Optical and heat transfer performance of a novel non-imaging concentrator

Sellami, Nazmi; Meng, Xian-long; Xia, Xin-Lin; Knox, Andrew R; Mallick, Tapas K.

Abstract

In this study, the Crossed Compound Parabolic Concentrator CCPC is modified to demonstrate for the first time a new generation of solar concentrators working simultaneously as an electricity generator and thermal collector. It is designed to have two complementary surfaces, one reflective and one absorptive, and is called an absorptive/reflective CCPC (AR-CCPC). Usually, the height of the CCPC is truncated with a minor sacrifice of the geometric concentration. These truncated surfaces rather than being eliminated are instead replaced with absorbent surfaces to collect heat from solar radiation. The optical, thermal and total efficiency of the AR-CCPC was simulated and compared for different geometric concentration ratios varying from 3.6x to 4x. It was found that the combined electrical and thermal efficiency of the AR-CCPC 3.6x/4x remains constant and high all day long and the overall efficiency reach up to 94%. In addition, the temperature distributions of AR-CCPC surfaces and the assembled solar cell were simulated based on those heat flux boundary conditions. It shows that the adding of thermal absorbent surface can apparently increase the wall temperature.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (Published)
• Conference Name: 11th International Conference on Concentrator Photovoltaic Systems: CPV-11
• Start Date: Dec 13, 2015
• End Date: Apr 15, 2015
• Acceptance Date: Sep 28, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Sep 28, 2015
• Publication Date: 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 13, 2021
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• Volume: 1679
• Book Title: AIP Conference Proceedings
• ISBN: 978-0-7354-1326-9
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4931565
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2818544