The heat loss of a receiver in a parabolic trough collector plays an important role in collector performance. A number of methods have been used to measure the thermal loss of a receiver tube depending on its operating temperature. This paper presents methods for measuring receiver heat losses including field measurements and laboratory setups both based on energy balances from the hot inside of the receiver tube to the ambient. Further approaches are presented to measure and analyze the temperature of the glass envelope of evacuated receivers and to model overall heat losses and emissivity coefficients of the receiver. Good agreement can be found between very different approaches and independent installations. For solar parabolic trough plants operating in the usual temperature range, the thermal loss is around receiver length.
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Experimental Analysis of Overall Thermal Properties of Parabolic Trough Receivers
Eckhard Lüpfert,
Eckhard Lüpfert
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
e-mail: e.luepfert@dlr.de
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics
, Cologne 51170, Germany
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Klaus-J. Riffelmann,
Klaus-J. Riffelmann
Flagsol GmbH
, Cologne, Germany
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Henry Price,
Henry Price
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
, Golden, CO 80401-3393
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Frank Burkholder,
Frank Burkholder
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
, Golden, CO 80401-3393
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Tim Moss
Tim Moss
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, NM
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Eckhard Lüpfert
German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Institute of Technical Thermodynamics
, Cologne 51170, Germanye-mail: e.luepfert@dlr.de
Klaus-J. Riffelmann
Flagsol GmbH
, Cologne, Germany
Henry Price
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
, Golden, CO 80401-3393
Frank Burkholder
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
, Golden, CO 80401-3393
Tim Moss
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, NMJ. Sol. Energy Eng. May 2008, 130(2): 021007 (5 pages)
Published Online: March 10, 2008
Article history
Received:
September 21, 2006
Revised:
November 16, 2007
Published:
March 10, 2008
Citation
Lüpfert, E., Riffelmann, K., Price, H., Burkholder, F., and Moss, T. (March 10, 2008). "Experimental Analysis of Overall Thermal Properties of Parabolic Trough Receivers." ASME. J. Sol. Energy Eng. May 2008; 130(2): 021007. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2888756
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