Keywords
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper proposes an adaptive concentrated solar thermal system designed to regulate heat transfer from a solar receiver to a heat exchanger by automatically adjusting the distance between these components. The system consists of square reflective plates, a parabolic reflector, a solar receiver, a movable heat exchanger, a temperature monitoring unit, and an automatic control mechanism. Concentrated solar radiation is converted into thermal energy at the receiver and transferred to a working fluid through the heat exchanger. The collected heat can subsequently be used for industrial process heating or boiler feedwater preheating in thermal power plants. The proposed approach aims to adapt heat extraction to variations in solar irradiance and receiver temperature. The paper presents the system architecture, governing energy-balance equations, a proposed control algorithm, and a methodology for experimental validation. Particular attention is given to the relationship between exchanger position and heat-transfer intensity. The proposed device requires numerical modelling and experimental testing to establish its performance, operational safety, and potential energy-saving benefits.
References
1. Kalogirou, S. A. Solar Energy Engineering: Processes and Systems. 2nd ed. Academic Press, 2014.
2. Lovegrove, K., Stein, W. (eds.). Concentrating Solar Power Technology: Principles, Developments and Applications. Woodhead Publishing, 2012.
3. International Energy Agency (IEA). Renewable Energy Essentials: Concentrating Solar Thermal Power. Paris: IEA, 2009. https://www.iea.org/reports/renewable-energy-essentials-concentrating-solar-power
4. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Publications and Research Resources. https://www.nrel.gov/csp/publications.html
5. Duffie, J. A., Beckman, W. A. Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes. 4th ed. Wiley, 2013.
6. Incropera, F. P., DeWitt, D. P., Bergman, T. L., Lavine, A. S. Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer. 7th ed. Wiley, 2011.
7. Kalogirou, S. A. “Solar thermal collectors and applications.” Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 30(3), 2004, pp. 231–295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2004.02.001
8. Fernández-García, A., Zarza, E., Valenzuela, L., Pérez, M. “ parabolic-trough solar collectors and their applications.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 14(7), 2010, pp. 1695–1721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2010.03.012
9. “Global advancement of solar thermal energy technologies for industrial process heat and its future prospects.” Energy Conversion and Management, 195, 2019, pp. 885–908. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2019.05.081
10. “Progress in heat transfer research for high-temperature solar thermal applications.” Applied Thermal Engineering, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.APPLTHERMALENG.2020.116137
11. U.S. Department of Energy. Linear Concentrator System: Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Basics. https://www.energy.gov/cmei/systems/linear-concentrator-system-concentrating-solar-thermal-power-basics