The charging of phase change material (PCM) in a concentrated solar receiver is experimentally carried out in a parabolic dish collector. Rectangular PCM filled enclosures of 30 mm width in the solar receiver are investigated to study the effect of vertical and horizontal orientations. The selected PCM was a eutectic mixture of KNO₃ and NaNO₃ in 60:40 M ratio with melting point of 210–220 °C. Fin conductive batch heat transfer occurs from the incident surface of the solar receiver to the PCM. The PCM temperatures are measured at five points inside the receiver to observe the temperature distribution and melting conditions. The average temperature of the PCM in the vertical PCM enclosure is observed to be 3.5% more than that of the horizontal PCM enclosures under similar solar radiation and operational duration. Complete melting of the PCM in the vertical container is attained 12.5% earlier than that of the horizontally placed PCM enclosures. The PCM-filled solar receiver possesses the ability to retain the temperature of the receiver, about three times more than the non-PCM receiver due to the constant temperature melting of PCM. Such PCM-filled solar receivers are useful to provide heat for several thermal applications.

实验中在抛物面集热器中对聚光太阳能接收器中的相变材料（PCM）进行充电。研究了太阳能接收器中宽度为30 mm的矩形PCM填充外壳，以研究垂直和水平方向的影响。所选的PCM是KNO ₃和NaNO ₃的共晶混合物比例为60:40 M，熔点为210–220°C。从太阳能接收器的入射表面到PCM发生鳍式导电批传热。在接收器内部的五个点测量PCM温度，以观察温度分布和熔化条件。在类似的太阳辐射和工作时间下，垂直PCM机箱中PCM的平均温度比水平PCM机箱高3.5％。与水平放置的PCM外壳相比，垂直容器中的PCM完全融化要早12.5％。PCM填充的太阳能接收器具有保持接收器温度的能力，由于PCM的恒定温度熔化，其保持能力是非PCM接收器的三倍。