Ray tracing method applied in the annual evaluation of reflectors integrated to an evacuated tube solar collector

Abstract

A method to evaluate the performance of annual solar concentrators is presented. The ray-tracing technique is regularly used to assess the solar concentrator's performance; however, most of the works in this area simplify the simulation process by considering representative scenarios throughout the year, such as solar tracking studies in summer and winter solstices or monthly averages to evaluate the annual system performance. The presented method develops annual simulations using dynamic data exchange protocol to allow communication between TracePro® and MATLAB with defined time intervals, applied to assess the integration of a reflector system to evacuated tube collectors under three configurations: rear reflector plate, compound parabolic concentrator, and parabolic concentrator; the finding that the latter presents the most favorable results, increasing the incident radiation on the outside of the tubes up to 36%.