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The combination of photovoltaic (PV) systems with V‐trough cavities has been identified as an attractive option to reduce, in the short time scale, the prices of the PV electrical energy. In places of good radiation level, the output energy of these devices can be almost doubled, compared to PV flat‐plate fixed systems. Additionally, V‐trough cavities are simple to manufacture and can be used with conventional (1‐sun) solar cells. In this work we present a design procedure for V‐trough cavities used in combination with PV generators. The main design requirements are: uniform illumination on the plane of the PV module, within a finite interval of incidence angles; minimum cost of energy; and heat dissipation by natural, passive means. The V‐trough cavities depend on two parameters. We obtain a first analytical relation between the concentration ratio (C) and the V‐trough angle (ψ) for concentrators with uniform illumination at the absorber. The region of minimum cost of the V‐trough PV ensemble yields a second relation. Then, a unique pair of cavity parameters, satisfying the above criteria, is found. A design example of a V‐trough cavity for the city of Recife, PE, Brazil, is presented. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Closed-form analytic solutions that describe the optical behavior of V-trough concentrators are derived. The procedure analyzes the angular and spatial distribution of all the rays that undergo a given number of reflections (0, 1, 2), referred to as reflection modes. Then we obtain (1) the optical efficiency for beam and diffuse radiation, and (2) spatial and angular flux distribution on the absorber, with proper account being taken of reflective losses (in addition to the geometric losses of rejected rays). These are often essential -data for evaluation of V-trough solar energy collectors, in particular for photovoltaic applications where homogeneous flux distributions are desirable.

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