Theoretical analysis of error transfer from the surface slope to the reflected ray and their application in the solar concentrated collector

Surface slope error of concentrator is one of the main factors that influence the performance of the solar concentrated collectors which cause deviation of the reflected ray and reduce the intercepted radiation. This paper presents the general equations to calculate the standard deviation of the reflected ray error from that of slope error through geometry optics analysis, applying the equations to calculate the standard deviation of the reflected ray errors in five kinds of solar concentrated reflector, and providing typical results. The results indicate that the reflected ray errors at one direction may come from the optic errors of both directions when the incidence angle is more than 0. The error transfer from the surface slope to a reflected ray is enlarged to more than twofolds in the heliostats, solar troughs, and linear Fresnel solar energy collecting system. The equation for the reflected ray errors is generally fit for all reflection surfaces without refraction, and can also be applied to control the errors in designing an abaxial optical system.     

Prediction and optimization of the performance of parabolic solar dish concentrator with sphere receiver using analytical function

Parabolic solar dish concentrator with sphere receiver is less studied. We present an analytic function to calculate the intercept factor of the system with real sun brightness distribution and Gaussian distribution, the results indicate that the intercept factor is related to the rim angle of reflector and the ratio of receiver angle to the optical error when the optical error is larger than or equal to 5 mrad, but is related to the rim angle, receiver angle and optical error in less than 5 mrad optical error. Furthermore we propose a quick process to optimize the system to provide the maximum solar energy to net heat efficiency for different optical error under typical condition. The results indicate that the parabolic solar dish concentrator with sphere receiver has rather high solar energy to net heat efficiency which is 20% more than solar trough and tower system including higher cosine factor and lower heat loss of the receiver.     

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.     

Concentration characteristics of a two stage solar concentrator: Effect of primary mirror surface errors

The concentration characteristics of a two-stage linear solar concentrator employing a perfectly tracked parabolic trough as the primary and a seasonally adjusted compound parabolic concentrator as the secondary stage with a flat horizontal absorber are studied. The Monte Carlo ray trace technique is used for this purpose. The effect of randomly distributed primary mirror surface errors on the concentration characteristics of the two stage concentrator is also investigated.     

Mirror rearrangement optimization for uniform flux distribution on the cavity receiver of solar parabolic dish concentrator system

The nonuniform and high‐gradient solar radiation flux on the absorber surface of solar dish concentrator/cavity receiver (SDCR) system will affect its operational reliability and service lifetime. Therefore, homogenization of the flux distribution is critical and important. In this paper, 2 mirror rearrangement strategies and its optimization method by combining a novel ray tracing method and the genetic algorithm are proposed to optimize the parabolic dish concentrator (PDC) so as to realize the uniform flux distribution on the absorber surface inside the cavity receiver of SDCR system. The mirror rearrangement strategy includes a mirror rotation strategy and mirror translation strategy, which rotate and translate (along the focal axis) each mirror unit of the PDC to achieve multipoint aiming, respectively. Firstly, a correlation model between the focus spot radius and mirror rearrangement parameters is derived as constraint model to optimize the PDC. Secondly, a novel method named motion accumulation ray‐tracing method is proposed to reduce the optical simulation time. The optical model by motion accumulation ray‐tracing method and optimization model of SDCR system are established in detailed, and then, an optimization program by combining a ray‐tracing code and genetic algorithm code in C++ is developed and verified. Finally, 3 typical cavity receivers, namely, cylindrical, conical, and spherical, are taken as examples to fully verify the effectiveness of these proposed methods. The results show that the optimized PDC by mirror rearrangement strategies can not only greatly improve the flux uniformity (ie, reduce the nonuniformity factor) and reduce the peak local concentration ratio of the absorber surface but also obtain excellent optical efficiency and direct useful energy ratio. A better optimization results when the PDC is optimized by mirror rotation strategy at aperture radius of 7.0 m, focal length of 6.00 m, and ring number of 6; the nonuniform factor of the cylindrical, conical, and spherical cavity receivers is greatly reduced from 0.63, 0.67, and 0.45 to 0.18, 0.17, and 0.26, respectively; the peak local concentration ratio is reduced from 1140.00, 1399.00, and 633.30 to 709.10, 794.00, and 505.90, respectively; and the optical efficiency of SDCR system is as high as 92.01%, 92.13%, and 92.71%, respectively. These results also show that the dish concentrator with same focal length can match different cavity receivers by mirror rearrangement and it can obtain excellent flux uniformity.     

Comparison of the optics of non-tracking and novel types of tracking solar thermal collectors for process heat applications up to 300 °C

Evacuated CPC (compound parabolic concentrator) collectors with non-tracking reflectors are compared with two novel tracking collectors: a parabolic trough and an evacuated tube collector with integrated tracking reflector. Non-tracking low concentrating CPC collectors are mostly mounted in east–west direction with a latitude dependent slope angle. They are suitable at most for working temperatures up to 200–250 °C. We present a tracking evacuated tube-collector with a trough-like concentrating mirror. Single-axis tracking of the mirror is realized with a magnetic mechanism. The mirror is mounted inside the evacuated tube and hence protected from environmental influences. One axis tracking in combination with a small acceptance angle allows for higher concentration as compared to non-tracking concentrating collectors. Ray-tracing analysis shows a half acceptance angle of about 5.7° at geometrical concentration ratio of 3.2. Losses of well constructed evacuated tube collectors (heat conductivity through the manifolds inside the thermally insulated terminating housing are low) are dominated by radiation losses of the absorber. Hence, reducing the absorber size can lead to higher efficiencies at high operating temperature levels. With the presented collector we aim for operating temperatures up to 350 °C. At temperatures of 300 °C we expect with anti-reflective coating of the glass tube and a selective absorber coating efficiencies of 0.65. This allows for application in industrial process heat generation, high efficient solar cooling and power generation. A first prototype, equipped with a standard glass tube and a black paint absorber coating, was tested at ZAE Bayern. The optical efficiency was measured to be 0.71. This tube-collector is compared by ray-tracing with non-tracking market available tube-collectors with geometrical concentration ratios up to 1.1 and with a low cost parabolic trough collector of Industrial Solar Technology (IST) with an acceptance half angle about 1.5°, a geometrical concentration ratio of 14.4 and a measured optical efficiency of 0.69.     

基于三角腔体吸收器的透射式菲涅尔定焦线系统聚光特性分析

为解决线性菲涅尔太阳能集热系统单轴跟踪过程中出现的聚光焦线偏移以及降低系统跟踪能耗等问题,提出一种透射式菲涅尔定焦线太阳能聚光器.该聚光器采用极轴跟踪方式与线性菲涅尔透镜定期滑移调节方式相结合,可实现固定焦线聚光.将该聚光器与三角腔体吸收器所组成的太阳能集热系统,利用基于蒙特卡罗光线追迹法的TracePro光学软件分析...     

An optical analysis of a static 3-D solar concentrator

Concentrating technology is long established in the field of solar thermal applications. However, there is still scope for improvement due to innovation in design, materials and manufacturing methods. The optical efficiency of a solar concentrator depends largely on the geometry of the concentrator profile. This paper evaluates the optical performance of a static 3-D Elliptical Hyperboloid Concentrator (EHC) using ray tracing software. Ray tracing has been used extensively to calculate the optical efficiency of the static 3-D EHC. Performance parameters such as effective concentration ratio, optical efficiency and geometric concentration ratio are also evaluated for different aspect ratios of the elliptical profile. Optimization of the concentrator profile and geometry is also carried out to improve the overall performance; this parametric study includes the concentrator height, solar incidence angle and aspect ratio of the ellipse. The overall performance of the concentrator was assessed based on the acceptance angle, effective concentration ratio and optical efficiency. Finally, the flux distribution on the receiver area for different concentrator heights is also presented.     

Comparison of solar concentrators

Even though most variations of solar concentrators have been studied or built at some time or other, an important class of concentrators has been overlooked until very recently. These novel concentrators have been called ideal because of their optical properties, and an example, the compound parabolic concentrator, is being tested at Argonne National Laboratory. Ideal concentrators differ radically from conventional instruments such as focussing parabolas. They act as radiation funnel and do not have a focus. For a given acceptance angle their concentration surpasses that of other solar concentrators by a factor of two to four, but a rather large reflector area is required. The number of reflections varies with angle of incidence, with an average value around one in most cases of interest. In order to help provide a rational basis for deciding which concentrator type is best suited for a particular application, we have compared a variety of solar concentrators in terms of their most important general characteristics, namely concentration, acceptance angle, sensitivity to mirror errors, size of reflector area and average number of reflections.The connection between concentration, acceptance angle and operating temperature of a solar collector is analysed in simple intuitive terms, leading to a straightforward recipe for designing collectors with maximal concentration (no radiation emitted by the absorber must be allowed to leave the concentrator outside its acceptance angle). We propose some new concentrators, including the use of compound parabolic concentrators as second stage concentrators for conventional parabolic or Fresnel mirrors. Such a combination approaches the performance of an ideal concentrator without demanding a large reflector; it may offer significant advantages for high temperature solar systems.     

碟式聚光器的月光聚光比分布计算模型

碟式聚光器和塔式聚光器均是点聚光系统,为了用月光法间接测量塔式聚光系统的聚光比分布,适宜用聚光稳定的碟式聚光器研究不同月相的光源亮度分布对聚光比分布的影响。主要建立月光下碟式聚光器的聚光比分布计算模型,首先依据拍摄的月相灰度图像建立分块均匀的光源亮度分布模型,再基于三维激光扫描点云数据生成准确的反射镜面形;在光线追迹过程中均匀采样镜面上的反射点,且考虑聚光器的跟踪误差;镜面的光学误差与光源的亮度分布合并为等效的光源亮度分布。模拟聚光比分布与实验聚光比分布的余弦相似度α>95%,光学模型准确性高。     

Focal region measurements of the 20 m tiled dish at the Australian National University

Focal region characterisation of a 20 m² point focus dish concentrator having approximately 2300 flat, 10 cm square mirror tiles as its reflecting surface has indicated a focal flux distribution having a flat-topped peak with approximately Gaussian limbs. A peak concentration of 970 suns was evident, while a dish optical efficiency of 74% was measured, which is a direct indication of the average dish reflectivity. Total integrated power of 14.8 kW was measured under the focal flux distribution. Predicted fluxes using a ray trace algorithm (COMPREC) developed at the Australian National University (ANU) and utilising 2.0 mrad surface slope error showed a good approximation to the measured distribution. The value of 2.0 mrad also compared well with a photogrammetrically predicted value of 1.8 mrad.     

附着液滴的玻璃层太阳辐射传递模型

针对液滴和玻璃层的太阳辐射传递特点,提出附着液滴玻璃层的太阳辐射传递模型。将入射的太阳辐射进行直散分离,基于蒙特卡洛射线追踪法对直射辐射光学性能进行计算,同时将入射角进行离散,分别在各角度范围内采用蒙特卡洛射线追踪法的直射辐射原理计算散射辐射光学性能。为了对模型进行验证,通过实验测试液滴覆盖率和太阳入射角对附着液滴玻璃层光学性能的影响,并与模型计算结果进行比较。结果表明：实验结果与计算结果差别较小,总透过率最大误差仅约为0.05,模型的准确性较高。附着液滴的玻璃层能有效降低太阳辐射透过率,且太阳辐射透过率随液滴覆盖率的增大而减小,随入射角的增大而减小。     

Experimental and numerical investigation on solar concentrating characteristics of a sixteen-dish concentrator

The concentrated solar flux distributions of a sixteen-dish concentrator (SDC) were measured applying a thermal infrared imager in combination with water-cooled Lambert target, and predicted using a Monte Carlo ray tracing method (MCRT). A slope error of 2.2 mrad is detected by comparing the experimental and numerical results. Then, a two-stage concentrator system, formed by the SDC in tandem with a three-dimensional compound parabolic concentrator (3D CPC–SDC), is constructed based on the geometrical optics approach. The interception performances and the energy concentration ratio images (ECR) are presented for both the SDC and the 3D CPC–SDC. The results show that the ECR profiles of the SDC depend on the receiver sizes, whereas that of the 3D CPC–SDC is rather steady because most sunlight enters the receiver via several reflections with the 3D CPC mirror. The 3D CPC–SDC is capable of increasing the geometric concentration ratio (GCR) at the expense of a little interception efficiency.     

具有二次聚光器的新型大开口槽式太阳集热器设计与光学性能分析

针对大开口和更高运行温度的槽式太阳能热发电系统,提出一种可实现高聚光比、低辐射热损及能流密度均匀的新型槽式太阳集热器,即在集热管内放置外壁具有太阳选择吸收膜层和内壁具有反射膜层二次聚光器的大开口槽式太阳集热器。建立圆弧为微元段的自适应设计新方法,提出3种典型的二次聚光器面型,利用蒙特卡洛光线追迹方法仿真新型集热器的能流密度分布特性,验证该光学仿真方法,分析影响集热器光学性能的各种因素。结果表明,该集热器可显著提升集热效率。     

太阳能会聚器的优化设计

讨论了用光学设计软件CODE V对太阳能会聚器进行优化设计的问题。在描述了太阳能会聚器的主要设计参数后，我们分析了抛物型会聚器的特性。利用光学设计软件，设计出一类新的高次非球面会聚器。实验结果表明，此类会聚器可实行间断跟踪太阳，且接收面光能量分布均匀，提高了系统转换效率，还具有节约能量、降低成本等优点。     

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.     

Stretched tape design of fixed mirror solar concentrator with curved mirror elements

The optical design of a fixed mirror line-focus solar concentrator, using curved mirror elements whose radius of curvature is matched to the radius of the reference cylinder of the concentrator, is presented. It is shown that this design leads to a considerable decrease in the transverse width of the focal intensity profile as compared with a fixed mirror solar concentrator of similar design made of flat mirror elements, and thus enables reduction in the cost of the heat receiver assembly. The development of a stretched tape construction of a 12 m × 3 m fixed mirror solar concentrator, conforming to the above design by using cold rolled steel tapes with constant levels of curvature across their width as substrates for the curved mirror elements, is briefly reported. Results from optical tests on the concentrator, which confirm the predictions from the theoretical model of the optics of the concentrator, are presented.     

Some geometrical design aspects of a linear fresnel reflector concentrator

A somewhat new approach to the design of solar concentrators of Fresnel reflector geometry is outlined. the constituent mirror elements of the concentrator surface are characterised by three parameters, shift, tilt and width. the evaluation of these parameters and the concentration characteristics are investigated on the basis of a simple ray optical model.     

Assessing the impact of non-ideal optical factors on optimized solar dish collector system with mirror rearrangement

An optimized solar dish collector (OPSDC) system was proposed in our previous work, which can achieve excellent the optical efficiency and flux uniformity under ideal optics. On this basis, the impacts of the non-ideal optical factors on the optical performance of OPSDC system with a cylindrical and conical receiver are studied in detail and compared with the conventional solar dish collector (COSDC) system in this paper. Where the non-ideal optical factors considered are relatively comprehensive, including the mirror slope error, tracking error, installation error of the mirror and receiver, and receiver's absorptivity degeneration. An optical model with the non-ideal optical factors is built in detail by the ray tracing method, and the corresponding ray tracing codes are developed and verified by literatures and optical software OptisWorks 2012. The results show that the OPSDC system not only has a significantly smaller peak local concentration ratio (LCR) and non-uniformity factor than the COSDC system under the same non-ideal optical factor, but also has excellent optical performance. This means that OPSDC system can effectively avoid the heat absorber generating high-temperature hot spots, thus significantly improving its working reliability and service lifetime. In addition, the tracking error, installation error of the receiver and mirror all lead to the increase of the peak LCR and non-uniform factor, while the mirror slope error and absorber's absorptivity degeneration are conducive to reducing the peak LCR and non-uniform factor. This work can provide a reference for error control of COSDC system and OPSDC system in manufacturing, installation and operation.     

Optical performance analysis of an innovative linear focus secondary trough solar concentrating system

The parabolic trough solar concentrating system has been well developed and widely used in commercial solar thermal power plants. However, the conventional system has its drawbacks when connecting receiver tube parts and enhancing the concentration ratio. To overcome those inherent disadvantages, in this paper, an innovative concept of linear focus secondary trough concentrating system was proposed, which consists of a fixed parabolic trough concentrator, one or more heliostats, and a fixed tube receiver. The proposed system not only avoids the end loss and connection problem on the receiver during the tracking process but also opens up the possibility to increase the concentration ratio by enlarging aperture. The design scheme of the proposed system was elaborated in detail in this paper. Besides, the optical performance of the semi and the whole secondary solar trough concentrator was evaluated by using the ray tracing method. This innovative solar concentrating system shows a high application value as a solar energy experimental device.