Heating residential water using parabolic trough concentrators: theoretical calculations and analysis

The present work concerns theoretical and case studies related to a new design of residential water heating using parabolic trough. To proceed, the thermal modelling of parabolic trough concentration and flat plate heat collection is drawn. Then, the case of Beirut city is considered to compare the performance of three different configurations of heating water: flat plate, parabolic trough and parabolic trough with tracking. It was shown that the enhancement of water heating using parabolic trough with respect to flat plate collector depends on the criterion of comparison. Particularly for the same volume occupied on the roof, the use of parabolic trough has shown to decrease the time of heating water to 70°C by 22.4% (a decrease from 52.2 h to 40.5 h) without tracking and 33% (a decrease from 52.2 h to 35 h) with tracking.