End seal for parabolic trough solar collectors

摘要

An end seal arrangement 300 for a PTC (Parabolic Trough solar Collector) 350 comprises an elongated parabolic reflector trough and a receiver pipe arranged at a focus-line of the reflector trough. The end seal arrangement 300 comprises a housing 302 configured to be fixated to one short-end of the reflector trough, and an inlay 304 configured to be inserted in the housing 302 to slidably abut a circumference of the receiver pipe 404, such that the reflector trough is sealed to the receiver pipe by the inlay 304 when the housing 302 is fixated to the short-end of the reflector trough and the reflector trough pivots about its focus-line. The end seal arrangement 300 further comprises a fixation means 306 configured to fixate the housing 302 to the reflector trough.By reducing heat leakage and prevent ice, snow, sand, etc. from deteriorating the reflector improved operational performance will be achieved.