Design, Fabrication and Monitoring of an Industrial-scale Solar Trough Collector at the Energy Park of Naresuan University, Thailand

Abstract

This paper presents the design, fabrication and monitoring system of a solar trough collector located in the Energy Park of the School of Renewable Energy Technology at Naresuan University. Standing at 6 m high, 50 m long and aperture area of 240 m2, this solar trough is the largest and the first industrial-scale parabolic collector to be built and tested in Thailand under real solar conditions. This project represents the first high temperature study for a life-size trough collector that is carried out by a team which includes the public and private sectors. The solar trough was monitored for some periods and results have shown that its thermal performance during standard clear sky conditions was nearly comparable to the commercial LS-2 collector. This is significant as it means that it is possible to build large industrial-scale trough collectors in Thailand, using local materials and know-how. A semi-analytical mathematical model developed for the collector also showed that simulated data had related closely with measured ones.