Estimation of incident radiation on a novel spherical solar collector

Most solar collectors commonly used are of the flat-plate type. In the present work, a novel type of solar collector, namely, spherical collector, is proposed. It consists of a stationary spherical body with a cover and an absorbing surface. The receiving hemisphere, normal to the incident beam radiation, keeps on shifting with the apparent position of the sun. The main advantage of this type of collector is its ability to effectively track the sun, without any actual mechanical movement. Both daily and hourly variations of incident radiation on such a spherical solar collector are calculated on the basis of available data. The results are compared with that on an equivalent flat-plate collector for different angles of tilt and latitude. From the results, the spherical collectors are found to be more effective in receiving solar radiation over equivalent flat-plate counterparts throughout the year.     

Analysis of a fixed spherical reflector exposed to oblique incident rays

A fixed spherical reflector tracking absorber solar collector, popularly known as Fixed Mirror Distributed Focus (FMDF) collector, is described. An analysis has been performed to study the variations in optical concentration along the absorber. Optical concentrations have been determined for cases when the sun rays strike the reflector obliquely and have been compared with the values obtained for a noon condition when the sun rays would be normal to the reflector. An elemental ring on the reflector surface is taken up for analysis to determine the useful area of the reflector that would reflect the incident rays towards the absorber. The area of the sector of the elemental ring which illuminates the absorber is determined. The effect of the reflectivity on the optical concentration is also studied. The predicted values are indirectly compared with experimentally measured surface temperatures along the absorber of a laboratory FMDF unit.     

Performance of Cylindrical Parabolic Collector with Automated Tracking System

Parabolic solar collector collects the radiant energy emitted from the sun and focuses it at a point. Parabolic trough collectors are the low cost implementation of concentrated solar power technology that focuses incident sun light on to a tube filled with a heat transfer fluid. However, the basic problem with the cylindrical parabolic collector without tracking was the solar collector does not move with the orientation of sun. Development of automatic tracking system for cylindrical parabolic collectors will increase solar collection as well as efficiency of devices. The main aim of this paper is to design, fabricate and analyze the performance of parabolic collector with automated tracking system. The automated tracking mechanism is used to receive the maximum possible energy of solar radiation as it tracks the path of sun. The performance of the parabolic trough collector is experimentally investigated with the water circulated as heat transfer fluid. The collector efficiency will be noted.     

Fundamentals and characteristics of solar radiation

The calculation of solar radiation received at a particular place and at a particular time, involves many factors like rotation and revolution of the earth, atmospheric attenuations, atmospheric conditions, time of day and year, geographic location of place, and site location of collector, tilt of collector, type of its variation due to seasonal and atmospheric conditions and show how calculation for horizontal and tilted surfaces may be done based on geometrical and seasonal consideration. Certain angles have been defined for specification of the sun's position in the sky like solar altitude and azimuth angles and the sun's apparent path across the sky found on the celestial sphere. The method of defining position of a point on the earth's surface with respect to the sun's rays by means of latitude, hour angle and declination is also shown. Depletion of extraterrestrial radiation by absorption, scattering etc. is also discussed in detail in this paper.     

Thermal and optical analysis of an evacuated circular cylindrical concentrating collector

An evacuated concentrating circular cylindrical collector has been numerically investigated by ray tracing analyses. The optical efficiency of the collector is found by following incident rays onto the collector cover, calculating the amount of energy absorbed by the receiver for each ray, and then integrating the energy for all rays. Absorption and reflection losses in the collector materials are considered, as well as the formation of ray cascades. A thermal radiation exchange factor between the collector receiver and the cover, needed to find the thermal radiation losses, is also determined using ray tracing techniques. The collector overall efficiency was found for the case of a selective surface coating on the inner receiver cylinder and for the case of an absorbing fluid contained within a semi-transparent inner cylinder. The addition of a highly reflective thermal radiation coating of the inner surface of the cover, in order to suppress thermal radiation losses, was also evaluated.     

Performance analysis of Azimuth Tracking Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator

The fixed mirror solar collector (FMSC) fixes reflector and mobiles receiver to collect solar energy. However, this type of concentrator has a low efficiency and short operating duration in practical applications. In this paper, we propose to install the FMSC on an azimuth tracking device (ATFMSC) and the reflectors are arranged by intermission to avoid the shading of neighbor reflector for incidence angle of less than 10° to improve its optical performance. Through the integration of the reflected solar radiation distribution function over any reflection point, and then the whole collector aperture, we develop the analytical expressions of various system efficiencies to numerically simulate the performance of ATFMSC with evacuated tube receiver in different design parameters. It is validated by the ray tracing results. The result shows that the mean annual net heat efficiency of the whole system would be up to 61% with the operating temperature of 400 °C, which is higher than parabolic trough collector and traditional FMSC. This is because the longitudinal incidence angle of ATFMSC always remains zero by tracking the sun azimuth, so the end loss of the concentrator can be avoided and enables it to operate with high efficiency continually.     

蒙特卡洛法模拟集热器入射面太阳辐射的算法研究

复杂几何形式的太阳集热器辐射分析一般采用射线跟踪法,模拟的太阳辐射仅考虑直射辐射的入射方向,不适用于精确的辐射分析。通过把集热器入射面作为太阳辐射的入射起始面,以蒙特卡洛法为基础模拟太阳辐射。通过考虑直射辐射、散射辐射、太阳辐射的光谱分布以及太阳辐射32/张角等影响因素,研究了模拟射线的辐射位置、辐射方向、波长分布及辐射能量的相关算法,并进行了数值计算验证。以上研究综合考虑了影响太阳辐射的因素,准确模拟了进入集热器入射面的太阳辐射,为太阳集热器精确的辐射分析提供了基础。     

Enhanced solar energy collection using reflector-solar thermal collector combinations

The amount of direct light gathered by a combination of reflector plus flat-plate collector has been analyzed. The calculations were done allowing variable reflector and collector orientation angles, variables latitude, and arbitrary sun hour angle away from solar noon. The effects of reflection and transmission losses and of polarization of the incident light were included. Correction was also made for the finite size of the reflector. It was found that the optimum orientation has the collector plane almost perpendicular to the plane of the reflector. This optimum orientation is approximately independent of the sun's azimuthal dependence. The optimum reflector angle is found to be between 0° and 10° above the horizon for winter solar conditions. For typical winter operating conditions the enhancement in light gathering power for direct solar radiation is about a factor of 1·4–1·7. This results in an effective increase of 100% in the useful winter heat output from a practical reflector-collector combination with a reflector angle of 0°, over the useful heat output obtained with an optimally oriented simple flat-plate collector. An approximate calculation was also made of the overall enhancement in useful heat output for diffuse solar radiation; an increase by a factor of about 1·5 is predicted. Comparison with the preliminary analysis of the performance of the Coos Bay, Oregon solar house shows substantial agreement with the predictions of the present analysis.     

The assessment of different models to predict the global solar radiation on a surface tilted to the south

Global and diffuse solar radiation intensities are, in general, measured on horizontal surfaces, whereas stationary solar conversion systems (both flat plate solar collector and PV) are tilted towards the sun in order to maximize the amount of solar radiation incident on the collector surface. Consequently, the solar radiation incident on a tilted surface must be determined by converting the solar radiation intensities measured on a horizontal surface to that incident on the tilted surface of interest. There exist a large number of models designed to perform such a conversion. 11 such models have been tested utilizing data measured in Beer Sheva, Israel. The data consist of hourly global and diffuse solar radiation on a horizontal surface, normal incidence beam and global radiation on a south-oriented surface tilted at 40°. The horizontal diffuse radiation measured using a shadow ring was corrected using four different correction models. This resulted in 44 model permutations. The individual model performance is assessed by an inter-comparison between the calculated and measured solar global radiation on the south-oriented surface tilted at 40° using both graphical and statistical methods. The relative performance of the different models under different sky conditions has been studied. Different grading systems have been applied in an attempt to score the relative performance of the models.     

Irradiance for skew rays incident upon a trough-like solar collector of arbitrary shape

A formula is derived for the irradiance at the base of a trough-like solar concentrator for rays incident at any arbitrary angle upon the curved sides of the concentrator. Two angles are required to specify the direction of the incoming rays. It is shown that one of the angles, θ, enters the expression for the irradiance only through the multiplicative factor cos θ and therefore plays the role of the obliquity factor associated with cosine of the angle of incidence for a flat plate collector.     

Spectral calculation of the thermal performance of a solar pond and comparison of the results with experiments

This paper deals with a method and the result of the spectroscopic calculation on heat balance of a salt-gradient solar pond under the conditions of spectral solar radiation. Furthermore, reflection of the ray incident upon the surface of the pond water, refraction of the rays within the salt-water layer and diffusion of salt in the pond water are considered. On the other hand, in order to make a clear mechanism of the heat collection and heat storage of the solar pond, we conducted an indoor experiment and a numerical analysis on a small scale model of the salt-gradient solar pond with 2 m² surface area and 1.6 m depth, under the incident rays from a Xe-lamp solar simulator. According to the above experimental analysis, we made a simulation model of thermal performance for a solar pond and carried out the calculation from the heat balance. We found that the simulation calculations correspond well to the experimental results, so that our thermal simulation model and method might be correct. We also did the thermal calculation by changing the incident rays from a Xe-lamp into natural ray (Moon’s spectrum) and Halogen lamp. As a result, it was found that the temperature distributions in the solar pond were notably different due to spectral characteristics of the incident ray. Therefore, the spectroscopic consideration for thermal performance of any solar pond is necessary to obtain a correct solution under the spectral incidence with special wavelength distributions.     

Temperature field and heat flows through transparent covers of flat-plate solar collector housing

Analytical expressions to calculate the temperature field and heat flows through transparent covers of flat-plate solar collector housings are proposed, taking into account the exponential distribution of the power of the internal source through its thickness, which is formed as a result of partial absorption and conversion to heat of the transmitted total (direct and diffuse) solar radiation incident on its front surface and the diffuse solar radiation incident on its back surface and reflected by the light-absorbing surface of the collector heat-exchange panel.     

基于太阳电池板的皮卫星太阳矢量测量算法研究

以低轨道皮卫星为应用对象,设计了一种基于太阳电池板的太阳矢量测量敏感器。敏感器完全复用卫星体装供电的太阳电池板进行矢量测量。通过对太阳电池板Ⅰ-Ⅴ输出模型的分析,提出了一种计算电池片工作点变化、补偿温度影响的太阳矢量测量算法。算法以卫星各个表面太阳电池片的电流、电压、温度为输入,测量范围为整个空间。经过实验和仿真以及对非理想余弦特性、测量噪声和地球反照光影响的分析,敏感器单独工作时,一般情况下测量精度优于9.2°,任意情况下优于12.7°。     

On the optimum exposure of flat-plate fixed solar collectors

With the increasing range and scale of applications of solar energy conversion systems a detailed knowledge of the available solar fluxes on surfaces of various tilt and slope aspect is required. The widely used engineering routines for siting and exposing of solar collector arrays may not always be consistent with the maximum available solar energy income. In the present study a computational algorithm is proposed suitable for the calculation of optimum tilt angles of a solar collector, receiving the maximum insolation for given values of direct beam, global and diffuse radiation, and given surface reflectivity. Formulas are derived also for the calculation of optimum tilt angles yielding maximum daily insolation for each month of the year. The dependence of the optimum tilt angle on the diffuse-to-global radiation ratio, as well as on the surface reflectivity is evaluated.     

A new design of nontracking seasonally adjusted plane mirror linear trough solar concentrator with a flat horizontal absorber

This paper presents an optical design based on a single-reflection criterion, and performance characteristics of an east-west aligned nontracking seasonally adjusted linear trough solar concentrator with a flat horizontal absorber, using plane mirror elements. The design procedure allows the use of any desired number of mirror elements to reflect solar energy onto the base absorber in one reflection. The angle of inclination of each mirror element with respect to the absorber surface, and the width of the mirror element, are determined so that a ray incident on the extreme upper edge of the mirror element at a specified angle to the normal to the concentrator aperture (acceptance half-angle), after reflection, strikes the extreme edge of the absorber on the opposite side of the mirror element. Other rays making angles less than the design acceptance half-angle are also reflected onto the base absorber in one reflection. Concentrator designs resulting from this approach appear to have the important characteristic of relatively smaller heights, and hence appear highly cost-effective in terms of the amount of material required for fabrication. Some numerical calculations have been carried out to illustrate the performance of concentrators for different acceptance half-angles. Results obtained are presented in graphic and tabular forms, and are discussed.     

The Sun’s apparent position and the optimal tilt angle of a solar collector in the northern hemisphere

In this paper, the Julian dating system is adopted to calculate the Sun’s apparent position. Both the sunshine duration and the optimal installation angle of a fixed solar collector are obtained for different time periods and latitudes in the northern hemisphere. To simulate different operating environments, both kinds of radiation flux are considered, i.e. extraterrestrial radiation and the global radiation calculated using an empirical model. The results show that Julian dating system is precise enough to predict the Sun’s locus according to analyses of the solar declination and the azimuth and elevation angles. The orientation that a solar collector must be installed at can be roughly estimated by determining the sunshine duration. The majority of the Sun’s path lies in the southern sky over a year, and hence the sunshine duration in the southern sky is longer, except for locations with latitudes below 1.5°. The yearly optimal angles are positive (approximately 0.91 and 0.76 multiplied by the latitude for extraterrestrial and global radiation, respectively), for latitudes below 65^o. Above this, the curves are flatter, and the differences between the two types of radiation flux become greater. The ratio of the yearly irradiation captured by a collector installed at its yearly optimal angle to that captured by the ground surface increases with latitude, and reaches a maximum of 1.71 and 1.35 near latitudes of 65° for extraterrestrial and global radiation, respectively. The efficiency of a solar collector decreases when operating in a cloudy environment. The amount of global radiation incident on the ground surface is about 0.51-0.66 times that of extraterrestrial radiation throughout the hemisphere.     

Maximum solar flux concentration achievable with axicon collectors

The concentration characteristics of co-axial cone axicon concentrators using the sun as the radiation source are examined. By employing a ray tracing approach and the known concentration result for rays entering strictly parallel to the axicon axis, it is shown that the concentration remains finite and that the maximum achievable value is C₀ = 273 at the optimum reflector cone angle of 90°. All radiation entering the solar tracking collector will strike the central absorber cone as long as the vertex angle of this cone exceeds the angular size of the sun.     

内聚光型太阳能光电-光热复合管的光学设计

根据非跟踪内聚光型太阳能光电-光热复合管的结构形式及其受光体的特殊需求,采用Winston的CPC设计原理,对圆管内具有特殊形状的半圆柱接收器的复合抛物面聚光器进行光学设计,得到了较为理想的聚光器设计曲线,并对结果进行数值仿真,给出各入射角的光线分布图和光强分布图。     

Long-term performance calculations based on steady-state efficiency test results: Analysis of optical effects affecting beam,diffuse and reflected radiation

There are a growing number of commercially available solar thermal collector types: flat plates, evacuated tubes with and without back reflectors and different tubular spacing or low concentration collectors, using different types of concentrating optics.These different concepts and designs all compete to be more efficient or simply cheaper, easier to operate, etc. at ever higher temperatures, and to extend the use of solar thermal energy in other applications beyond the most common water heating purposes.In view of the proper dimensioning of solar thermal systems and proper comparison of different collector technologies, for a given application, there is a growing need for existing and future simulation tools to be as accurate as possible in the treatment of these different collector types.Collector heat losses are usually considered to be well determined, under variable operating conditions, through the use of the heat loss coefficients provided by efficiency curve parameters. Yet, the traditional approach to the optical efficiency fails to describe accurately the optical effects affecting the amount of radiation which actually reaches the absorber.This paper develops a systematic approach to the proper handling of incident solar radiation, folding that with the information available from tests for determination of collector efficiency curve (steady-state) and the way the optics of different collector types uses incident solar radiation and transforms it into useful heat.