A Process Heat Application Using Parabolic Trough Collector

Abstract

A pilot study has been performed based on a heat process application that is designed, installed and tested at Gaziantep University to establish the technical and economic feasibility of high temperature solar-assisted cooking process. The system has been designed to be satisfying the process conditions integrated with parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC). It is primarily consists of the PTSC array, auxiliary heater, plate type heat exchanger, cooking system and water heating tanks. In the operation of the process heat application, the energy required to cook wheat (used as cooking material) has been supplied from solar energy which is transferred to heat transfer fluid (HTF) by heat exchanging units and finally discharged to water in order to produce bulgur. The performance parameters of the sub-systems and the process compatibility have been accomplished depending on the system operation. In addition that the system performance of the high temperature solar heat process has been presented and the recommendations on its improvement have been evaluated by performing an experimental study. As a result that the use of solar energy in process heat application has been projected and its contribution to economics view with respect to conventional cooking systems has been conducted.