Performance Simulation of Solar Trough Concentrators: Optical and Thermal Comparisons

Abstract

The solar trough concentrator is used to increase the solar radiation intensity on absorbers for water heating, desalination, or power generation purposes. In this study, optical performances of four solar trough concentrators, viz. the parabolic trough concentrator (PTC), the compound parabolic concentrator (CPC), the surface uniform concentrator (SUC), and the trapezoid trough concentrator (TTC), are simulated using the Monte Carlo Ray Tracing method. Mathematical models for the solar trough concentrators are first established. The solar radiation distributions on their receivers are then simulated. The solar water heating performances using the solar trough concentrators are finally compared. The results show that, as a high-concentration ratio concentrator, the PTC can achieve the highest heat flux, but suffers from the worst uniformity on the absorber, which is only 0.32%. The CPC can generate the highest heat flux among the rest three low-concentration ratio solar trough concentrators. Compared with the PTC and the CPC, the TTC has better uniformity, but its light-receiving ratio is only 70%. The SUC is beneficial for its highest uniformity of 87.38%. Thermal analysis results show that the water temperatures inside the solar trough concentrators are directly proportional to their wall temperature, with the highest temperature rise in the PTC and the smallest temperature rise in the TTC. The solar trough concentrators’ thermal deformations are positively correlated to their wall temperatures. The radial deformation of the SUC is much larger than those of other solar trough concentrators. The smallest equivalent stress is found in the SUC, which is beneficial to the long-term operation of the solar water heating system.

Efficiency enhancement of solar water heaters through innovative design

“…SolidWorks solar water heater CAD model utilizing empirical principles allows visualization and representation of suggested design modifications. The positivist approach uses recognized data sources and empirical methodologies to conduct a thorough and systematic study on solar water heater efficiency enhancement [47].…”

Review of Concentrated Solar Power Technology Applications in Photocatalytic Water Purification and Energy Conversion: Overview, Challenges and Future Directions

“…First, solar-concentrated photoreactors may provide excessively high light irradiance and reaction temperatures for photocatalytic reactions [17,102]. Figure 7a shows the ability of some typical PTRs [45,62,[103][104][105], PDRs [49,[106][107][108], SPTs [69] and LFRs [70,72,109] to concentrate solar energy. Usually, these solar concentrators are used to concentrate solar energy efficiently to produce high temperatures which can be employed in thermal engineering processes such as in photo-thermal power plants.…”

Recent Advances in Residential Energy Utilization Technologies for Low-Carbon Emissions in China

“…Moreover, there is a knowledge gap between solar optical analyses and the thermal and deformation performances of STCs. To provide guidance for scholars, enterprises, and engineers in choosing the STC type for various application fields, the widely used STC types, such as parabolic trough concentrators (PTCs), compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs), surface uniform concentrators (SUCs), and trapezoid trough concentrators (TTCs), were compared by Cao et al [4]. Through a detailed numerical simulation, they concluded that SUCs hold the smallest equivalent stress, which is favorable for the long-term operation of solar thermal utilization systems.…”