumulated steam mass with a temperature >423 K could be achieved for a 0.005 m diameter tube compared to about 50 kg for the 0.01 m diameter tube. Steam quality factor is higher at all flow rates for the 0.005 m diameter tube compared to that of 0.01 m.