Mechanical Design and Optimization of Large-Scale Parabolic Trough Solar Collectors for Industrial Applications

Abstract

Parabolic trough solar collectors have become effective and promising alternative to provide high temperatures in electricity generation and industrial applications. The challenge that is tracked in this present research is to provide a reliable tool to design a low-cost large scale parabolic trough collector that achieves the required thermal loads. The idea is to reduce the entire weight of the structure and keep the deflection within the tolerance allowed to reduce the heat losses due to the less scattering of the solar rays away from the absorber pipe. Two design scenarios are proposed and compared. Both designs resemble the spine or the backbone of humans, but they differ in the arrangement and number of the ribs and the longitudinal supporting ducts. The first design proposal is made up of more ribs and less longitudinal supporting ducts, while the second has less ribs and more supporting ducts. A square shaped duct is used as the main backbone at which all the ribs are assembled. Various optimization trials are conducted using SolidWorks software while changing the size of the backbone duct, the number of ribs, and the thickness and sizes of the longitudinal supporting duct. The optimization process targets the best combination of parameters that achieve the minimum weight and deflection with a reasonable factor of safety. The second scenario has shown much better results than the first, hence it has been used for further investigations via changing the rim angle and the backbone size to minimize the torque required.