Abstract
The work presents a heat transfer analysis carried out with the use of COMSOL Multiphysics software applied to a new solar concentrator, defined as the Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) system. The experimental measures have been conducted for a truncated CPC prototype system with a half-acceptance angle of 60°, parabola coefficient of 4 m−1 and four solar cells in both covered and uncovered configurations. These data are used to validate the numerical scenario, to be able to use the simulations for different future systems and works. The second challenge has been to change the reflector geometry, the half-acceptance angle (60° ÷ 75°) and the parabola coefficient (3 m−1 ÷ 6 m−1) to enhance the concentration of sun rays on the solar cells. The results show that the discrepancy between experimental data and COMSOL Multiphysics (CM) have led to validate the scenarios considering the average temperature on the solar cells. These scenarios are used for the parametric analysis, observing that the optimal geometry for the higher power and efficiency of the whole system is reached with a lower half-acceptance angle and parabola coefficient.
Highlights
International awareness about renewable energy sources exploitation has been changing over the last years, as a consequence of both climate changes and increasing pollution emissions [1,2].The increasing demands of energy for industrial production and urban facilities ask for new strategies for energy sources [3]
Possible examples are the use of fuel cells [4], biomass gasification system aimed at hydrogen production [5], combined gas conditioning and cleaning in biomass gasification [6], waste vegetable oil transesterification [7], hydrogen production from biomass [8], biofuel [9], biogas production from poultry manure and cheese whey wastewater [10], greenhouses with photovoltaic modules [11], oriented to the green economy and to the sustainable development of society [12,13]
The first step is the validation of the scenarios comparing the results obtained by numerical simulation with the ones by experimental campaigns [43]
Summary
The increasing demands of energy for industrial production and urban facilities ask for new strategies for energy sources [3]. Many industrial and private efforts have been implemented to reduce the anthropic impact on nature, trying to move from a petroleum-based fuel dependency to a new virtuous approach, based on biomass exploitation. The solar energy source should be considered as a possible solution to face the fossil-fuel exploitation to produce thermal and electric energy [14,15], using for example photovoltaic systems [16,17] with energy storage [18] or solar collectors [19]. Photovoltaic (PV) systems manufacturers are pushing the scientific research to work on solar radiation concentrators, which should be considered as both a short-term and economic solution if compared to the production of improved
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