Numerical investigation on the effect of different types of configuration on the optical performance of solar flat plat reflecting system

Abstract

The solar flat plate reflecting system (SFPRS) and its configuration significantly influence the reflection pattern of the solar radiation to the receiving surface. Present study numerically investigates the impact of square type configuration (STC) and hexagonal type configuration (HTC), on the performance of SFPRS by analysing the behaviour of beam rays and their interaction with the reflectors. The derived equations for solar radiation and fundamental equations of three-dimensional geometry were employed to develop a customized ray tracing algorithm (RTA) within the MATLAB software. The code incorporates a methodology to explore the behaviour of rays, including direct rays (DR), single reflected rays (SR), twice reflected rays (TR), three times reflected rays (THR), and rays leaving the system (LR). The results for the STC were validated with previous successful experimental outcomes. The optical performance of HTC is 15% higher than STC. Additionally, HTC demonstrates geometrical advantages over STC with an 8% increase in SR and a 13% increase in TR types of rays. Besides, STC exhibits greater participation of THRs and LRs type’s rays, resulting in lower optical efficiency. Consequently, the study concludes that the use of HTC is preferable over STC, when dealing with low solar altitude angles on multiple days.