Optical Analysis of a Two Stage XX Simultaneous Multiple Surface Concentrator for Parametric Trough Primary and Flat Absorber With Application in Direct Steam Generation Solar Thermal Plants

Abstract

Today most commercial parabolic trough collector (PTC) solar power plants make use of the well-known LS3/Eurotrough optics. The PTC has a concentration ratio relative to the maximum thermodynamic limit equal to 0.31. In order to improve the competiveness of PTC technology, two well differentiated R&D strategies have been undertaken: (i) developing larger parabolic troughs, which places a higher demand in tracking accuracy and lower tolerances with respect to wind loads, quality of mirrors, control and assembly imprecisions, and (ii) developing secondary concentrators with the aim of bringing the concentration ratio relative to the maximum one as close to 1 as possible. In this paper, a parametric trough collector (PmTC) for a flat receiver designed with the simultaneous multiple surface (SMS) method is proposed. The method assumes zero transmission, absorption, and reflection optical losses and allows for both reflective primary and secondary surfaces (XX-reflective plus reflective) to be simultaneously designed, guaranteeing Etendue matching. The proposed PmTC geometry increases the referred ratio up to 0.59 with a rim angle greater than 100 deg and with the same effective acceptance angle as the PTC. The flat absorber can be replaced with a multitube receiver for application in direct steam generation (DSG).