Design, optimization and comparative study of a solar CPC with a fully illuminated tubular receiver and a fin inverted V-shaped receiver

Highlights: • New variant of CPC with tubular receiver and a fin inverted V-shaped was analyzed. • Comparative study of ray-tracing between two geometries of CPC was carried out. • CPC with tubular receiver is viable in arrangements with solar tracking system. • CPC with finned receiver is viable in arrangements without solar tracking system. • Arrangements of CPC finned without solar tracking presents lower optical end losses. This work presents the design, optimization, and a comparative study of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) using a tube as a receiver with and without a fin inverted V-shaped receiver (finned receiver). The study was mainly based on numerical analysis obtained by using a ray-tracing simulator in CPCs, in order to evaluate the amount of solar irradiation collected on four dates of the year. A north-south orientation was chosen, with and without a solar tracking system, at a fixed tilt angle of 32 and 0° for each case. The results showed that a CPC using a tubular receiver with a solar tracking system and a surface tilt of 32 and 0° reaches solar irradiation levels of 27.96 and 25.35 kWh/m², while a CPC with a finned receiver reaches 26.87 and 24.98 kWh/m², respectively. In the case of arrangements without a solar tracking system, the values reached were 7.03 and 5.60 kWh/m²for tubular receiver and 16.83 and 12.85 kWh/m² for the finned receiver, respectively. CPC with a tubular receiver proved to be more feasible when using a solar tracking system, in contrast to a CPC with a finned receiver, which had better feasibility in arrangements that do not include solar tracking.