Impact of pressure losses in small-sized parabolic-trough collectors for direct steam generation

Using PTC (parabolic-trough solar collectors) for industrial thermal processes in the temperature range up to 300 °C is not new, but in recent years there is a boosted interest in this type of concentrating solar technology. One of the problems that arise when designing PTC solar fields is how to deal with the pressure losses which are critical when producing saturated steam directly in the collectors. Depending on the characteristics of the collector, mainly on the receiver diameter, and on the nominal process conditions defined, a solar field configuration can be feasible or not. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis done using a software tool developed to study the thermo-hydraulic behaviour of PTC systems using water-steam as heat transfer fluid. In the case study presented, a small-sized PTC designed for industrial process heat applications is considered, which has a focal length of 0.2 m, an aperture area of 2 m2, and its receiver pipe has an inner diameter of 15 mm. Varied process conditions are inlet water pressure, temperature, and mass flow rate, solar irradiance and incidence angle of solar radiation. Results show that working pressure definition is particularly critical to make feasible or not the direct steam generation in solar collectors.