A non-tracking concentrating collector for solar thermal applications

Wattana Ratismith, Yann Favre, Maxime Canaff and John Briggs

Applied Energy, 2017, vol. 200, issue C, 39-46

Abstract: We report the development of a solar thermal collector module based on our proposed design (Ratismith et.al., 2014) of a large acceptance-angle multiple-parabolic trough which surrounds a standard evacuated cylindrical tube containing a planar absorber plate. The concentrator accepts diffuse solar radiation with an intercept factor of near 100% and so is suitable particularly for tropical climates. The module incorporates a novel direct metal-to-water contact resulting in an improved efficiency of heat transfer to the working liquid. Comparison with the performance characteristics, principally power output and temperatures attained, of a commercially-available non-concentrating assembly of evacuated absorber tubes is made. The experimental results, obtained by testing under typical conditions of solar irradiation throughout the day in Bangkok, indicate that the improvement over a non-concentrating collector, suggested theoretically on the basis of ray-tracing studies, is attained in practice. The superior performance of the concentrating collector indicates its suitability both for residential and industrial applications.

Keywords: Solar thermal energy; Compound parabolic trough; Solar collector efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:200:y:2017:i:c:p:39-46

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.05.044

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