Available Energy and Cumulative Frequency Curves for Parabolic Trough Concentrators with Alignment North-South, in the Northwest of México

Abstract

THE NORTH WEST OF MEXICO IS A WELL KNOWN REGION WITH THE HIGHEST AMBIENT TEMPERATURES ALONG THE SUMMER AND THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF IRRADIANCE, WHICH MAKE IT FEASIBLE TO INSTALL SOLAR FIELD CONCENTRATORS. THIS WORK PROVIDES BEAM IRRADIANCE DATA THAT CAN BE USED TO DESIGN A SOLAR NORTH-SOUTH PARABOLIC TROUGH SYSTEM. THE VARIATION BETWEEN THE VALUE OF BEAM SOLAR IRRADIANCE ESTIMATED BY A PYRANOMETER AND THE DIRECT IRRADIANCE RECEIVED BY THE APERTURE AREA OF A PARABOLIC TROUGH CONCENTRATOR (PTC) IS WELL-KNOWN AS COSQ. THIS VARIATION WAS EVALUATED EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, OBTAINING VALUES OF AVERAGE IRRADIANCE FOR CERRO PRIETO (CP) LAT. 32°39', LONG. 115° 21', AND SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO (SLR) LAT. 32°30', LONG. 114°46', WITH WHICH THEY WERE ELABORATED THE AVAILABLE ENERGY AND CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY CURVES (CFC). THESE ARE USEFUL TO KNOW THE NUMBER OF HOURS OF FIELD SOLAR CONCENTRATORS WHICH CAN OPERATE AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ENERGY, AS WELL AS THE STEAM PRODUCTION OF A SOLAR-GEOTHERMAL HYBRID SYSTEM TO PRODUCE ELECTRICITY.