Energy capture and conversion characteristics of asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator with equal-length multi-section design

Solar Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC), as a typical non-imaging concentrator, has the characteristics of no tracking, static light concentration, and convenient application. Based on this, this research constructed an equal-length multi-section asymmetric CPC (MA-CPC) for Solar Evacuated Collector Tube (SECT) and explored its performance in terms of concentrating efficiency, energy distribution and radiation collection during operation. Simultaneously, the photothermal conversion integrated system of MA-CPC was also constructed. The performance characteristics of MA-CPC photothermal conversion and energy capture were explored to clarify the reliability, stability, and applicability of the collector system at work. The investigation shows that the average photothermal conversion efficiency of the collector system on the day of the experiment was 54.8 %, and the operating temperature could reach 346.8 K. During the high-performance operating time period, the maximum temperature difference between the experimental and the simulated outlet temperatures was obtained to be 4.5 K, and the maximum relative error of the collector efficiency was 9.0 %. Finally, the influence of irradiance, fluid flow rate and inlet temperature on the performance of the collector system was investigated in depth based on this. Results show that MA-CPC with this thermal collector performance has good photothermal conversion performance and potential engineering applications.