Development of Sea Shell concentrator profile using computer aided ray tracing technique and study of optical performance

Abstract

A 2D Sea Shell concentrator with maximum half acceptance angle 36° and vertical solar swing + 36° to - 36° has been developed using computer aided ray tracing technique for bifacial solar cell and photothermal applications. Based on the analytical geometry of this profile, a Matlab program has been made to estimate the average number of reflected and direct ray on the particular zone of the absorber. By using the simulated result of this program, the effect of the variation of the angle of incidence on the total number of reflected rays, concentration ratio (CR), local concentration ratio distribution (LCR) of solar radiation on the flat horizontal absorber, average number of reflections (ANR) and efficiency of the concentrator have been determined within the limit of acceptance. From the simulated result it was observed that LCR distribution is more uniform from equinox to winter than of summer but optical concentration ratio at summer solstice has estimated maximum. In this paper we have also estimated that the maximum optical efficiency of Sea Shell concentrator is 85.5% at winter solstice. From the study of the results of the comparison of LCR distributions over the absorber surface in various seasons, it is found more uniform than in summer.