Corrigendum: Numerical study of perforated obstacles effects on the performance of solar parabolic trough collector.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2022.1089080.].

Heat Transfer Enhancement in Parabolic through Solar Receiver: A Three-Dimensional Numerical Investigation.

Parabolic trough collectors (PTC) are one of the most established solar concentrating systems which have been used in a wide variety of applications. Enhancing their performance is critical to establish them as a viable technology. Internal obstacles are an intriguing way for improving the collector's performance. However, the usage of obstacles results in increasing pressure loss. The purpose of this research is to numerically explore the impact of introducing obstacles to the receiver tube of a parabolic trough collector on heat transmission in PTCs and its overall thermal performance. The first part analyzed the effects of geometrical parameters, orientation angle (α = 45°, 90° or 135°), and spacing of obstacles (P/D = 1, 2, or 3) on the fluid motion, heat transfer, and performance. Then, a non-uniform heat flow was applied to the absorber's outer surface. The effects of nanoparticles type, temperature profile, and heat transfer performance of three different nanofluids (Cu/thermal oil, Al2O3/thermal oil, andTiO2/thermal oil) were studied in the second part. The simulation results show that, the friction factor increased when P/D decreases, and that the absorber tube with obstacles discs (α = 90°) and P/D = 2 achieved the best thermal performance. Additionally, increasing the concentration of solid nanoparticles in thermal oil improves heat transmission, and the Cu nanofluid has the greatest Nusselt number.

Numerical study of perforated obstacles effects on the performance of solar parabolic trough collector.

The current work presents and discusses a numerical analysis of improving heat transmission in the receiver of a parabolic trough solar collector by introducing perforated barriers. While the proposed approach to enhance the collector's performance is promising, the use of obstacles results in increased pressure loss. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model analysis is conducted based on the renormalization-group (RNG) k-ɛ turbulent model associated with standard wall function using thermal oil D12 as working fluid The thermo-hydraulic analysis of the receiver tube with perforated obstacles is taken for various configurations and Reynolds number ranging from 18,860 to 81,728. The results are compared with that of the receiver without perforated obstacles. The receiver tube with three holes (PO3) showed better heat transfer characteristics. In addition, the Nusselt number (Nu) increases about 115% with the increase of friction factor 5-6.5 times and the performance evaluation criteria (PEC) changes from 1.22 to 1.24. The temperature of thermal oil fluid attains its maximum value at the exit, and higher temperatures (462.1 K) are found in the absorber tube with perforated obstacles with three holes (PO3). Accordingly, using perforated obstacles receiver for parabolic trough concentrator is highly recommended where significant enhancement of system's performance is achieved.