Abstract:

Heat transfer in a finned absorber of a parabolic trough collector was studied numerically. The main aim of this work was to study the effect of attached fins on the enhancement of the thermal performance of a parabolic trough collector. The values of the fin’s length varied from 0 to 20 mm; their thicknesses varied from 0 to 8 mm and their number was 5. The parameters used in the current study are: the thermal and dynamic field, friction coefficient, Nusselt number, the thermal efficiency and thermal enhancement index. Obtained results show that inclusion of fins to the lower half of the absorber tube can enhance the heat transfer between the absorber tube and working fluid. The increase of the fin’s length increases the friction factor, Nusselt number and thermal efficiency, and the increase of fin’s thickness also increases the previous parameters. Starting the value 6 mm of thickness, its effect remains the same, but thickness is less effective than length. The values 15 mm of length and 6 mm of thickness are selected as optimal values. Results show that the inclusion of the fins enhances the thermal performance of the parabolic collector by 8.45%.

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