Optical Desing and Simulation of a Circular Channel Concentrator with Trapezoidal Secondary Reflector
Abstract
This study presents the design and optical simulation of a circular trough solar concentrator with a trapezoidal secondary reflector using the SolTrace Software. The circular curve of this concentrator approaches the curve of a parabola with an edge angle of 45°. Due to the spherical aberration, the reflective surface introduces optical errors in such a way that it is necessary to use a second reflective stage that allows most of the rays that fall outside of the receiver to be reflected towards the latter. It is not necessary to obtain an even distribution of the concentrated solar radiation because the application of this solar concentrator is towards the generation of process heat. The ratio of rays intercepted by the cylindrical receiver to those intercepted by the primary reflector was 0.847. This study made a comparison of the collection efficiency according to the slope errors and misalignment for a parabolic trough and a circular trough collector, with and without a trapezoidal secondary reflector.
Keywords
Solar concentrator, Circular trough, Medium temperature solar collector, Ship