Using Parabolic Trough Concentrators With Tracking System for Heating Residential Water

The present work concerns a prototype implementation and an experimental study of a new design of water heating using parabolic troughs equipped with solar tracking system. Combining the two techniques of parabolic troughs and solar tracking permits to enhance the water heating by solar energy. A prototype is implemented to test the proposed approach. An experimental study is carried-out to test the performance of the system as well as the effect of the weather conditions on the system. The effect of each technique is evaluated separately by performing experiments with and without solar tracking and with/without parabolic mirrors. It is shown that with a parabolic trough of 0.6 m2 area, water can be heated from 23 to 57 °C. Moreover, the temperature can reach 69 °C when the tracking system is activated.Copyright © 2014 by ASME