Optimization of LFC Solar Concentrator Design under Tunisian Conditions

摘要

This paper describes a new design method which can be applied for all solar concentrator technologies. It discuss the impact of Linear Fresnel Collector geometry on its efficiency. An optical modeling using a combination of both ray tracing and Monte Carlo methods is made to evaluate the influence of the geometric parameter variation on the solar energy collected on the receiver, and to simulate the influence of loss mechanisms (shading, blocking, cosine effect, end losses, etc). A new linear Fresnel prototype scale is selected according to optical efficiency and power collected on the receiver. The software TONATIUH is used to generate a random solar radiation and to calculate the quantity of rays reflected onto receiver. All prototype parameters such as the gap between two adjacent mirrors, the number of rows and receiver height are considered as variables. Once all of parameters prototype are optimized, the new collector is then tested under different geographical parameters. The aim of this simulation is to study the effect of latitude and longitude on the solar power plant efficiency. Simulation results show that, optical efficiency depends on all geometrical parameters. Furthermore, there is some additional factor which should be taken in consideration such as: wind load on the receiver, cleaning and maintenance of mirror stripes and the visibility of the metallic structure. Due to all those reasons, there is always an optimum value of the receiver height and a limitation in the use of a large number of rows on the primary mirrors field.