Numerical simulation and experiment research of radiation performance in a dish solar collector system

Abstract

The Monte Carlo ray-tracing method is applied and coupled with optical properties to predict the radiation performance of solar concentrator/cavity receiver systems. Several different cavity geometries are compared on the radiation performance. A flux density distribution measurement system for dish parabolic concentrators is developed. The contours of the flux distribution for target placements at different distances from the dish vertex of a solar concentrator are taken by using an indirect method with a Lambert and a charge coupled device (CCD) camera. Further, the measured flux distributions are compared with a Monte Carlo-predicted distribution. The results can be a valuable reference for the design and assemblage of the solar collector system.

Key words： Monte Carlo method; solar energy; radiation performance; cavity receiver

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Basic Research Special Foundation of China (No. 2009CB220006), the key program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50930007) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50806017).

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