Parabolic Trough Solar Panels

Parabolic trough collector for solar power.

Parabolic trough solar panels.

Most electric power plants use some form of fossil fuel as the thermal heat source to boil water into steam. The sunlight which enters the mirror parallel to its plane of symmetry is focused along the focal line where objects are positioned that are intended to be heated. These troughs can track the sun around one axis typically oriented north south to ensure the highest possible efficiency. This is primarily due to nine large commercial scale solar power plants the first of which has been operating in the california mojave desert since 1984.

A parabolic trough is a type of solar thermal collector that is straight in one dimension and curved as a parabola in the other two lined with a polished metal mirror. Solar collector in the shape of a parabolic mirror reflects the incident solar energy on the longitudinal axis of the solar collector. During summer months the plants operate at full rated electric output for 10 12 h day. The parabolic trough reflector is a solar thermal energy collector designed to capture the sun s direct solar radiation over a large surface area and focus or more generally concentrate it onto a small focal point area increasing the solar energy received by more than a factor of two which means more overall heat per square meter of trough.

Parabolic trough plants are designed to use primarily solar energy to operate. The fluid flows through this tube and absorbs heat from the concentrated solar energy. Solar parabolic trough 1 0 system description parabolic trough technology is currently the most proven solar thermal electric technology. A solar parabolic trough collector has been developed incorporating advanced technology achieving lower installation manufacturing and operation costs as well as higher performance of the collector.

Parabolic solar trough creates solar energy solar hot water steam cooker pressure a steam engine this solar trough tracks the sun using a mathematical algorithm and will not chase shadows from clouds. Parabolic trough solar systems concentrated solar power csp systems use very different technology than photovoltaic systems. Parabolic trough is a set of concave mirrors that concentrate solar rays on the receiver tube that is located in the focus. Csp systems use the sun as the thermal heat source as opposed to the photon energy of the sun as pv systems do.

Parabolic troughs which are a type of linear concentrator are the most mature csp technology with over 500 megawatts mw operating worldwide. Heavy duty light weight and durable. In a solar cooker for example food is placed at the focal line of a trough which is cooked when the trough is aimed so the sun is in its plane of symmetry. Patented parabolic trough reflectors uses the latest.