Development and Testing of a Novel Method for the Determination of the Efficiency of Concentrating Solar Thermal Collectors
Abstract
The objective of this research is the development, evaluation and analyzation of a new test method, called “rapid test method”, for fast and inexpensive assessment of concentrating collectors. The rapid test method aims to derive the instantaneous efficiency curve of a parabolic trough collector. Therefore, a new reference parabolic trough collector was designed and installed at a test rig in accordance with ISO 9806. The determination of the instantaneous efficiency curve according to the rapid test method was compared to the efficiency curve based on ISO 9806. The comparison shows that the rapid test method delivers reproducible and reliable values for the characteristic curve of linear concentrating collectors. The obtained results are within the limits of the measurement uncertainty of a characteristic curve based on ISO 9806. Therefore, the method can be regarded as reliable, inexpensive and easy to use alternative to the conventional measuring method.
Keywords
Rapid test method, Iso 9806, Instantaneous efficiency curve, Concentrating solar collector, Parabolic trough collector, Process heat, Receiver testing