Trough-Type Free-Form Secondary Solar Concentrator for CPV/T Application

Xian-long Meng (), Fu-Peng Ren, Peng Zhang and Zi-xuan Tang
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Xian-long Meng: School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Fu-Peng Ren: Harbin Dongan Automotive Engine Manufacturing Co., Harbin 150060, China
Peng Zhang: School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Zi-xuan Tang: School of Power and Energy, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: Imaging concentrators like the parabolic trough solar concentrators have been widely employed for energy production in solar power plants. The conventional imaging solar concentrators form a non-uniform Gaussian distribution on receiving absorbers yielding the highest temperatures. The traditional CSP system normally truncated a peripheral region of heat flux to better use the central part. CPV/T systems using the waste heat recovery method can largely improve the total efficiency. However, for the CPV module, the coolant temperature was usually below 80 °C, which limited the applications of the thermal cycle such as the ORC system. In this article, a novel trough-type free-form secondary solar concentrator (TFSC) for PV/Thermal hybrid application has been proposed. Different from other CPV/T concepts using a combined PV panel and cooling tunnel/tube, the current concept separates the receiver in two parts. The secondary free-form reflector is generated by the geometric construction method, resulting in uniform heat flux in the edge region and high concentration in the central region. Through the ray tracing method, the optical properties have been verified. Sensitivity analysis of the concentrating structure is also conducted. The results provide supports for the design and applications of novel CPV/T systems.

Keywords: solar concentrator; solar power; CPV/T; free-form optics; ray tracing (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: 2022
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