A novel non-imaging Fresnel-lens-based solar concentrator-receiver system has been investigated to achieve high-efficiency photon and heat outputs with minimized effect of chromatic aberrations. Two types of non-imaging Fresnel lenses, a spot-flat lens and a dome-shaped lens, are designed through a statistical algorithm incorporated in MATLAB. The algorithm optimizes the lens design via a statistical ray-tracing methodology of the incident light, considering the chromatic aberration of solar spectrum, the lens-receiver spacing and aperture sizes, and the optimum number of prism grooves. An equal-groove-width of the Poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) prisms is adopted in the model. The main target is to maximize ray intensity on the receiver’s aperture, and therefore, achieve the highest possible heat flux and output concentration temperature. The algorithm outputs prism and system geometries of the Fresnel-lens concentrator. The lenses coupled with solar receivers are simulated by COMSOL Multiphysics. It combines both optical and thermal analyses for the lens and receiver to study the optimum lens structure for high solar flux output. The optimized solar concentrator-receiver system can be applied to various devices which require high temperature inputs, such as concentrated photovoltaics (CPV), high-temperature stirling engine, etc.

A novel genetically themed hierarchical algorithm (GTHA) has been investigated to design Fresnel lens solar concentrators that match with the distinct energy input and spatial geometry of various thermal applications. Basic heat transfer analysis of each application decides its solar energy requirement. The GTHA incorporated in MATLAB ® optimizes the concentrator characteristics to secure this energy demand, balancing a minimized geometry and a maximized efficiency. The optimum concentrator is then simulated to ensure the algorithm validity. To verify the algorithmic-optimization and simulation-validation processes, two experimental applications were selected from the literature, a solar welding system for H13 steel plates and a solar Stirling engine with an aluminum-cavity receiver attached to the heater section. In each case, a flat Fresnel lens with a spot focus was algorithmically designed to supply the desired solar heat, and then a computer simulation of the optimized lens was conducted showing great comparability to the original experimental results.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using a hybrid photovoltaic (PV), fuel cell (FC), and battery system to power different load cases, which are intended to be used at the Al-Zarqa governorate in Jordan. All aspects related to the potentials of solar energy in the Al-Hashemeya area were studied. The irradiation levels were carefully identified and analyzed and found to range between 4.1 and 7.6 kWh/m2/day; these values represented an excellent opportunity for the photovoltaic solar system. homer (Hybrid Optimization model for Multiple Energy Resources) software is used as an optimization and sizing tool to discuss several renewable and nonrenewable energy sources, energy storage methods, and their applicability regarding cost and performance. Different scenarios with photovoltaic slope, diesel price, and fuel cell cost were done. A remote residential building, school, and factory having an energy consumption of 31 kWh/day with a peak of 5.3 kW, 529 kWh/day with a maximum of 123 kW and 608 kWh/day with a maximum of 67 kW, respectively, were considered as the case studies' loads. It was found that the PV-diesel generator system with battery is the most suitable solution at present for the residential building case, while the PV-FC-diesel generator-electrolyzer hybrid system with battery suites best both the school and factory cases. The load profile for each case was found to have a substantial effect on how the system's power produced a scheme. For the residential building, PV panels contributed by about 75% of the total power production, the contribution increased for the school case study to 96% and dropped for the factory case to almost 50%.

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The significance of this work lies in the development of a novel code-based, detailed, and deterministic geometrical approach that couples the optimization of the Fresnel lens primary optical element (POE) and the dome-shaped secondary optical element (SOE). The objective was to maximize the concentration acceptance product (CAP), while using the minimum SOE and receiver geometry at a given f-number and incidence angle (also referred to as the tracking error angle). The laws of polychromatic light refraction along with trigonometry and spherical geometry were utilized to optimize the POE grooves, SOE radius, receiver size, and SOE–receiver spacing. Two literature case studies were analyzed to verify this work’s optimization, both with a spot Fresnel lens POE and a spherical dome SOE. Case 1 had a 625 cm2 POE at an f-number of 1.5, and Case 2 had a 314.2 cm2 POE at an f-number of 1.34. The equivalent POE designed by this work, with optimized SOE radiuses of 13.6 and 11.4 mm, respectively, enhanced the CAP value of Case 1 by 52% to 0.426 and that of Case 2 by 32.4% to 0.45. The SOE’s analytical optimization of Case 1 was checked by a simulated comparative analysis to ensure the validity of the results. Fine-tuning this design for thermal applications and concentrated photovoltaics is also discussed in this paper. The algorithm can be further improved for more optimization parameters and other SOE shapes.