Modeling and Simulation of Solar Thermal Power System Using Parabolic Trough Collector
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 2
Abstract
In this paper the performance of a supercritical organic Rankine cycle (ORC) with parabolic rough collectors (PTCs) system is presented using R500 as an organic working fluid driven by the heat transfer fluid (HTF) Therminol VP-1 in a typical environment of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. An optimization for different working fluids and different HTFs at different locations for electrical power generation is performed. Performance evaluation for off-design conditions, covering the range of part load and overload to the design point, has been carried out using appropriate software. The results show that the locations with higher solar radiation have the best performance. It is found that Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has the highest solar radiation compared with Munich, Germany; Irbid, Jordan; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Moreover, the organic working fluid with the highest thermal efficiency under the same conditions has the best performance. Five potential applicable organic working fluids are analyzed and it is found that ammonia has the highest thermal efficiency versus R141b, propane, R143a, and R500. Sensitivity analysis shows that a 10% drop in the global radiation () causes a 13.75% increase in the number of collectors (), where the electrical power produced by the generator () and the overall efficiency for the whole system () decreases by 11.25 and 1.25%, respectively.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Engineer Ahmad M. Abubaker for his help in editing.
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Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 2 • April 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 9, 2016
Accepted: Jul 11, 2016
Published online: Sep 29, 2016
Discussion open until: Feb 28, 2017
Published in print: Apr 1, 2017
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