Optical Performance Analysis of Single Flow Through and Concentric Tube Receiver Coupled with a Modified CPC Collector Under Different Configurations

Javed Akhter, Syed I. Gilani, Hussain Al-Kayiem and Muzaffar Ali
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Javed Akhter: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Syed I. Gilani: Department of Energy Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, 47050 Taxila, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Muzaffar Ali: Department of Energy Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, 47050 Taxila, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-24

Abstract: Compound parabolic concentrating (CPC) collectors have great potential to provide sustainable solar thermal energy for many applications operating in the medium temperature range. This paper presents the design, development and performance evaluation of a modified CPC collector integrated with an evacuated tube receiver. The optical performance of the designed CPC paired with concentric tube receiver is compared with that of a CPC coupled with single flow through evacuated tube receiver for stationary installation in the East-West and North-South directions. Ray tracing simulations of different configurations demonstrate that CPC coupled with single flow through receivers suffer high gap losses, especially at smaller incidence angles which are considerably alleviated by a concentric tube receiver arrangement. East-West installation of CPC paired with concentric tube receiver exhibited superior optical performance than all other configurations. The yearly average optical efficiency of CPC with concentric tube receiver was 5% higher than that of a single flow through receiver within the acceptance angle. A 60% truncated CPC coupled with concentric tube receiver emerged as the most effective design, which was fabricated for experimental testing. The tests conducted under actual outdoor tropical environmental conditions demonstrated that the experimental optical efficiency reached to about 69% in the case of N-S installation and 66.5% in an E-W arrangement. The experimental results closely match the simulation outcomes, which indicate the proposed performance prediction technique as instrumental for selecting the most effective configuration of CPC collectors for medium temperature heat supply.

Keywords: compound parabolic concentrator; evacuated tube receiver; single flow through tube; concentric tube receiver; concentration ratio; optical performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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