Performance Improvement of Compound Parabolic Collector Using Dual Receivers

Abstract

AbstractThe compound parabolic collectors are used for variety of medium-temperature domestic and industrial solar applications. The performance of stationary compound parabolic collector with linear receiver depends on quality of reflective material, accuracy in design, location of receiver and optimum positioning. It has been observed that, for an accurately designed stationary compound parabolic collector with single linear receiver, reflected radiations are getting lost to the atmosphere without absorption by the receiver. The peripheral area near the receiver tube can be used to collect the reflected untapped radiations. In the current study, a concept of use of two receivers for a compound parabolic collector is proposed. The useful peripheral area near the single receiver is identified using theoretical analysis. The analysis is based on estimation of angle of incidence of beam radiations on the collector and subsequent reflections. To validate the theoretical claims, a pilot experimental study has also been conducted. The theoretical and experimental results confirm the performance improvement of compound parabolic collector with dual receivers. During experiments, for average irradiance of 906 W/m2, the maximum outlet temperature of water is found to be 76.60 ℃ with single receiver and it was 95.18 ℃ for dual receivers. The details of theoretical analysis and experimental study are discussed in this article. The primary objective of this study is to put forward the concept of dual receivers for compound parabolic collector.KeywordsCompound parabolic collector (CPC)Two receiversEvacuated tube receiver