CPC-Trough-Compound Parabolic Concentrator for Cost Efficient Low Temperature Applications

The high-performance CPC-trough （compound parabolic concentrator） collector has been developed for the utility scale generation of low temperature solar steam and hot water for low temperature process heat applications including solar air conditioning. With an optical concentration of 7.5：1, operating temperatures over 130 ℃ may be reached. This novel design has included a FEM （finite element modeling） validation and is compatible with the standard reflectors and evacuated tubes in the market. The peak efficiencies of 35% with unshielded and more than 45% with evacuated tube receivers were obtained. This CPC-trough collector requires intermittent tracking, i.e., tilt adjustment is only once in a week for more than eight hours collection in summer and six to seven hours in winter seasons.