Investigation of design parameters, thermodynamic and economic analysis for parabolic trough type solar collector

In order to sustain social life and economic development in countries, energy demand is increasing. Today, fossil energy sources with limited reserves are used to meet this demand, and as a result, irreversible destruction, such as global warming, is caused in the world, and environmental pollution is increased. In order to prevent this situation and benefit from unlimited resources, renewable energy sources have been turned to clean energy. The solar energy in them has the potential for widespread use as it is easy to find, cheap compared to other energy sources and can reach high temperatures for electricity generation. It is possible to operate at high temperatures with concentrator solar energy systems. The most common use is parabolic trough type solar collectors. Sun rays fall from the parabolic reflective surface onto the receiver pipe located at the collector's focus, heating the fluid in the pipe and thus converting solar radiation into proper heat. In this study, theoretical research was conducted on parabolic trough-type solar collectors. In the designed parabolic trough type solar collector, a comparative performance analysis was conducted using different fluids and the effects of different design parameters on the collector efficiency, as well as the effects of solar radiation and angular displacement during the day on the efficiency, were investigated. The results showed that the collector length, receiver pipe diameter, and the types of fluids and materials used affect the system efficiency. The term' practical exergy production' refers to the actual useful work that can be obtained from a system, and it is a key metric in this study. While the highest value in practical exergy production and system efficiency is observed in air fluid, the highest value is observed in outlet temperature in helium fluid. The highest value in exergy production, outlet temperature and system efficiency was obtained using black chrome coating on galvanized steel for the receiver pipe and mirror for the reflective surface.