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Optical study of twin‐tanked ICS solar heaters combined with asymmetrical CPC‐type reflectors
Author(s) -
Souliotis Manolis,
Garoufalis Christos S.,
Vouros Andreas P.,
Kavga Angeliki
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.4320
Subject(s) - reflector (photography) , nonimaging optics , irradiance , ray tracing (physics) , optics , reliability (semiconductor) , materials science , solar irradiance , solar mirror , solar energy , optoelectronics , engineering , electrical engineering , physics , photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector , light source , power (physics) , atmospheric sciences , quantum mechanics
Summary The distribution of solar irradiance on the absorbing surface of a typical integrated collector storage (ICS) system combined with reflector troughs is commonly studied by means of ray tracing techniques. A conceptually different alternative is offered by the method of the average number of reflections (ANR). In the present work, the latter is employed for the systematic optical study of realistic ICS models. In all cases, the solar devices consist of twin cylindrical storage tanks which are mounted on top of stationary asymmetrical CPC‐type reflectors. The emphasis of the current research is mainly placed on the evaluation of the ANR reliability for the calculation of the optical efficiency of the related twin‐tanked devices. Additionally, useful operational parameters, such as the optical performance of the proposed geometries, are also determined. The behavior of the tested ICS systems reveals that the optical efficiency may vary in the range of 0.75 to 0.91, exhibiting a strong dependence on the geometric parameters of the solar devices. The highest efficiency is achieved by the systems which combine large reflecting area and storage tanks in close proximity.