Solar Ray Tracing Analysis to Determine Energy Availability in a CPC Designed for Use as a Residential Water Heater

Abstract

Abstract:Compound parabolic concentrators are relevant systems used in solar thermal technology. With adequate tailoring, they can be used as an efficient and low-cost alternative in residential water heating applications. This work presents a simulation study using a ray tracing analysis. With this technique, we simulate the interaction between solar rays and solar concentrator to quantify the amount of energy that impinges on the receiver at a particular time. Energy availability is evaluated in a comparison of two configurations throughout the year: static setup at 21 • and multi-position setup; tilted with respect to the horizontal, depending on three seasonal positions: 0 • for summer, 16 • for spring/autumn, and 32 • for winter, with the aim to evaluate the amount of available energy in each season. The fact that a tracking system can be dispensed with also represents an economical option for the proposed application. The results showed that at 21 • , the proposed solar Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) works satisfactorily; however, by carrying out the selected angular adjustments, the overall energy availability increased by 22%, resulting in a more efficient option. The most effective design was also built and analyzed outdoors. The obtained thermal efficiency was of~43%. The optical design and its evaluation developed herein proved to be a valuable tool for prototype design and performance evaluation.

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

“…Chen et al [29] used ray-tracing method to analyze the optical performance of an E-W oriented CPC collector coupled with tubular receiver for different truncation heights of reflectors and tilt angles. Terron-Hernandez et al [30] also applied the ray-tracing technique to investigate the energy availability at the receiver surface for static and multi-position setups in E-W installations. A past literature review illustrates that stationary installation of a CPC collector is one of the main features to eliminate the need for complex and costly tracking mechanisms.…”

Effect of Radiative Filling Gas in Compound Parabolic Solar Energy Collectors

“…For this purpose, the normal vector to the surface is computed from its shape, and the direction of the reflected ray is determined base on this rule that the angles of reflection and incidence are equal. This subject can be found in the literature [16]. It should be mentioned that the above procedure was done in the present work only for collimated beams.…”

Comparative optical and thermal analysis of compound parabolic solar collector with fixed and variable concentration ratio

“…Finite element method was developed in CPC absorber tube by Chew et al but in this method glass cover and absorber tube were kept at constant temperature (Tay & Wijeysundera, 2016). As CPC is used for intermediate temperature ranges, it does not require proper tracking but only requires seasonal tilt (Terrón-Hernández et al, 2018). As it is characteristic of CPC to capture diffuse radiation, so it is advantageous to use CPC in tropical region where percentage of diffuse radiation is relatively high (Ratismith et al, 2014).…”