Design of a small size PTC: Computational model for the receiver tube and validation with heat loss test

Abstract In EU, the residential sector is responsible for the 40% of the total energy consumption. The integration of solar technologies in buildings is therefore necessary in order to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Concentrating collectors could offer an interesting solution but nowadays their application in buildings is rare due to high costs, large dimensions and complexity of the system. A novel small parabolic trough collector (PTC) has been conceived to overcome these limits and to allow the integration in buildings. The main features of realized prototype are the compact dimensions, strongly reduced compared to the PTC standards, and modularity. The paper deals with the numerical analysis necessary to design the concentrating collector properly and its validation with experimental results. An optical analysis has allowed to select the optimum values for the parameters of the parabola, aperture and rim angle. A thermo-fluid dynamics finite element model has been developed with Comsol Multiphysics, to analyse the relevant physical characteristics and to predict the performance of the receiver tube. The efficiency curve of the collector has been extracted. Successively a receiver tube has been built based on the indications of FEM model for what concerns geometry and materials. In order to evaluate the heat loss of the receiver and to validate the finite element model, a test bench has been realized. The results of off-sun heat loss tests on the receiver tube are reported for several temperatures. The computational model is in good agreement with experimental results and therefore it is validated.