Abstract
The 5kWt dish solar collector is designed and the preliminary performance test for this is carried out. The diameter of the parabolic dish is 3.2 m, and its focal length is 2 m. It consists of 10 small reflectors which have their own curvatures, and the effective reflecting area is $5.9\;m^2$, and the rim angle of the dish is $43.85^{\circ}$. The reflectivity of reflectors is 0.95, and the thermal capacity of the system is about 5 kW thermal. The aperture diameter of the cylindrical-shape receiver which is made of stainless steel is 100 mm, and the height is 210 mm. A quartz window is installed at the receiver aperture to minimize the convective heat loss and prevent air leakage. In order to increase the heat transfer area, porous materials (nickel-alloy) are inserted into the receiver. Air flows into the upper part of the receiver which is the opposite side of the aperture. After the air flows through the inside of the receiver, that goes out of the receiver through 3 exits which are located near the aperture. The volumetric flow rates of air are varied from 600 to 1200 L/min. The results show that the system efficiency and receiver efficiency increase as the volume flow rate increases.
