Photothermal conversion performance based on optimized design of multi-section compound parabolic concentrator

Abstract

Solar energy M-CPC (Multi-section Compound Parabolic Concentrator, M-CPC) has the advantages of no tracking and static concentrating, synchronous collection of beam and diffuse radiation, simple structure and easy construction. Therefore, an integrated system based on the optimized design of M-CPC coupled with ECT (All-glass Evacuated Collector Tube, ECT) for solar photothermal conversion is constructed in present research. Moreover, the stability, reliability and applicability of the solar M-CPC system for energy capturing and photothermal conversion are verified by outdoor experiments and numerical calculations. The results show that the average heat collection efficiency of the integrated M-CPC system is 61.0%, the average output temperature of the fluid could reach 350.9K. In addition, the average relative error between the theoretical calculated value and the experimental measured value of fluid temperature rise is 5.1%, which indicates that the M-CPC system has the characteristic of low heat loss in the process of solar radiation utilization. All the above demonstrate that the M-CPC system has appropriate photothermal conversion as well as industrial manufacturing features.