Exergetic analysis of a solar thermal power system

This communication presents a second law analysis based on an exergy concept for a solar thermal power system. Basic energy and exergy analysis for the system components (viz, parabolic trough collector/receiver and Rankine heat engine, etc.) are carried out for evaluating the respective losses as well as exergetic efficiency for typical solar thermal power systems under given operating conditions. It is found that the main energy loss takes place at the condenser of the heat engine part, whereas the exergy analysis shows that the collector-receiver assembly is the part where the losses are maximum. The analysis and results can be used for evaluating the component irreversibilities which can also explain the deviation between the actual efficiency and ideal efficiency of a solar thermal power system. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.