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Thermal performance assessment of a Parabolic Trough Collector prototype system in Palapye, Botswana

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dc.contributor.author Nthoiwa, Ndakidzilo
dc.contributor.author Mario, Einax
dc.date.accessioned 2020-08-17T13:02:52Z
dc.date.available 2020-08-17T13:02:52Z
dc.date.issued 2019-06
dc.identifier.citation Ndakidzilo, N. and Einax, M. (2019). Thermal performance assessment of a Parabolic Trough Collector prototype system in Palapye, Botswana. In Jamisola, Rodrigo S. Jr (ed.) BIUST Research and Innovation Symposium 2019 (RDAIS 2019); 1 (1) 23-29. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 2521-2292
dc.identifier.uri http://repository.biust.ac.bw/handle/123456789/161
dc.description.abstract A parabolic trough collector (PTC) prototype was fabricated and tested at Palapye (22.59404 oS and 027.12455 oE) in Botswana. A stainless steel sheet lined with an adhesive Mylar film of high reflectivity (≥ 0.94) was used as the collector with area 3.001 m2 and a copper tube of 15 mm external diameter and length 2.440 m coated with silicone 250 selective coating as the receiver. The performance of the coated receiver tube was compared to that of a 2.0 m long commercial receiver without any modification of the collector. The highest outlet temperature of 75.8 oC was achieved, with inlet water and ambient temperatures of 26.1 and 28.0 oC, respectively. The effect of the wind speed, mass flow rate of the water and the irradiation on the thermal efficiencies of the system were studied. An increase in the average wind speed from 2.8 to 4.4 m/s resulted in both the Carnot and thermal efficiency decreasing from 61.1 to 54.1 % and 20.3 to 7.7 %, respectively. At constant wind speed, a decrease in the flow rate from 0.0036 to 0.0012 kg/s resulted in an increase in the Carnot efficiency from 43.9 to 54.1 % due to an increase in the outlet temperature, while the thermal efficiency dropped by half. The wind speed had no influence on the commercial receiver outlet temperature because of the vacuum insulation. en_US
dc.description.sponsorship Botswana International University of Science and Technology en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Botswana International University of Science and Technology en_US
dc.subject Solar energy en_US
dc.subject Parabolic trough collector en_US
dc.subject Thermal efficiency en_US
dc.subject Carnot efficiency en_US
dc.title Thermal performance assessment of a Parabolic Trough Collector prototype system in Palapye, Botswana en_US
dc.description.level phd en_US
dc.description.accessibility unrestricted en_US
dc.description.department paa en_US


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