Effects of Reflectors and Receivers on the Thermal Performance of Dish-Type Solar Power Systems

The thermal performance comparisons of the dish solar collector system are numerically investigated with mirror arrays and receiver shapes. In order to compare the performances of the dish solar collector systems, six different mirror arrays and four different receiver shapes are considered and the radiative heat flux distribution on the inside of the receiver is analyzed. A parabolic-shaped perfect mirror of which diameter is 1.5 m is considered as a reference of the mirror arrays. Five different mirror arrays of twelve identical parabolic -shaped mirror facets of which diameter are 0.4 m are proposed in this study. Their reflecting areas, which are 1.5 m², are the same. Four different receiver shapes are a dome, a conical, a cylindrical and a unicorn type. The solar irradiation reflected by mirrors is traced using the Monte-Carlo method. In addition, the radiative properties of the mirror surface can vary the thermal performance of the dish solar collector system so that the effects of the surface reflectivity and the surface absorptivity are considered. Based on the calculation, the design information of dish solar collector system for producing the electric power can be obtained. The results show that the dome type has the best performance in receiver shapes and the 2AND4INLINE has the best performance in mirror arrays except the perfect mirror.