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Principles and Performance of Solar Energy Thermal Systems: A Web Course by

V.V.Satyamurty
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MODULE 16 Lecture No: 21

Concentrating Collectors
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In this Module 16, Lecture Nos. 21, 22, 23 and 24 deal with
Lecture 21

16.1 INTRODUCTION
16.2 MAXIMUM CONCENTRATION RATIO

Lecture 21

16.1 INTRODUCTION
The effective intensity of solar radiation on a receiver of area Ar can be increased by collecting the solar
radiation through a larger aperture area Aa and on focussing on to the receiver. This can be achieved by
reflectors or refractors of suitable geometry. A few common methods of achieving concentration are shown
n Fig.16.1

Receiver
Inc
ide
nt
Ra y

Tower
s

Ground Heliostats
Surface

Rays
Receiver

Fresnel
Lens Reflector
Normal
Orignal path
Receiver

Fig. 16.1 Common concentration techniques

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The concentrating collectors may broadly be classified as linear concentrators or point concentrators. A
parabolic reflector comes into the first category and a paraboloidal concentrator comes into the second.

12.2 MAXIMUM CONCENTRATION RATIO

Area concentration ratio in an equation form is given by,

C  Aa Ar (16.1)

This ratio has an upper limit that depends on whether the concentration is a three dimensional ( circular )
concentrator or a linear concentrator. Consider the circular concentrator with an aperture area of Aa and
receiver area of Ar viewing the sun of radius r at a distance R as shown in Fig. 12.2. S is the half angle
subtended by the sun.

r
s
Ar
R
Aa

Fig. 12.2 Schematic of concentration

For a perfect concentrator, the radiation from the sun on the aperture ( also on the receiver ) is the
fraction of the radiation emitted by the sun which is intercepted by the aperture.

 
QS  r  Aa r 2 R 2 TS4 (16.2)

A perfect receiver radiates energy equal to Ar Tr4 and a fraction E r  S reaches the sun.

Qr  S  Ar  Tr4 E r  S (16.3)

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When Tr and TS are the same, the second law of thermodynamics requires the QS  r be equal to Qr  S , so

from Eqs. 12.2 and 12.3,

 Aa  
Ar   R 2 r 2 E r  S (16.4)

Since the maximum value of E r  S is unity, the maximum concentration ratio for circular concentrators is,

 Aa Ar max  R 2 r 2  1 sin 2  S (16.5)

A similar development ( Kreith and Kreider[42], Principles of Solar Engineering, McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1978 ) for linear concentrators leads to,

 Aa Ar max  1 sin  S (16.6)

With a  S  0.27' , the maximum possible concentration for circular concentrators is 45,000 and for linear
concentrators, the maximum is 212.

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