Thermal Performance of Novel Rectangular Pyramid Cavity Receiver for Solar Parabolic Dish Collector System

Solar energy is increasingly recognized as a clean, sustainable solution to fuel scarcity and greenhouse gas emissions. Solar parabolic dish collector (PDC)systems have shown great potential for efficiently harnessing solar energy. This study proposes a novel rectangular–pyramid cavity receiver with graphite powder for a solar PDC system. The experiments are performed considering water as the heat transfer fluid at different flow rates of 0.5, 1, and 1.5 L min −1 . The study investigates the effect of flow rate on the fluid temperature difference, energy, and exergy efficiency of the PDC system. The highest temperature difference of 38.7 °C, 34.75 °C, and 31.11 °C is observed at flow rates of 0.5, 1, and 1.5 L min −1 , respectively. The temperature difference increases with solar intensity and decreases with flow rate, as the heat transfer fluid retains more heat at lower flow rates. The maximum thermal efficiency of 58.79%, 62.29%, and 64.5% and exergy efficiency of 6.7%, 6.4%, & 5.9% is obtained at the mass flow rates of 0.5, 1, & 1.5 L min −1 respectively. The thermal efficiency increases with flow rate whereas the exergy efficiency decreased with an increase in flow rate. The temperature distribution is improved by the inclusion of graphite powder inside the pyramid‐shaped housing.