TY - JOUR TI - Thermal performance analysis of helical coil solar cavity receiver based parabolic trough concentrator AU - Kumar Arun AU - Shukla Shailendra Kumar JN - Thermal Science PY - 2019 VL - 23 IS - 6 SP - 3539 EP - 3550 PT - Article AB - The present paper investigates the performance of helical coil solar cavity receiver based parabolic trough concentrator (PTC) for the conversion of energy received from the Sun into useful heat and finally electricity. The experimental set-up has been designed in such a way that it enhances heat transfer coefficient and reduces losses in the PTC. The PTC comprised of a blackened helical coil made up of two concentric borosilicate glass cylinder with vacuum in the annulus, which is kept at a focal line of PTC. The vacuum significantly reduces the losses which are evident from a relatively higher temperature of a 565 K obtained at the surface of the helical coil. Heat loss from helical coil solar cavity receiver has also been investigated and it was found that with the increase in vacuum pressure at annulus by 50%, the losses from the receiver has been increased by 26.67%. The heat loss from receiver has been observed to be proportional to the vacuum pressure within the annulus space.