Renewable Energy 107 (2017) 156e163

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Experimental investigation on a solar parabolic trough collector for

absorber tube filled with porous media
Milad Tajik Jamal-Abad a, *, Seyfollah Saedodin a, Mohammad Aminy b
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
b
Department of Renewable Energy, Materials and Energy Research Center, Karaj, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present work the efficiency of a solar parabolic trough has been investigated experimentally. An
Received 5 August 2016 absorber filled with metal foam is used in order to improve the heat transfer and increase the efficiency
Received in revised form of PTC (parabolic trough collector). The porosity of copper foam is 0.9 and the pore density is 30 PPI
28 December 2016
(pores per inch). The experiments were performed in different volume flow rates from 0.5 to 1.5 Lit/min
Accepted 2 February 2017
Available online 7 February 2017
and the standard of ASHRAE 93 was used to test the solar collector’s performance. Friction factor and Nu
number have been investigated for both cases. It was found that by increasing the mass flow rate, the
efficiency of the collector was enhanced and the same pattern can be seen when absorber filled with
Keywords:
Solar parabolic trough collector
copper foam. When absorber filled with metal foam the overall loss coefficient UL decreases by 45% and it
Metal foam causes to increase efficiency because less energy is lost.
ASHRAE 93 standard © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Thermal efficiency
Thermal conductivity

1. Introduction
Heat transfer phenomena are applied in many industrial devices
such as heat exchangers in petroleum engineering, filtration, geo-
mechanics, and solar energy [1e5]. Heat transfer in porous media
has been used for heat transfer enhancement because of its
considerable advantages of high solid thermal conductivity and
large specific area [6,7]. Parabolic trough collector (PTC) is one of
the linear concentrating solar collectors which are appropriate for
working in the range of 150e400
C [8,9]. Mainly, a parabolic
trough collector is made of a parabolic trough mirror and a receiver
in the focal line of the reflector in order to absorb the reflected
radiation from the sun. The concentrated radiation heats the fluid
that moves through the absorber tube; as a consequence, the solar
radiation is converted to thermal energy [10]. Kasperski and Nems
[11] investigated the effect of an internal multiple-fin array
arrangement of solar air heater on a thermo-hydraulic efficiency of
the linear concentrating collector. Results illustrated that there is an
optimum value for a thermo-hydraulic efficiency against the
volume-flux, fin thickness and duct width. Moreover, 14%
improvement in the thermo-hydraulic efficiency is observed when
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: miladtajik6@gmail.com, m-TajikJamalabad@semnan.ac.ir
(M.T. Jamal-Abad).
no limitation of the air speed is assumed. Wang et al. [12] studied
the impact of a secondary reflector which used as a homogenizing
reflector on the efficiency of a parabolic trough solar collector. the
Monte Carlo ray-trace (MCRT) method is applied in order to esti-
mate the concentrated solar flux distribution and uniform solar flux
distribution on the absorber tube was found. Results illustrated that
the efficiency of solar collector declines because of enhancement
optical loss. The performance of parabolic trough collector using
Al2O3-C2H6O2-H2O nanofluid as a working fluid have been done by
Ajay et al. [13]. They observed an improvement in the overall per-
formance of solar collector by increasing volume flow rate of
working fluid and good agreement was found between experi-
mental and CFD result. The numerical study of the flat and tubular
solar collectors was investigated by Nimr and Alkam [14,15]. The
duct of the solar collectors partially filled with porous media sub-
strates at a laminar flow state.
Several experimental works consider the heat transfer and
pressure drop measurements during single phase forced convec-
tion through metal foams. The effect of copper metal foam on the
heat transfer and pressure drop in tube has been investigated by
Abadi and Kim [16]. High-porosity metal foams have been used in
order to increase the heat transfer area between the fluid and solid
phase. Results indicated that Reynolds number and metal foam
geometry have a significant effect on the pressure drop and heat
transfer coefficient. The heat transfer in aluminum foam baffles

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2017.02.004
0960-1481/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M.T. Jamal-Abad et al. / Renewable Energy 107 (2017) 156e163
installed on the top and on the bottom walls was studied experi-
mentally by Hoon Ko et al. [17]. They found that the heat transfer
enhancement ratio was increased with the baffle thickness and the
grade, but the friction factor was slightly decreased with an in-
crease of the Reynolds number, and increased with baffle thickness.
The thermalperformance of six different copper alloy foams have
been investigated by Zhao et al. [18] and the heat transfer co-
efficients and pressure drops have been measured. They introduce
an optimal porosity based on balance between pressure drop and
overall heat transfer and found that the effect of cell size is more
effective on the overall heat transfer than porosity.
Using metallic foams for heat transfer enhancement is a novel
method. Copper foams have great potential in heat-transfer-related
applications such as solar collectors where the enhancement of
heat transfer cause to increase the thermal performance of the
collector. Hence, efficient and compact absorber (heat exchanger)
and PTC will be designed which are needed in many engineering
applications and reduce the initial cost of PTC power plant. In this
study, the performance of a solar trough collector by using a metal
foam absorber has been studied. A new solar trough collector was
designed and fabricated in order to study the collector efficiency
and parameters which are affected by it. The absorber of solar
collector has been filled by a copper metal foam and its outer sur-
face has been painted by black color. The thermal performance of
solar collector has been evaluated under ASHREA 93 standard. The
thermal conductivity of porous media, the Nu number, the friction
factor and thermal efficiency of receiver tubes in two different cases
have been analyzed and compared. Finally, the reasons for
enhancement of the solar collector efficiency were explained.
2. Experimental setup
2.1. Experimental setup
A parabolic trough reflector with two types of absorber wit and
without metal foam is investigated experimentally. A parabolic
reflector was designed with the length of 1.28 m and aperture
width of 1 m. The reflector was made of steel mirror with a thick-
ness of 1 mm (Table 1). The rim angle of this prototype was selected
as 90 and, as reported by Valan Arasu and Sornakumar [19], this
degree represents a suitable rim angle. Seven polyglass fixtures are
applied in order to support of the parabolic reflector. The reason is
that polyglass density is 1.19 gr/cm3 and very close to water density
and have perfect resistance against the wind.
A steel tube is used to connect polyglass fixtures to the body of
the collector. The most important part of a parabolic trough col-
lector is the absorber tube. This part is responsible for absorbing
solar heat and conduct to the fluid. For this aim, the outer surface of
a copper tube coat with black chrome whereas a glass enveloped it.
A Pyrex glass tube has been used as an envelope. It is clear that The
quality of coating and space between copper and glass tube have a
significant effect on the thermal and optical performances of the
collector. In this study, two different absorbers were tested, a
copper tube with black chrome coating with and without metal
Table 1
The detailed specifications of the mirror reflector.
Parabola length (Lc) (m) 1.28
Parabola aperture (w) (m) 1 fluid temperature from the collector should be maintained. In this
Thickness (mm) 1 case, the useful energy gain from the collector is calculated from the
Material steel
Focal distance (f) (mm) 250
Aperture area (Aa) (m2) 1.28
Diameter of absorber, DA (mm) 28
Rim angle (4) 90
157
foam. Two PT100 type thermocouples were inserted into the flow
at the inlet and exit of the test section to measure the bulk tem-
peratures of the water. Also, a portable thermocouple used to
measure the ambient temperature. All thermocouples were cali-
brated and the error of deviation at measuring temperatures was
around 0.1
C. The flow rate of the fluid in the collector was
measured using a flow meter which was mounted in a vertical
position. Two differential pressure transducers (accuracy of ±2 Pa)
have been used in order to measure the pressure drop. One placed
is in the inlet of the absorber and the other one is located at the end
of the absorber. The level of the heat flux was determined using a
Solar Power Meter TES-1333R and the temperature values were
measured using a data logger. Also, a pump mounted at the outlet
of the tank which continuously circulates the working flow from
the outlet and back into the inlet. The detailed specifications of the
data for the mirror reflector are listed in Table 1.
The ASHRAE 93 [20] was used for evaluating the testing solar
collector. The specific environmental conditions required by the
ASHRAE 93 in performing the thermal efficiency test are listed in
Table 2. Furthermore, during the testing period, steady-state con-
ditions should be maintained. Table 3 illustrates the acceptable
maximum variation of variables which define a steady-state con-
dition in accordance to ASHRAE 93. After reaching steady state
conditions, the data for each the experiment are averaged and used
in the analysis as a single point while other data were rejected.
These two conditions are checked throughout the test period.
The difference between the maximum and minimum solar irradi-
ance upon the collector must be less than 64 W/m2 during any
20 min interval within the test period. For the fixed test mount
measurements must be taken symmetric to solar noon according to
ASHRAE 93 further reducing the number of test days. Closed loop
collector test rings are shown in Fig. 1.
Copper Foam is low density permeable material and has excel-
lent thermal and electrical conductivities and good corrosion
resistance. This means that copper’s high thermal conductivity al-
lows heat to pass through it quickly Hence, it can be used in
numerous applications and industries.
The foam structure can be described by porosity ε and the
number of pores per inch PPI; the porosity ε is defined as the ratio
of total void volume to the total volume occupied by the solid
matrix and void volumes, while PPI is easily obtained by counting
the number of pores in 25.4 mm. The length of porous media in
absorber is 1250 mm which is formed by connecting five pieces of
copper foam.
The porous medium that filled the test section is copper foam
with one geometric specification: 30 PPI. The foams are determined
in Fig. 2, and also detailed thermophysical parameters and di-
mensions are and shown in Table 4.
3. Efficiency calculations and analysis
ASHRAE Standard suggests performing the tests in various inlet
temperatures. The theory of solar parabolic trough collector is well
established and can be found in the basic literature [21e23]. The
collector performance test is carried out under steady e state
condition, including steady radiation energy falling on the collector
surface, steady fluid flow rate, constant wide speed and ambient
temperature. It is worthwhile to mention that a constant outlet
following equation:
_ p ðTo  Ti Þ
Qu ¼ mC (1)
The useful energy collector from a solar collector is given by
158 M.T. Jamal-Abad et al. / Renewable Energy 107 (2017) 156e163

Table 2
Environmental conditions required.

Variable Absolute limits

Total solar irradiance normal to sun (W/m2) 790 (minimum)

Diffuse fraction (%) 20 (maximum)
Wind speed, u (m/s) 2.2 < u < 4.5
Incidence angle modifier 98% < normal incidence value < 102%

Table 3
The allowed maximum variation of key variables.

Variable Maximum variation

2
Total solar irradiance normal to surface (W/m ) ±32
Ambient temperature (K) ±1.5
Volume flow rate The greater of ±2% or ±0.005 (gpm)
Inlet temperature The greater of ±2% or 1 (K)

Fig. 2. Copper foam as a porous media.

Table 4
Thermophysical parameters and dimensions of copper foam.

Material Copper
Porosity 0.90
Permeability, K (m2) 1.37  1011
Length, Lf (mm) 250
Diameter of porous media, dp (mm) 28
Thermal conductivity (W/(m.K)) 399

the energy input as in Equation (3)

Fig. 1. a) Schematic of closed loop test system for a solar collector. b) parabolic solar
collector trough.


Ti  Ta
h ¼ FR ho  UL (3)
Gt C

Qu ¼ FR ½Aa Gt ho  UL Ar ðTi  Ta Þ (2) where, C is the concentration ratio and FR is the heat removal factor
which is defined as
where Qu is the rate of useful energy gained, m_ is the volume flow
rate of fluid flow, Cp is the heat capacity of water, To and Ti are the Table 5
Measurement uncertainties from a specific data point.
outlet and inlet fluid temperature of the solar collector, respec-
tively. Also, Aa denotes in this equation, the appropriate areas for Variable Qty. Unit Uncertainty Conf. (%)
the absorbed solar radiation, FR is the heat removal factor, ho is the Mass flow 1 kg/s ±5% of value 95
optical efficiency, GT is the global solar radiation, UL is the overall Temperature 2

C 0.1
C 95
loss coefficient of the solar collector, and Ta is the ambient Solar Irradiance 1 W/m2 ±32 95
temperature. Anemometer 1 m/s ±5% of value 95
Pressure drop 2 N/m ±2 Pa 95
Moreover, the thermal efficiency is obtained by dividing Qu by
 M.T. Jamal-Abad et al. / Renewable Energy 107 (2017) 156e163 159

450
400
350
300

ke (W/(m.K))
250
200
150
100
50
0
0.000001 0.00001 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1
kf/ks

Fig. 3. Effective thermal conductivity of porous media.

10

8
Nusselt Number (Nu)

3
present work
2
Analytical results
1
Analytical results-without porous media
0
0.01 0.1 1 10
Darcy Number (Da)

Fig. 4. The Nusselt number for absorber filled with metal foam.

The intercept (intersection of the line with the vertical efficiency

 
_ p
mc U F 0 Ar axis) equals the FR ho and slope of the line equals the FR UL .This slope
FR ¼ 1  Exp L (4)
Ar UL _ p
mc indicates that how much of energy has removed from the solar
collector and the intercept illustrates that maximum collector ef-
where F 0 is the collector efficiency factor. ficiency where the temperature of the fluid entering the collector
On the other hand, thermal efficiency was calculated by exper- equals the ambient temperature.
imental data according to Equation (4)

_ p ðTo  Ti Þ 3.1. Uncertainty evaluation

mC
h¼ (5)
Aa Gt
Values of the uncertainties of the mass flow rate, temperature,
The parameters FR , ho and UL are nearly constant with respect to solar irradiation anemometer and differential pressure are shown
collector operating under steady irradiation and fluid flow rate. If in Table 5.
the efficiencies are plotted against TGi T
tC
a
, a straight line will result. The uncertainty associated with each of the variables (x) used in
160 M.T. Jamal-Abad et al. / Renewable Energy 107 (2017) 156e163

100
full porous

free porous
10
f (friction factor )

0.1

0.01
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Re

Fig. 5. Variation of friction factor versus Re number for free and full porous conditions.

determining the thermal efficiency is given by the square root of calculated based on [24]:
the sum of the variances of the statistical distributions of each
component (i) involved in the process, namely
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u n
2
uX vy
jc ðyÞ ¼ t jðxi Þ2 $ (6)
vx i 1
i¼1 ke ¼ pffiffiffi
2ðRA þ RB þ RC þ RD Þ
The values determined during the test and used in the calcula-
4l
tion of the instantaneous thermal efficiency of solar collector are RA ¼   
the following 2e2 þ plð1  eÞ ks þ 4  2e2  plð1  eÞ kf

 Mass flow rate (m) _ ðe  2lÞ2

RB ¼ 
 Solar irradiance (G) ðe  2lÞe2 ks þ 2e  4l  ðe  2lÞe2 kf
 Temperature (T)
pffiffiffi 2
2  2e
The combined uncertainty of instantaneous thermal efficiency
RC ¼ pffiffiffi  pffiffiffi pffiffiffi 
jðhÞ is 2pl2 1  2 2 e ks þ 2 2  2e  pl2 1  2 2 e kf


2
2
vh 2 vh vh
2e

_ 2:
jðhÞ2 ¼ jðmÞ þ jðTÞ2 : þ jðGÞ2 : (7) RD ¼
vm_ vT vG e ks þ 4  e2 kf
2

vpffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
Besides the measurement uncertainty described above, it was u ffiffiffi pffiffiffi
u 2 2  ð5=8Þe3 2  2ε
considered the uncertainty emanated from the regression analysis. u
l¼t pffiffiffi 
p 3  4 2e e
4. Result and discussions
e ¼ 0:339
4.1. Thermal conductivity (8)

The effect of the using absorber filled with porous media on the
performance of the PTC solar collector was investigated. Copper
metal foam has been used as a porous media. Using copper foam
cause that the thermal conductivity of absorber increases and the
ability of absorber for transferring heat from surface to fluid en-
hances. The effective thermal conductivity of metal foam is
which ks and kf are the thermal conductivity of solid and fluid
phases. Fig. 3 illustrates that the effective thermal conductivity has
two different manners for kf =ks  103 and kf =ks  103 . Although
the constant value has been observed for kf =ks  103, there is a
considerable increase when kf =ks  103 . It means that kf is the
dominant term in the Equation (6) compare with ks.
 M.T. Jamal-Abad et al. / Renewable Energy 107 (2017) 156e163
Fig. 6. Experimental curve for 1 day.
4.2. Thermal performance
The effect of porous media on the Nu number is illustrated in
Fig. 4. As expected, the Nu number increases by using a metal foam
in the tube. The Darcy number (Da) represents the relative effect of
the permeability of the medium versus its cross-sectional area-
dcommonly the diameter squared. However, at a high value of Da
number effect of porous media is vanished and Nu number reaches
to 4.36 for both cases. Moreover, Nu number declines by enhancing
Da number and this fact has been proofed at previous researches
[6,7]. Several reasons can be imagined for improvement in Nu
number such as enhancement the effective thermal conductivity,
decreasing thermal resistance by reducing hydrodynamic bound-
ary layer.
4.3. Pressure drop characteristics
Fig. 5 depict the pressure drop characteristics and variation the
friction factor of flow for both cases. As expected, the friction factor
decreases with Re number. By using metal foam a significant
discrepancy has been observed between two cases and this
0.6
0.55
0.5
Efficiency
0.45
0.4
0.35
0 0.01 0.02
x=Ti-Ta/Gt
Fig. 7. Variations of collector efficiency versus the reduced temperature.
161
different is more obvious at low Re number. It means that metal
foam causes great changes in the flow behavior and fluid change its
path simultaneously through the metal for moving. Hence, there is
need for much extra source of power to pump.
4.4. Collector efficiency
Experimental data gathering have been done at various tem-
peratures and solar conditions and all results are plotted with ef-
ficiency as the vertical axis and x ¼ Ti  Ta =Gt as the horizontal axis.
The best straight line through the data points correlates the col-
lector performance with solar and temperature conditions. The
intersection of the line with a vertical axis, where Ti ¼ Ta de-
termines that the collector efficiency is at maximum value. It is
obvious that the collector efficiency is zero at the intersection of the
line with the horizontal axis. This condition determines a low ra-
diation level or high temperature of the fluid circulating inside the
collector. Each test was performed in several days and repeated
three times. The overall standard deviation of the results was about
7%. Fig. 6 shows the average of the results of the tests recorded for
absorber without metal foam in a single test. All the tests were
performed around the solar noon between 10:30 and 14:30.
Fig. 7 presents the variations of collector efficiency versus the
reduced temperature parameters for different mass flow rate 0.5, 1
and 1.5 Lit/min. it is worthwhile to mention that the efficiency
decreases when mass flow rate decreases and this fact has been
shown in previous researches [25e27].
Fig. 8 demonstrates that using metal foam in the absorber have
an enhancement effect on the efficiency of the collector. As ex-
pected, a reduction trend has been observed for both cases with
increasing x value. At high value of x, the effect of metal foam on
thermal performance of solar collector is more significant. The data
listed in Table 6 compares the efficiency parameters FR and UL for
both cases, with and without metal foam. When absorber filled
with metal foam the overall loss coefficient UL decreases by 45%
and it causes to increase efficiency because less energy is lost.
Moreover, a slight decline has been observed in the heat removal
factor.
1 lit/min
0.5 Lit/min
1.5 Lit/min
0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
162 M.T. Jamal-Abad et al. / Renewable Energy 107 (2017) 156e163

0.6
without metal foam
with metal foam
0.55

0.5
Efficiency

0.45

0.4

0.35
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07
x=Ti-Ta/Gt

Fig. 8. Efficiency of PTC for both cases.

Table 6 Nomenclature
Efficiency parameters for both cases.

UL FR Equation Aa Aperture area (m2)

Without copper foam 28.33 0.88 h ¼ 2:256x þ 0:5547 C concentration ratio
With copper foam 15.44 0.854 y ¼ 1:1934x þ 0:5381 Cp heat capacity (J/kg K)
DA Diameter of absorber
dp Diameter of porous media
Tajik Jamal-abad et al. [28] provided that the local heat transfer Da Darcy number, K/R2
coefficient, h, can be approximately given as k/dt which k and dt are f Focal distance
thermal conductivity and the thickness of thermal boundary layer, f friction factor
respectively. It is clear that, increasing of the fluid thermal con- F0 collector efficiency factor
ductivity and decreasing of thermal boundary layer thickness cause FR heat removal factor
the heat transfer coefficient to increase. For absorber filled with Gt global solar radiation (W/m2)
metal foam, thermal conductivities increases because of the effect h transfer coefficient (W/K.m2)
of solid thermal conductivity and thermal boundary layer thickness K Permeability (m2)
decreases. Furthermore, Copper foam has excellent heat transfer Kr Incidence angle modifier
performance due to its considerable advantages of the large specific k Thermal conductivity (W/m.K)
area, high solid thermal conductivity, and strong flow-mixing kf conductivity of fluid phase (W/m.K)
capability. ks conductivity of solid phase (W/m.K)
ke effective thermal conductivity (W/m.K)
Lc Parabola length (m)
5. Conclusion Lf Legends (mm)
m_ volume flow rate of fluid flow (Lit/s)
The present paper investigates the effect of applying copper Nu Nusselt number (hD/k)
foam inside the absorber of parabolic trough collector, reporting Qu rate of useful energy gained (W)
the measurements of thermal performance of PTC and pressure R tube radius (m)
drop observed during experiments. The mass flow rate varied from Re Reynolds number (ruD=m)
0.5 to 1.5 Lit/min and the ASHRAE 93 standard was used to calculate t Time (s)
the efficiency of the collector. The highlights of the study could be Ta ambient temperature (K)
stated as following: Ti inlet fluid temperature of solar collector (K)
To outlet fluid temperature of solar collector (K)
 kf is the dominant term in the effective thermal conductivity. u Wind speed (m/s)
 An improvement in Nu number is observed by using metal foam UL overall loss coefficient of solar collector (W/m2 K)
 The friction factor increases considerably when tube filled with w Parabola aperture
metal foam
 The solar collector efficiency declines with decreasing the mass Greek letters
flow rate. dt thickness of thermal boundary layer
 The absorber filled with metal foam has a positive effect on ε porosity
collector efficiency due to thermal conductivity enhancement. h instantaneous collector efficiency
 The removed energy and absorbed energy parameter of the ho is the optical efficiency
solar collector decrease by applying copper foam inside m fluid viscosity (Kg m1 s1)
absorber. r fluid density (kg m3)
 M.T. Jamal-Abad et al. / Renewable Energy 107 (2017) 156e163
ta absorptance-transmittance product
4 Rim angle
u pore density, PPI (pore per inch)
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