Spectral Monte Carlo simulation of collimated solar irradiation transfer in a water-filled prismatic louver

摘要

The Monte Carlo model was developed to simulate the collimated solar irradiation transfer and energy harvest in a hollow louver made of silica glass and filled with water. The full solar spectrum from the air mass 1.5 database was adopted and divided into various discrete bands for spectral calculations. The band-averaged spectral properties for the silica glass and water were obtained. Ray tracing was employed to find the solar energy harvested by the louver. Computational efficiency and accuracy were examined through intensive comparisons of different band partition approaches, various photon numbers, and element divisions. The influence of irradiation direction on the solar energy harvest efficiency was scrutinized. It was found that within a 15 degrees polar angle of incidence, the harvested solar energy in the louver was high, and the total absorption efficiency reached 61.2% under normal incidence for the current louver geometry. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America