Numerical study of perforated obstacles effects on the performance of solar parabolic trough collector

The current work presents and discusses a numerical analysis of improving heat transmission in the receiver of a parabolic trough solar collector by introducing perforated barriers. While the proposed approach to enhance the collector’s performance is promising, the use of obstacles results in increased pressure loss. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model analysis is conducted based on the renormalization-group (RNG) k-ɛ turbulent model associated with standard wall function using thermal oil D12 as working fluid The thermo-hydraulic analysis of the receiver tube with perforated obstacles is taken for various configurations and Reynolds number ranging from 18,860 to 81,728. The results are compared with that of the receiver without perforated obstacles. The receiver tube with three holes (PO3) showed better heat transfer characteristics. In addition, the Nusselt number (Nu) increases about 115% with the increase of friction factor 5–6.5 times and the performance evaluation criteria (PEC) changes from 1.22 to 1.24. The temperature of thermal oil fluid attains its maximum value at the exit, and higher temperatures (462.1 K) are found in the absorber tube with perforated obstacles with three holes (PO3). Accordingly, using perforated obstacles receiver for parabolic trough concentrator is highly recommended where significant enhancement of system’s performance is achieved.