Coupled simulation method by using MCRT and FVM techniques for performance analysis of a parabolic trough solar collector

Concentrating solar power (CSP) represents a powerful, clean, endless, and reliable source of energy. Which, the parabolic trough collector (PTC) system was the first CSP technology to date, thus it is the most developed and most commonly replicated system. The optical analysis of a solar concentrator represents a major interest to evaluate the performances of the system. When, the heat flux distribution around the receiver tube is the aim parameter effected by this analysis. With sun's movement from east to west, collector continuously turns about an axis, tracking sun's radiation and maintaining the focus of collector on receiver tube. The present paper is focused to study the effects of the tracking mechanism on the performance of the PTC taking into account the non-uniformity of solar flux. Firstly, a 3D optical model based on the Monte Carlo Ray Tracing method (MCRT) written in MATLAB software has been developed. Then, the local concentration ratio (LCR) has been calculated to validate the MCRT method. In order to study the effects of the tracking errors, the developed model has been applied to determine the circumferential flux distribution around the absorber tube and the resulting optical efficiency of LS2 collector of Solar Thermal Electric Generation Systems (SEGS). In the second part, the results of the MCRT code has been coupled with FVM method using ANSYS software to analyze the heat flux distribution on the absorber tube under some tracking error values. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.