A Free and Open Source Monte Carlo Ray Tracing Program for Concentrating Solar Energy Research

Abstract

A free and open source Monte Carlo ray-tracing program for concentrating solar energy research and development is presented. The program uses non energy partitioning Monte Carlo methods to model radiative exchange between arbitrarily arranged surfaces. Surface models include concentrating geometries, such as spherical, parabolic, and elliptical concentrators as well as compound parabolic concentrators. The program’s modular design allows implementation of additional surface and source models. The program has been thoroughly tested and experimentally validated. It has been used to model several concentrating devices including PSI’s high flux solar furnace and ETH’s high flux solar simulator. Furthermore, it has been used to design PSI’s high flux solar simulator and UFL’s high flux solar simulator. The code is particularly suited to provide radiative boundary conditions for numerical models of high temperature solar receivers and solar thermochemical reactors.