Non-Tracking Asymmetric Shadeless (NASH) Solar Collectors for Decarbonizing Industrial Process Heat Applications
Abstract
This work reports the development and performance of an innovative non-tracking asymmetric shadeless (NASH) collector based on a nonimaging optical design. The collector is a flat-on-ground or roof installation type with an aperture-to-land footprint ratio of 0.78 and requires no spacing between the rows. The collector provides a geometric concentration of 1.72X at the receiver tube and can collect 43% of the diffused radiation. Early prototypes have been developed and tested on the sun. The collector has demonstrated the on-Sun stagnation temperature in the receiver tubes as high as 340 oC and can provide the thermal energy for process heating efficiently at the temperatures as high as 200 oC. Simple construction with highly tolerant nonimaging reflectors, no moving parts and low-cost aluminum absorber in the metal-glass sealed evacuated tubes have yielded levelized cost of heat (LCOH) as low as 1.5 cents/KWhth.