Terrón-Hernández, M.; Peña-Cruz, M.I.; Carrillo, J.G.; Diego-Ayala, U.; Flores, V. Solar Ray Tracing Analysis to Determine Energy Availability in a CPC Designed for Use as a Residential Water Heater. Energies2018, 11, 291.
Terrón-Hernández, M.; Peña-Cruz, M.I.; Carrillo, J.G.; Diego-Ayala, U.; Flores, V. Solar Ray Tracing Analysis to Determine Energy Availability in a CPC Designed for Use as a Residential Water Heater. Energies 2018, 11, 291.
Terrón-Hernández, M.; Peña-Cruz, M.I.; Carrillo, J.G.; Diego-Ayala, U.; Flores, V. Solar Ray Tracing Analysis to Determine Energy Availability in a CPC Designed for Use as a Residential Water Heater. Energies2018, 11, 291.
Terrón-Hernández, M.; Peña-Cruz, M.I.; Carrillo, J.G.; Diego-Ayala, U.; Flores, V. Solar Ray Tracing Analysis to Determine Energy Availability in a CPC Designed for Use as a Residential Water Heater. Energies 2018, 11, 291.
Abstract
Compound parabolic concentrators are relevant systems used in solar thermal technology. With adequate tailoring, they can be used as an efficient and low-cost alternative in residential water applications. This work presents a simulation study using a ray tracing methodology. With this technique we simulate the interaction between solar rays and solar concentrator to quantify the amount of energy that impinges on the receiver at a particular time. Energy availability is evaluated in a comparison of two configurations: stationary at 21° throughout the year and multi position setup; tilted with respect to the horizontal depending on three seasonal positions: 0° for summer, 16° for spring / autumn and 32° for winter, with the objective of increasing the amount of available energy in each season. The fact that a tracking system can be dispensed with also represents an economical option for the proposed application. The results showed that at 21°, the proposed system works satisfactorily; however, by carrying out the selected angular adjustments, the overall energy availability increased by 22%, resulting in a more efficient option. The methodology developed herein proved to be a valuable tool for prototype design and performance evaluation.
Keywords
ray tracing analysis; compound parabolic concentrator; solar water heating; photonics; optics
Subject
Engineering, Energy and Fuel Technology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.