Comparison Between Curved-mirrors and Flat-mirrors of the Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator Geometry
Abstract
There is a great unexploited potential for process heat applications in the medium temperature range (80- 250ºC). In this temperature range, the so-called tracking receiver, stationary reflector designs can reach high efficiencies (Gordon and International Solar Energy Society, 2001). Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator (FMSC) design emerged in the seventies as an effort to reduce electricity production costs in solar thermal power plants (Russell et al., 1974). The reflector of the FMSC is composed by flat mirrors and remains static while the receiver is moving on a circle path. Replacing the flat mirrors by curved mirrors has the advantage of reaching higher concentrations, and this design has been called as Curved Slats Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator (CSFMSC). In this communication an optical and thermal comparison between FMSC and CSFMSC is exposed based on recent investigations supported by ray-tracing tools. The local flux concentration, the incidence angle modifier (IAM) curves, and the IAM factorization are compared for both geometries. Finally the comparison between the annual thermal efficiency at 200ºC for both geometries is exposed.
Keywords
Fmsc, Csfmsc, Fixed mirror solar concentrator