Thermal energy generation from a solar collector parabolic dish reflector

A prototype of a small modularity parabolic dish reflector or PDR solar collector with two-axis solar tracking system was designed and built at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in Mexico. The purpose is to generate high temperature thermal energy for application in services of small and medium industry as well as domestic uses. The solar tracking in two-axis was developed based on angular relationships and a control system with proportional-integral action so that even when there is an obstruction of solar radiation either by cloud cover, buildings, trees or any other object that generates shade, the collector remains oriented towards the Sun. For operating and monitoring the prototype, a flow control module and a human machine interface or HMI were developed and implemented, allowing by means of a computer interface, the monitoring of solar radiation, temperature for thermal evaluation. The experimental data obtained indicated that the prototype can generate 30 kg of steam saturated starting from water at an ambient temperature of 298 K.