Abstract
Linear concentrating Fresnel collectors are available in various scales for providing solar thermal heat in the temperature range beyond 100 °C. For raising the flexibility in applying such collector systems on mounting sites with restricted space availability, the presented research project investigated the possibilities for adapting an existing Fresnel collector with a mirror surface of 22 m2towards more compactness by using only one half of the mirror field. Therefore, the receiver was relocated and the focus alignment of the mirrors had to be adapted. The theoretical approach by geometrical calculation of the single mirror angles using MATLAB™ was successful, although the required effort for developing such an optical model was high. Furthermore, the resulting angle information obtained by the calculation is difficult to realise on the mirror field, because a high-precision goniometer would be necessary in order to adjust the mirror stripes accordingly. On the other hand, an experimental approach was analysed for realising on-site focus alignment of the single mirror field. The focussed beam of a conventional laser pointer was directed to each of the mirror stripes, while adjusting the corresponding mirror angle until the reflected beam impinged on the center of the receiver. In the end, the experimental procedure turned out to be favourable, because it is simple and reliable, and it requires much less effort. In this way, the adaption of the Fresnel mirror field was successful, as the concentration and the tracking is working as expected.
Highlights
The transition of the worlds energy supply system towards an emission-free future can be seen as the central challenge of this century
The exact mirror angles to the horizontal plane for this specific situation of a Sun elevation angle of 90° are provided in the following Table 1
The width of the focus image on the receiver plate as shown in Figure 8 is below 80 mm, confirming that the single mirror images reveal an exact overlapping due to the correct mechanical adjustment of the mirror angles
Summary
The transition of the worlds energy supply system towards an emission-free future can be seen as the central challenge of this century. In 2019, an additional power capacity of more than 200 GWel of emission-free electricity production was globally installed [1], confirming that the worlds community is heading for the right direction. Beside these very positive developments in terms of renewable electricity production, it has to be pointed out that the share of electrical energy demand on the total final energy consumption was 17% in 2017. Even if the entire electricity production could be converted into renewable forms, the energy transition
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