Experimental evaluation of solar thermal performance of linear Fresnel reflector

The solar thermal performance of a 102 kW rated thermal capacity linear Fresnel reflector system was evaluated experimentally under fixed and variable airflow rate through the oil-air heat exchanger. The solar thermal system consisted of 240 mirrors (linear Fresnel solar reflectors), each of 1485 by 625 mm size to heat the thermal oil, which was used to heat the air using the oil to air heat exchanger (AFfE). The results show that the actual maximum efficiency of the solar collector lies in the range of 0.28 to 0.34, whereas the calculated one is about 0.54 for the variable airflow rates. However, for a fixed airflow rate, the actual maximum efficiency is between 0.26 and 0.30. It implies that the actual solar collector efficiency is much lower than the calculated values. One of the major factors, which is not accounted for in the theoretical efficiency calculation, is the effect of dust on the primary and secondary mirrors. The investigated site is observing considerable sand movement, which is affecting the thermal output of the solar collector. The maximum heat exchanger effectiveness, e, obtained for variable and fixed airflow conditions is 0.9 and 0.8, respectively.