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Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2015
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| _version_ | 1867613462714122240 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Bello-Ochende, Tunde |
| author_browse | Bello-Ochende, Tunde |
| author_facet | Bello-Ochende, Tunde |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/45963 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:36:32.122Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/45963 Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation Bello-Ochende, Tunde Meyer, Josua P. Mwesigye, Aggrey UCTD Absorber tube Computational fluid dynamics Heat transfer enhancement Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-07 SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09 SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-12 SDG-12: Responsible consumption and production Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. Parabolic trough systems are one of the most commercially and technically developed technologies for concentrated solar power. With the current research and development efforts, the cost of electricity from these systems is approaching the cost of electricity from medium-sized coal-fired power plants. Some of the cost-cutting options for parabolic trough systems include: (i) increasing the sizes of the concentrators to improve the system’s concentration ratio and to reduce the number of drives and controls and (ii) improving the system’s optical efficiency. However, the increase in the concentration ratios of these systems requires improved performance of receiver tubes to minimise the absorber tube circumferential temperature difference, receiver thermal loss and entropy generation rates in the receiver. As such, the prediction of the absorber tube’s circumferential temperature difference, receiver thermal performance and entropy generation rates in parabolic trough receivers therefore, becomes very important as concentration ratios increase. In this study, the thermal and thermodynamic performance of parabolic trough receivers at different Reynolds numbers, inlet temperatures and rim angles as concentration ratios increase are investigated. The potential for improved receiver thermal and thermodynamic performance with heat transfer enhancement using wall-detached twisted tape inserts, perforated plate inserts and perforated conical inserts is also evaluated. In this work, the heat transfer, fluid flow and thermodynamic performance of a parabolic trough receiver were analysed numerically by solving the governing equations using a general purpose computational fluid dynamics code. SolTrace, an optical modelling tool that uses Monte-Carlo ray tracing techniques was used to obtain the heat flux profiles on the receiver’s absorber tube. These heat flux profiles were then coupled to the CFD code by means of user-defined functions for the subsequent analysis of the thermal and thermodynamic performance of the receiver. With this approach, actual non-uniform heat flux profiles and actual non-uniform temperature distribution in the receiver different from constant heat flux profiles and constant temperature distribution often used in other studies were obtained. Both thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation approaches were used to obtain optimal configurations of the proposed heat transfer enhancement techniques. For thermodynamic optimisation, the entropy generation minimisation method was used. Whereas, the multi-objective optimisation approach was implemented in ANSYS DesignXplorer to obtain Pareto solutions for maximum heat transfer and minimum fluid friction for each of the heat transfer enhancement techniques. Results showed that rim angles lower than 60o gave high absorber tube circumferential temperature differences, higher receiver thermal loss and higher entropy generation rates, especially for flow rates lower than 43 m3/h. The entropy generation rates reduced as the inlet temperature increased, increased as the rim angles reduced and as concentration ratios increased. Existence of an optimal Reynolds number at which entropy generation is a minimum for any given inlet temperature, rim angle and concentration ratio is demonstrated. In addition, for the heat transfer enhancement techniques considered, correlations for the Nusselt number and fluid friction were obtained and presented. With heat transfer enhancement, the thermal efficiency of the receiver increased in the range 5% – 10%, 3% – 8% and 1.2% – 8% with twisted tape inserts, perforated conical inserts and perforated plate inserts respectively. Results also show that with heat transfer enhancement, the absorber tube’s circumferential temperature differences reduce in the range 4% – 68%, 3.4 – 56% and up to 67% with twisted tape inserts, perforated conical inserts and perforated plate inserts respectively. Furthermore, the entropy generation rates were reduced by up to 59%, 45% and 53% with twisted tape inserts, perforated conical inserts and perforated plate inserts respectively. Moreover, using multi-objective optimisation, Pareto optimal solutions were obtained and presented for each heat transfer enhancement technique. In summary, results from this study demonstrate that for a parabolic trough system, rim angles, concentration ratios, flow rates and inlet temperatures have a strong influence on the thermal and thermodynamic performance of the parabolic trough receiver. The potential for improved receiver thermal and thermodynamic performance with heat transfer enhancement has also been demonstrated. Overall, this study provides useful knowledge for improved design and efficient operation of parabolic trough systems. tm2015 mi2025 Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering PhD Unrestricted SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure SDG-12: Responsible consumption and production 2015-07-02T11:06:11Z 2015-07-02T11:06:11Z 2015/04/23 2015 Thesis Mwesigye, A 2015, Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation, PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/45963> A2015 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/45963 en © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Absorber tube Computational fluid dynamics Heat transfer enhancement Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-07 SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09 SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-12 SDG-12: Responsible consumption and production Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation |
| title | Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation |
| title_full | Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation |
| title_fullStr | Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation |
| title_short | Thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers – numerical investigation, thermodynamic and multi-objective optimisation |
| title_sort | thermal performance and heat transfer enhancement of parabolic trough receivers numerical investigation thermodynamic and multi objective optimisation |
| topic | UCTD Absorber tube Computational fluid dynamics Heat transfer enhancement Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-07 SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09 SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-12 SDG-12: Responsible consumption and production |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/45963 |