Measurement of radiation distribution on the absorber in an asymmetric CPC collector

Summary, in English

A method to estimate the annual collected energy and the annual average optical efficiency factor is suggested. The radiation distribution on the absorber of an asymmetric CPC collector with a flat bi-facial absorber is measured for three different absorber mounting angles using a photo diode. The annual optical efficiency factors and a relative measure of the annual collected energy are determined for collectors with the absorber fin thickness 0.5 and 1 mm, and for a collector with a teflon convection suppression film mounted around the absorber. With the local optical efficiency factors and the annual incident solar energy distribution considered, the analysis indicates that the energy gain for a mounting angle of 20 is higher than for a collector with 65 absorber mounting angle. The annual collected energy is increased with 6-8% if the absorber fin thickness is increased from 0.5 to 1 mm. The annual average optical efficiency factor is relatively independent of the absorber mounting angle. It was found to be 0.87-0.88 for a collector with a 0.5 mm thick absorber fin and 0.92 for a collector with a 1 mm thick absorber fin or for a collector with 0.5 mm thick absorber fin with a teflon convection suppression film added. The low annual average optical efficiency factor is not caused by the uneven irradiance distribution but by the relatively high U-L-values. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

• Author: M Adsten; Bengt Hellström; B Karlsson
• Department/s: Division of Energy and Building Design
• Publishing year: 2004
• Language: English
• Pages: 199-206
• Publication/Series: Solar Energy
• Volume: 76
• Issue: 1-3
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2003.08.024
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Building Technologies
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0038-092X