Homogenization Function of Microchannel on Heat Absorber with Compound Parabolic Concentrator

Microchannels offer unique advantages on heat transfer performance. In this paper, microchannels are applied to the compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) system. A multi-physical field coupling model based on Finite Element Method is proposed to investigate the homogenization effect of the microchannel heat absorber on the CPC non-uniform concentration. The energy conversion process from optics to heat is simulated using TracePro software, and the heat transfer processes in the microchannel are computed by Fluent using user defined functions (UDF). It is found that the microchannels behave well on weakening the influence of the nonuniformity solar heat flux on the performance of the CPC. The temperature nonuniformity of the outlet section is less than 10(-3) in the direction of fluid flow caused by the microchannel, although the maximum surface heat flux inhomogeneity of the microchannel reaches 2.3. The peak value of the heat flux on the surface of the absorber changes from double peak to single peak, and moves to the edge, resulting in more uneven heat flux distribution with the increase of the incident angle within the acceptance semi-angle of the CPC. The result of TracePro clearly shows that when the concentration ratio is less than 5, the heat flux nonuniformity on the surface of the absorber decreases with the increase in concentration ratio. It was interestingly found that the temperature distribution of the heat transfer fluid has weak sensitivity to the changes of truncation ratio. This work provides a way to design a CPC solar collector.

Automated summary

Microchannels are used in a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) system to improve heat transfer performance. A multi-physical field coupling model and simulation software are used to analyze the effect of microchannel heat absorber on the CPC non-uniform concentration, showing that microchannels effectively reduce the influence of nonuniform solar heat flux and provide a way to design a CPC solar collector.