A Novel Solution Methodology for the Optimization of Thermal Analysis in the Solar Parabolic Trough Collector

Objectives: The maximized nano-fluid Nusselt number and minimized pressure drops are the most effective options for obtaining the enhanced thermal frontiers in solar parabolic trough collector. Methods/Analysis: In view of this, numerous researches had proposed hybrid algorithms for the optimization of the thermal analysis. Obtaining Pareto optimal solution, tending to local optimum point and the time consumption are the main drawbacks of the previous algorithms. Hence, in order to overcome the above difficulties, present work proposes a new innovative approach for optimization of thermal analysis in SPTC. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) based solution methodology is proposed to gain the benefits of the global optimum solution and overcome the difficulties of the previous approaches. Findings: In this multi objective nonlinear optimization problem, the effect of Nusselt number and pressure drops are considered as the main objectives to obtain the most beneficial values of the design variables. Inlet velocities, concentration ratio of nano-particles and absorber tube diameter are considered as the most preferable design variables in the proposed optimization problem. Application/ Improvement: Five case studies based on different temperature levels are considered to check the suitability of the proposed solution methodology. Results explore the effectiveness of the proposed approach in the optimization of thermal analysis in SPTC.