Model construction and performance investigation of multi-section compound parabolic concentrator with solar vacuum tube

Abstract

Multi-section Compound Parabolic Concentrator (M-CPC) has advantages of non-tracking device, adjustable operation time, concentrating diffuse radiation, convenient system integration, etc. In this study, the structure optimization, experimental verification and optical performance analysis of M-CPC with solar vacuum tube absorber are investigated. Combined with Monte Carlo Ray Tracing (MCRT) method and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) intelligent algorithm, based on Novel Compound Parabolic Concentrator (N-CPC), five M-CPCs of different reflector dimensions, namely, M-CPC2, M-CPC3, M-CPC4, M-CPC5 and M-CPC6, are constructed, and experimental results show that the concentrating performance of M-CPC is consistent with the numerical results of self-designed VC++ program. It is also found that the uniformity index of energy flux distribution for M-CPC is improved, and the effective operation time of concentrating solar beam radiation for M-CPC3 to M-CPC6 is increased by 1.82%, which indicates that M-CPC has better adaptability to weather changes. The average optical efficiency of M-CPC4 and M-CPC5 come up to 60.01% and 61.68%, respectively, and it has excellent performance of collecting solar radiation. In consequence, under the condition of the design method and N-CPC model, M-CPC4 and M-CPC5 are suitable choices in application, moreover, the cost of M-CPC reflector decreased significantly.