Power Generation and Heating Performances of An Organic Rankine Cycle Driven by Parabolic Trough Collectors

Abstract

A detailed performance model of a 4 MW small scale parabolic trough solar thermal power plant, coupled to an Organic Rankin Cycle in Ait Baha cement factory was built based on TRNSYS software to study the performance of the system throughout the day using experimental data from the operating system. The electric power output from the coupled system at a given incident radiation depends on the product of the solar field efficiency and the heat recovery system efficiency. Also, to put the item on the seasonal climate change in our location, a simulation for the summer and winter solstices, the autumn and spring equinoxes were considered. The main objectives of this work are to evaluate the optical and the thermal behaviour of parabolic trough collectors considering average weather data and to predict the performance of the Organic Rankine Cycle.