Technical and economic analysis of a novel low-cost concentrated medium-temperature solar collector. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bhusal, Yogesh; Hassanzadeh, Ali; Jiang, Lun; Winston, Roland
• Is Part Of: Renewable energy. Volume 146(2020)
• Page Start: 968
• Page End: 985
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: Concentrated evacuated tube solar collector -- Nonimaging optics -- Levelized cost of heat -- COMSOL multiphysics -- Cost optimization -- Mathematical modeling; Renewable energy sources -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Periodicals; Énergies renouvelables -- Périodiques; Ressources énergétiques -- Périodiques; 333.794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.07.032
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-1481

Abstract

Abstract: In this manuscript, performance of a novel concentrated solar thermal collector with evacuated tube is studied. The focus is the optimization of cost and performance in respect to commercially available medium temperature collectors (100–300 °C) using thermal and economic index of heat generation system also known as Levelized Cost of Heat. In this project, Levelized Cost of Heat is optimized with material cost reduction while maintaining high thermal performance using economical aluminum fin (instead of copper), a glass cover and highly truncated aluminum reflector. The reflector is truncated using the nonimaging optics methods in order to maximize the optical efficiency while minimizing the material consumption. Also, in order to predict the thermal performance of the proposed collector, analytical and numerical simulation are studied. Finally, the collector is experimentally tested in three stages to measure maximum temperature, maximum efficiency and thermal efficiency at various temperature of heat transfer fluid. The mathematical, numerical and experimental results were found to have good agreement. The results indicate that the collector can operate with optical efficiency of 60%, maximum temperature of 350 °C, thermal efficiency of 51% and 42% at 100 °C and 200 °C respectively while the cost of energy is as low as 2.9 cents/kWh. Highlights: Low cost all glass evacuated tube collector with shallow CPC reflectors ( Cx = 1.45X). Derived expression for thermal efficiency including the concentration term ( Cx ). Analytically and Numerically obtained the thermal efficiency of 42% at 200 °C. Validated the efficiency results with real world experiment in thermal test loop. Low cost material selection yields LCOH of 2.9 ₵/kWh, payback period of 5.6 years.