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
Gunjan Kumar 1
Amit Galphade 2
Ankit Solanki 3
Sandhya BN 3
Karan Vasava 3
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
Parabolic Concentrator
Solar Collector
Solar Energy
Flat Reflector
Solar Thermal
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