A prototype parabolic trough solar concentrators for steam production

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dc.contributor.author Kawira, M.
dc.contributor.author Kinyua, R.
dc.contributor.author Kamau, J. N.
dc.date.accessioned 2016-10-04T13:01:48Z
dc.date.available 2016-10-04T13:01:48Z
dc.date.issued 2016-10-04
dc.identifier.citation Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology (JAGST), 2012 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2302
dc.description.abstract In this work, the potential for a solar-thermal concentrator to produce steam has been studied. Three parabolic trough solar concentrators (PTSCs) of dimensions: - aperture width of 1.2 m, Collector length of 5.8 m and aperture area of 6.95 m2 were investigated. The absorber pipe was a copper tube which carried water as the heat transfer fluid, were designed, fabricated, characterized and their efficiencies compared when closed and when open. The PTSCs´ were made of appropriate materials and were manually tracked. They were designed with principal focus at 0.4 m so that the receiver heat loss is minimized by covering the collectors with glass which was 0.0025 m in thickness. The concentration ratio of the solar concentrators was 128. The concentrator testing was carried out for each of the concentrators. The maximum temperature of steam obtained was 248.3oC while average temperature of steam was produced was 150oC. When closed their efficiencies were: Aluminium sheet reflector PTSC; 55.52 %, Car solar reflector PTSC; 54.65 % and Aluminium foil reflector PTSC; 51.29 %. The open solar concentrator efficiencies were 32.38 %, 34.45 % and 27.74 % respectively. The efficiency of car solar reflector when open was higher than for aluminium sheet since it was less prone to thermal degradation when exposed to weather elements. The results obtained show that production of power using the sun flux is a viable undertaking. The concentrators can be used to provide power to remote areas which are far away from the power transmission gridlines. This will make power readily available to the marginalized rural people. Improvement of the tracking system and optical efficiency can improve the efficiencies of the fabricated concentrator systems. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher JKUAT en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries JAGST;Vol 14, No 2 (2012)
dc.subject Parabolic trough concentrator en_US
dc.subject solar-thermal en_US
dc.subject transmittanceabsorptance product en_US
dc.subject thermal and optical efficiency en_US
dc.title A prototype parabolic trough solar concentrators for steam production en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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