DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PARABOLIC TROUGH SOLAR COLLECTOR

Background Information

Presented at:

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ilorin.

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Skills and Proficiency:

Academic Research, Sustainable Energy, Autodesk Inventor, Arduino UNO, Electronic circuit design.

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Problem:

The negative effect of fossil fuel burning is immensely significant as seen in climate change amongst other effects. Industrial water heating is known to consume a large amount of energy which is largely sourced from the burning of fossil fuels. Hence, sourcing a cleaner source of energy to satisfy this need is paramount.

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Process:

In this study, a small scale parabolic trough solar collector with a semi-automatic solar tracking system is constructed and its performance evaluation is carried out. The system consists basically of a parabolic trough with silver-coated mirrors as a reflective surface, an absorber tube made of copper, a storage tank lagged with glass fiber insulation material, and the tracking system designed using an Arduino microcontroller. The device was tested behind Engineering Central Workshop, Block 9, University of Ilorin, Ilorin. 10 liters of water with a mass of 9.97 kg was stored in the storage tank to be heated by the solar water heating system. The temperature distribution of water in the system throughout the operating hours of the solar water heating system is illustrated as well as their corresponding thermal efficiency.

Results:

Although the testing area had little shading effect on the trough, the solar irradiance during the period of the testing was low, hence, the results obtained from the test have a very limited representation of the actual performance of the system. However, considering the very low solar irradiance during the period of testing, the system showed fairly acceptable results for water heating.