Performance comparison of a solar parabolic trough concentrator using different shapes of linear cavity receiver

This study presents a numerical investigation of a solar Parabolic Trough Concentrator (PTC) with various Linear Cavity Receivers (LCRs). A linear trapezoidal cavity receiver was simulated and analyzed optically and thermally in the PTC system. The performance of the linear trapezoidal cavity receiver was assessed at two different angles: 25° and 55°. Optical and thermal simulations were conducted on a PTC system with a novel linear wounded tubular trapezoidal LCR. Subsequently, the optical and thermal performance of the PTC system was compared with alternative LCR shapes, namely cubical, V-shaped, trapezoidal 25°, and trapezoidal 55°. Additional contribution of the present study is to conduct energy and exergy analyses on the optimized solar PTC system employing a soybean oil-based-MXene nanofluid with varying concentrations (0 %, 0.025 %, 0.075 %, and 0.125 % weight). The findings indicate that all LCRs exhibit optimal cavity-absorbed heat flux and optical efficiency when aligned with the focal line. Moreover, the cubical and trapezoidal cavity receivers, when equipped with the ideal aperture width, demonstrate the highest and lowest performance, respectively. The most favorable exergy performance is achieved by employing the nanofluid concentration of 0.075 % weight at an inlet temperature of 55 °C at about 4 %. Also, the thermal efficiency of the solar system was calculated as about 82 % with the application of the nanofluid concentration of 0.075 % weight at an inlet temperature of 25 °C. The research findings offer valuable insights into enhancing the performance of the solar thermal system to generate more power for the implementation of the 7th development plan in Iran.