Remote Triggered Solar Thermal Energy Parabolic Trough laboratory: Effective implementation and future possibilities for Virtual Labs

Virtualisation of experiments is one of the most efficient ways for the modernisation of traditional engineering laboratories. In that context, remote triggering, or remotely controlling actual physical laboratory hardware, is one of the best ways to do this. This paper provides the framework and methodology behind the creation of a Remote Triggered Solar Thermal Energy Parabolic Trough experiment. The `Remote Trigger Solar Thermal Energy Parabolic Trough Lab´, is a virtual experiment for analysing the heating capacity of a parabolic trough collector over different flow rates of the heat transfer fluid and for different angles of incidence of radiation. The experiment has a web interface in which the student can view and control the actual hardware device, changing the various parameters which affect the efficiency of the parabolic trough. These parameters can be measured and displayed on the Web interface in a spreadsheet and are plotted in a novel and learning-effective manner. This experiment is being hosted on our VLCAP (Virtual Labs Collaboration and Accessibility Platform) [1] and extensive testing and evaluation is underway. It will be open for a large number of students from all over the world to use the site. This paper presents the implementation strategies and methods used which have proven effective for Virtual Labs, along with a technical description of the experiment and the system used to create and host the experiment.