Techno-economic feasibility assessment of a planer cassegrain solar concentrator (PCSC) based on a parametric modeling approach

Nayab Bushra

Energy, 2023, vol. 273, issue C

Abstract: This study proposes a method to model, simulate, and analyze the performance of a novel planer cassegrain solar concentrator (PCSC). The PCSC comprises flat parabolic primary and secondary mirrors and a solar cell receiver. Several designs are generated by applying a parametric design approach. In the parametric model, different design parameters are varied i.e., mirrors' curvature and dimensions of mirrors and solar cell receiver. The impact of these parameters on the performance is analyzed in terms of concentration ratio (CR), energy conversion efficiency, flux uniformity, cell temperature and efficiency, and electrical power. Additionally, to assess the economic feasibility, system cost in US dollars per watt ($/W) is calculated. The results show that most designs are feasible for good optical and cell efficiencies, CR level, and electrical power. However, the flux uniformity and cell temperature are compromised among most designs, necessitating the requirement of an efficient cooling mechanism for the cell's optimal performance. Results also indicate that even though some designs have good technical potential, these designs are not cost-effective, where mirrors' dimensions are more significant in increasing system cost. There exists a trade-off among performance-related indicators, where no design solutions ensure good performance across all technical and economic performance indicators.

Keywords: Planer cassegrain; Solar concentrator; Parametric model; Primary mirror; Secondary mirror; Performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223005819
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:273:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223005819

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.127187

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().