Journal of Solar Energy Research

A Comparative Analysis of Standard and Flat Reflector Integrated Parabolic Trough Solar Collectors for Hot Water Generation

Document Type : SI:Emerging Trends in Photothermal Conversion for Solar Energy Harvesting

Authors

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, UPL University of Sustainable Technology, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, India

2 Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Sigma University, Bakrol, Vadodara, India

3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, UPL University of Sustainable Technology, Ankleshwar, India

10.22059/jser.2025.379565.1440

Abstract

The vital elements of solar thermal technology are solar collectors, which collect solar radiation and produce heat energy. They can be broadly divided into two categories: focused and non-focused. Parabolic trough collectors belong to the type of focused systems that accommodates reflected radiation into a centrally located receiver. Parabolic collectors are commonly employed to fulfill process heat requirements. This paper presents an experimental analysis of a parabolic solar concentrator using both flat and parabolic reflectors. This study investigates the practical performance of a standard and novel flat reflector integrated parabolic trough solar collector while maintaining identical operational conditions. The novel collector's maximum thermal efficiency is recorded as 55%, which is competitive with the standard parabolic trough collector's performance. The average temperature difference of working fluid is 6.85°C, indicating a 1.14°C increase compared to the standard parabolic trough collector that was examined. The findings of this work provides vital information to researchers and scientists working in this field.

Keywords

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Journal of Solar Energy Research
Volume 10, Emerging Trends in Photothermal Conversion for Solar Energy Harvesting
March 2025
Pages 1-11