Simin Anvari

Parabolic dish collectors (PDCs) focus solar radiation onto a small area, minimizing the heat-loss area of the solar receiver and improving the heating of the working fluid. This fluid usually drives a Stirling-like or micro-gas turbine (Brayton-like) power generator. PDCs, initially intended for small-capacity applications, are well-suited for electricity and heat generation in remote rural areas, working alone and/or as parabolic dish arrays. PDCs have received considerable attention among solar thermal collectors due to their high concentration ratios and the high temperatures they achieve. However, nowadays, they are the least developed and least commissioned among concentrated solar power configurations, lacking a well-established technology. This review aims to compile the evolution of research on PDCs over recent years from a global perspective and is mainly focused on the subsystems constituting a PDC plant, their integration, and overall system optimisation, thereby addressing a gap in the current literature. Methodological tools used in the field are comprehensively revised, and recent related projects are summarized. Some innovative and promising applications are also highlighted.

The design and manufacture of efficient diesel engines, which can convert the majority of fuel combustion into a mechanical rotation movement is still growing. Simultaneous investigation of optimum engine configuration and the second law of thermodynamics consideration can best achieve this goal. A baseline 1.8 Ford diesel engine is simulated via AVL Fire software and then the multiobjective nonlinear programming by quadratic Lagrangian method have been applied to find the global optimal design. Then for exergy analysis of the baseline and optimized engine characteristics, a FORTRAN developed code is used. Two basic optimization cases are detected for exergy assessment that are RunID41 (feasible design) and RunID35 (infeasible design) among 55 run points. It was determined that the optimum feasible solution should characterize with low inner wall diameter (Di) with wider half spray cone angle to avoid wall collision in order to stay in the constraint zone and feasible area. The results of exergy also indicates that RunID41 is fuel efficient since the fuel burnt exergy of three design of ID41, ID35, and baseline are 719.52, 694.77, and 643.07 J, respectively. It has also been pointed out that the feasible optimum gives the higher thermo‐mechanical exergy, work exergy, and total exergy, while the infeasible optimum yields a higher heat release rate exergy and chemical exergy as there are no restrictions of injection and combustion chamber geometry set by the designer.