Three Dimensional Ray Tracing and Reliability Analyses of a Novel ICPC Collector After twelve Years of Operation
Abstract
This paper reports on how two primary failure modes have affected optical and thermal performance of the evacuated tubes and the array. It includes a review of collection system performance and reliability over the eleven years of operation, animations of rays striking at various angles and an incidence angle evaluation. Results in this paper are 1) the modelling and analysis for off-normal incident rays for both the vertical and horizontal fin orientations, 2) adjusted IAM’s on the shading, 3) the reflectance measurement results, 4) the reflectance degradation map, 5) a comparison with the experimental results for both the vertical and horizontal absorber fins and 6) an analysis of the of the effects of the two fin orientations and two failure modes on performance.