Optical performance of solar reflective concentrators: A simple method for optical assessment

D. Chemisana, J. Barrau, J.I. Rosell, B. Abdel-Mesih, M. Souliotis and F. Badia

Renewable Energy, 2013, vol. 57, issue C, 120-129

Abstract: In reflective concentrating systems, mirrors play an essential role in directing and concentrating the energy from the sun to the modules. Shortcomings like misalignment, shading or bending of mirrors, due to their weight or wind, imply a higher probability of attenuated energy and non-uniform illumination on the receiver. The objective of this work is to design and test a method to assess the optical quality of solar concentrators, based on the absorber reflection method (ARM), which allows minimising the distance from the camera to the concentrator. The proposed procedure allows the characterization of the optical quality of reflectors when the concentrator is working at different inclinations tracking the sun's movement. The validation measurements were performed in a two-axis Fresnel reflective solar concentrator. Results from the method developed were included in two numerical procedures, ray-tracing and the sum-of-squares. From these simulations the overall effects of the optical quality and the sunshape over the absorber were considered and compared with the measured experimental concentrated flux distribution profile.

Keywords: Solar concentration; Fresnel reflector; Optical assessment; Optical quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096014811300075X
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:renene:v:57:y:2013:i:c:p:120-129

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2013.01.037

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

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