This paper presents analysis of rim angle effect on the geometric dimensions of Solar Parabolic-Trough Collector in Bauchi (SPTC). The focal length (f), the parabolic radius (P), the height of the parabolic curve (hc), the arc length of the parabolic curve (Spc), the surface area of the concentrator (Ac) and the mean efficiency ( ) of the SPTC, for the following rim angles ( ); 15o, 30o, 45o, 90o, 115o and 150o are simulated employing developed energy equations. The simulation used common aperture width ( ), the same materials for the reflector and the receiver design, the same meteorological and radiation data. The results show that changes in rim angle affects all the geometric dimensions of SPTC and the efficiency of the SPTC decreases with increase in rim angle. However, the rim angle of 15o exhibited the highest thermal efficiency of 96.14%.
Keyword: Rim angle, parabolic radius, height of parabolic curve, SPTC, aperture width and focal length.