Ray-Tracing software tools have been widely used in the optical design of solar concentrating collectors. In spite of the ability of these tools to assess the geometrical and material aspects impacting the optical performance of concentrators, their use in combination with experimental measurements in the framework of collector testing procedures as not been implemented, to the date, in none of the current solar collector testing standards. In the latest revision of ISO9806 an effort was made to include linear focusing concentrating collectors but some practical and theoretical difficulties emerged. A Ray-Tracing analysis could provide important contributions to overcome these issues, complementing the experimental results obtained through thermal testing and allowing the achievement of more thorough testing outputs with lower experimental requirements. In order to evaluate different available software tools a comparison study was conducted. Taking as representative technologies for line-focus concentrators the Parabolic Trough Collector and the Linear Fresnel Reflector Collector, two exemplary cases with predefined conditions – geometry, sun model and material properties – were simulated with different software tools. This work was carried out within IEA/SHC Task 49 “Solar Heat Integration in Industrial Processes”.
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31 May 2016
SOLARPACES 2015: International Conference on Concentrating Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems
13–16 October 2015
Cape Town, South Africa
Research Article|
May 31 2016
Ray-tracing software comparison for linear focusing solar collectors
Tiago Osório;
Tiago Osório
a)
1
University of Évora – Renewable Energies Chair
, Palácio Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
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Pedro Horta;
Pedro Horta
1
University of Évora – Renewable Energies Chair
, Palácio Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
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Marco Larcher;
Marco Larcher
2
Institut für Solartechnik SPF
, Oberseestrasse 10, 8640 Rapperswil, Switzerland
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Ramón Pujol-Nadal;
Ramón Pujol-Nadal
3
University of the Balearic Islands (UIB)
, Physics Department, Ctra. Valldemossa km 7.52, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
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Julian Hertel;
Julian Hertel
3
University of the Balearic Islands (UIB)
, Physics Department, Ctra. Valldemossa km 7.52, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
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De Wet van Rooyen;
De Wet van Rooyen
4
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems
, Division Solar Thermal and Optics, Heidenhofstraße 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
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Anna Heimsath;
Anna Heimsath
4
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems
, Division Solar Thermal and Optics, Heidenhofstraße 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
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Simon Schneider;
Simon Schneider
5German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Institute of Solar Research
, Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne, Germany
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Daniel Benitez;
Daniel Benitez
6German Aerospace Center (DLR),
Institute of Solar Research
, Plataforma Solar de Almería, Spain
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Antoine Frein;
Antoine Frein
7
Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI)
, Energy Department, Lambruschini 4, 20156 Milano, Italy
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Alice Denarie
Alice Denarie
7
Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI)
, Energy Department, Lambruschini 4, 20156 Milano, Italy
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a)
Corresponding author: tiagoosorio@uevora.pt
AIP Conf. Proc. 1734, 020017 (2016)
Citation
Tiago Osório, Pedro Horta, Marco Larcher, Ramón Pujol-Nadal, Julian Hertel, De Wet van Rooyen, Anna Heimsath, Simon Schneider, Daniel Benitez, Antoine Frein, Alice Denarie; Ray-tracing software comparison for linear focusing solar collectors. AIP Conf. Proc. 31 May 2016; 1734 (1): 020017. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4949041
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