Renewable Energy, Vol.170, 1129-1142, 2021
A novel mechanical solar tracking mechanism with single axis of tracking for developing countries
This study presents a novel mechanical technique for solar concentration system that integrated with single-axis tracking mechanism without needs of electricity, electronic components, nor special materials. The presented mechanism aimed basically the small-sized solar Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) to spread it in fields that limited by the disadvantage of the commercial tacking systems. The presented tracking mechanism utilizes the wind energy at the night time by stored-in potential energy to be its actuated energy. In addition, the same wind energy system could a circulate the Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) along the day hours with automatically shifting. A 3-D model has been designed and a practical model has been fabricated and constructed from cheap materials then tested experimentally. The results showed that the accuracy of the tracking mechanism has maximum deviation at the early and lately hours of the day. It was in the range of (-3.36 degrees-1.65 degrees) with arithmetic average less than 0.5 degrees and standard deviation less than 0.75 degrees for its absolute values along the year. Experimental thermal results of small PTC with 91 cm width, 148 cm length and one-inch absorber tube showed 185.5 C stagnation temperature of a synthetic oil in fall season weather. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.