Construction and analysis of a compound parabolic concentrator to eliminate light escape in the interlayer of solar vacuum tube

Fei Chen and Qinghua Gui

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 191, issue C, 225-237

Abstract: The common circular absorber compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) is directly coupled to the solar vacuum tube, through which part of the solar rays will escape from its vacuum interlayer. Based on the principle of non-imaging optical edge light and the law of geometrical optics reflection, the mathematical model of CPC without light escape is constructed in the present research. The limit of allowable gap is analyzed theoretically, and the numerical solution of the reflector with equal length is obtained by program calculation. The correctness of the designed CPC without light escape is verified by experiments. Under the condition of the consistent acceptance half angles, compared with the standard- CPC (S-CPC), it is found that the optical efficiency of the CPC without light escape is increased by 15.7%, the energy flux density distribution on the absorber surface is also improved, and the radiation collected in spring, summer, autumn and winter increased by 4.8%, 4.9%, 5.0% and 7.7%, respectively. It can effectively improve the collection of solar radiation by the CPC in cold winter. The research results show that the circular solar vacuum tube absorber coupled CPC without light escape has a good engineering application prospect.

Keywords: Solar energy; Compound parabolic concentrator (CPC); Light escape; Mathematic model; Optical performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:191:y:2022:i:c:p:225-237

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.04.038

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