1Department of Mech. Engg., National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli- 620 015, India.
2Department of Mech. Engg., Shri Angalamman Engg. College, Tiruchirappalli- 621 105, India.
*E-mail: shunt@nitt.edu
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Paraboloidal dish concentrators are being designed with sun–tracking mechanisms. The absorber in the existing concentrators is usually kept at the focal point of the dish. The dish with the absorber is tilted to trace the sun. On the other hand this paper explains the design and position of the absorber in the dish in such a way that the reflected rays of the sun in the east–west direction always fall onto the stationary absorber. The position of the absorber is defined in terms of the dish diameter, aperture angle and hour angle. Experiments conducted on an appropriately designed parboloidal dish concentrator show that the sun–tracking mechanism in the east–west direction can be eliminated.
Paraboloidal dish concentrator, aperture angle, hour angle, solar rays, solar trace, helical absorber, instantaneous thermal efficiency
