Structural analysis of a cascaded parabolic solar collector

In the current energy crisis, fuels are draining at an alarming rate, there is a pressing demand to develop cost-efficient alternate energy sources. Solar energy is available in abundance, however conventional solar systems are less efficient and expensive. Hence there is a need to harness solar energy in a more efficiently and economically manner. The present work deals with the structural analysis of a cascaded parabolic solar collector. The system will be an integrated structure balancing the overall weight of the parabolic trough with a glass tube absorber through which water flows. The proposed system consists of three parabolic solar collectors connected in parallel to enhance the thermal efficiency. The structural analysis plays a key role to evaluate the external and internal stresses acting on the proposed structure, along with the different forces acting on it, which will help in proper and efficient functioning of the system. The analysis was carried out using ANSYS 16 with tetrahedral mesh so that mesh elements can easily fit into system's complex structural geometry. The software provides real time simulation of the structure under different loading conditions, which gives stress and strain at each predefined mesh. The scoping method used in this analysis is ‘geometry selection’, in which a total of 5091 element selection were made, and number of nodes and elements used for this structure is 193709and 118420 respectively. After the completion of meshing, the results such as equivalent elastic strain, elastic strain intensity, equivalent von Mises stress, maximum shear elastic strain, normal stress, normal elastic strain, maximum shear stress, total deformation, stress intensity of each component is obtained and evaluated. This analysis created a platform to compare and evaluate loads of different components, which helps to reduce the minor and major errors occur during the initial design, in order to obtain a highly stable and reliable structure. The structure is designed to withstand a load of 400 kg which includes the force exerted by the wind.