Development of Compound Parabolic Concentrator based on Flat Plate Receiver Solar Air Heater and Phase Change Material

Abstract

This work involves an experimental investigation of a Compound
Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) solar air flat plate collector with adding
Phase Change Material (PCM). To explore the best model performance,
the structure of CPC has two symmetric giant parabolic mirror reflectors,
a concentration ratio of 1.7, similar flat plate receiver with 12 tubes filled
with paraffin wax PCM. The tests were performed in April and May 2023
in Mosul City/Iraq under standard conditions for around 11 hours during
the day. The outcomes indicated that a rise in air mass flowrate leads to a
rise in the receiver performance. The findings confirm the thermal
efficiency of 64.3% for 0.0174kg/s. For constant air flowrate, the
performance of involute shape by A significant inlet temperature change
has been found in CPC. It is demonstrated that phase change material and
the position of the receiver have considerable influence on the model
performance. The current work provides important information for
evaluating the CPC model performance for Mosul/city.