Experimental Investigation Of Concentrating Solar Baker Using Parabolic Trough Solar Collector Integrated With Thermal Energy Storage

Abstract

Energy Is One Of The Building Blocks Of Modern Society. The Growth Of Modern Society Has Been Fueled By Cheap, Abundant Energy Resources. Solar Energy Is A Form Of Renewable Energy Which Is Available Abundantly And Collected Unreservedly. One Of The Energy-Intensive Activities Is Baking. Energy Demand For Baking Is Mostly Fulfilled By Biomass, Natural Gas, And Electricity. Solar Energy Is Also One Of The Promising Solutions For Meeting The Energy Demand. In This Thesis, The Work Aims To Design And Experimentally Test A Solar Bread Baking System. The Selected Solar Collector And The Thermal Storage Are Also Designed Based On: The Amount Of Bread Supplied To The Family Two Times Throughout The Day And The Energy Needed To Bake The Demanded Bread. The Uses Of Parabolic Trough Collectors To Capture Solar Radiation To Receiver Tube And The Hot Htf (Shell Thermal Oil B) Circulates Through The Receiver Tube, Baking Unit, And Thermal Storage Unit Filled With 10kg D-Mannitol Having A Melting Temperature Of 440.15k. Thermal Storage Was Considered As A Heat Source For Baking At Off Sunshine Hours Of The Day. Comparative Studies On The Performance Of Ptc Without And With Receiver Fin And Receiver Fin With Shield Are Conducted Using The No-Load Experimental Test. The Result Showed That The Maximum Outlet Htf Temperature, Maximum Thermal, And Exergy Efficiency Of Ptc Are Found To Be 456.45k, 51.9%, And 28.5%,With Receiver Fin 465.25k, 53.6%, And 29.7% And Receiver Fin With Shield 469.85k, 55.2%, And31.1% Respectively. The Experimental Result Of Lhs Using D-Mannitol Showed That The Amount Of Sensible, Latent, And Total Energy Stored/Released During The Charging/Discharging Processes Are,1.78mj, 3.15mj, And 4.93mj And, 1.41 Mj, 2.85mj And 4.26mj Respectively. A Baking Plate Surface Temperature Of 433k Was Achieved And The Corresponding Baking Time Was 55 Minutes. Finally, Economic Analysis Was Performed And The Pay-Back Period Of The Bread Baker Was Found To Be 2.93 Years.