Solar collectors

By
P.Umamaheswarrao
 Solar Collector
• Solar collector is a device for collecting solar radiation
and then transferring the absorbed energy to a fluid
passing through it.
• A solar collector absorbs solar energy in the form of
heat and simultaneously transfers this heat to a fluid so
that the heat can be transported by the fluid.
• The transport fluid takes this transferred heat from the
collector and delivers it to a thermal storage tank,
boiler or heat exchanger so that it can be utilized in a
solar thermal system.
• Hence, solar collector is essential and it forms the first
basic unit in a solar thermal system.
 Classification of Solar Collectors

• Solar collector is a device

i) to collect and absorb solar radiation
ii) to transfer the absorbed heat energy to the fluid in
contact or passing through it
• There are mainly two types of solar collectors
• Non concentrating or flat plate type solar collector
• Concentrating type solar collector
 Flat Plate Collector
• A flat plate collector is simple in construction and does not
require sun tracking. Therefore, it can be properly secured on
a rigid platform and thus becomes mechanically stronger than
those requiring flexibility for tracking purpose.
• As the collector is installed outdoors and exposed to
atmospheric disturbances (rain, storm, etc.), the flat plate
type is more likely to withstand harsh outdoor conditions.
• Also because of simple stationary design, a flat plate collector
requires little maintenance.
• The principal disadvantage of flat plate collector is that
because of absence of optical concentration, the area from
which heat is lost is large. Also due to same reason high
temperatures cannot be attained.
 Components of FPC

i) Glazing: This may be one or more sheets of glass or some

other radiation-transmitting material.
ii) Tubes/fins: These are made of conducting material. It
directs the heat transfer fluid from the inlet to the outlet.
iii) Absorber plate: This may be flat, corrugated or grooved
with tubes/fins.
iv) Header or manifolds: This admits and discharges the fluid.
v) Insulation: This minimises heat loss from the back and
sides of the FPC.
vi) Container or casing: This surrounds the various
components and protects them from dust and moisture, etc.
Disadvantages of Flat plate collector:
Limited to low temperature applications such as household water
heating.
• Collector efficiency
• It is defined as the ratio of energy actually absorbed by the
collector to the energy incident on the collector. The absorbed
energy by a collector is the solar energy which is transferred to the
transport fluid as heat energy.
• = Energy absorbed/solar incident energy
• Concentrating ratio
• It is defined as the ratio of the area of aperture of the collector
system to the area of the receiver. The aperture of the system is
the projected area of collector facing or normal to the sun.
• Temperature range
• It is the range of temperature to which the heat transporting fluid
is heated up by the collector. The Temperature range depends
upon the concentration ratio.
 Cylindrical Parabolic Concentrator
• It consists of a cylindrical parabolic trough reflector and a
metal tube receiver at its focal line. The receiver tube is
blackened at the outside surface to increase absorption. It
is rotated about one axis to track the sun.
• The heat transfer fluid flows through the receiver tube,
carrying the thermal energy to the next stage of the system.
• This type of collector may be oriented in any one of the
three directions: East-West, North-South or polar.
• The polar configuration intercepts more solar radiation per
unit area as compared to other modes and thus gives best
performance.
• The concentration ratio in the range of 5–30 may be
achieved from these collectors
Compound parabolic concentrator
 Linear Fresnel lens collector

• In this type of collectors, a concentrator in the form of Fresnel lens

is used. The Fresnel lens consists of fine and linear grooves formed
on one of the surfaces of some refracting material sheet while its
other surface is flat.
• The grooves provided on the sheet are in such a manner that these
behave similar to spherical lens to every incident light rays.
• The incident radiation therefore converges on the focal line of the
lens system where fluid tube is provided.
• The heat is transferred to the transport fluid flowing in the fluid
tube. A concentration ratio ranging from 10 to 30 is achieved. The
temperature range of such collectors is varied from 150 to 300 C.
Linear Fresnel lens collector
 Fixed Mirror Solar Concentrator
• Due to practical difficulty in manufacturing a large mirror
in a single piece in cylindrical parabolic shape, long narrow
mirror strips are used in this concentrator.
• The concentrator consists of fixed mirror strips arranged
on a circular reference cylinder with a tracking receiver
tube as shown in Fig. 5.11.
• The receiver tube is made to rotate about the center of
curvature of reflector module to track the sun.
• The image width at the absorber is ideally the same as the
projected width of a mirror element; the concentration
ratio is approximately the same as the number of mirror
strips
 Central Tower Receiver
• In central tower receiver collector, the receiver is located at
the top of a tower. Beam radiation is reflected on it from a
large number of independently controlled; almost flat
mirrors, known as heliostats, spread over a large area on the
ground, surrounding the tower.
• Thousands of such heliostats track the sun to direct the beam
radiation on the receiver from all sides.
• The heliostats, together act like a dilute paraboloid of very big
size. Concentration ratio of as high value as 3000 can be
obtained.
• The absorbed energy can be extracted from the receiver and
delivered at a temperature and pressure suitable for driving
turbines for power generation.
Fig. Central tower receiver
 Power Tower

• The advantage of this design above the parabolic

trough design is the higher temperature. Thermal
energy at higher temperatures can be converted to
electricity more efficiently and can be more cheaply
stored for later use.
• The disadvantage is that each mirror must have its
own dual-axis control, while in the parabolic trough
design one axis can be shared for a large array of
mirrors.
Figure 4.1: Types of concentrating collectors: (d) multisectional planar concentrator, (e)
compound parabolic concentrator, (f) parabolic trough, (g) Fresnel concentrator, (h) array
reflectors (heliostats) with a central receiver. Concentration of light on the receiver is achieved
by shaping the reflectors (mirrors) around the receiver (blue circle)
 Paraboloidal Dish Collector
(Scheffler Solar Concentrator)
When a parabola is rotated about its optical axis a
paraboloidal shape is produced. Beam radiation is focused
at a point in the paraboloid.
This requires two-axis tracking. It can have concentration
ratio ranging from 10 to few thousands and can yield
temperature up to 3000 °C.
Paraboloidal dish collectors of 6-7m in diameter are
commercially manufactured.
Paraboloidal Dish Collector
 Hemispherical Bowl Mirror Concentrator
• It consists of hemispherical fixed mirror, a tracking absorber
and supporting structure as shown in Fig. 5.14. All rays entering
the hemisphere after reflection cross the paraxial line at some
point between the focus and the mirror surface.
• Therefore, a linear absorber pivoted about the center of
curvature of the hemisphere intercepts all reflected rays.
• The absorber is to be moved so that its axis is always aligned
with solar rays passing through the center of the sphere. This
requires two-axis tracking.
• The absorber is either driven around a polar axis at a constant
angular speed of 15 degrees /hour or adjusted periodically
during the day.
• This type of concentrator gives lesser concentration, owing to
spherical aberration, than that obtained in paraboloidal
concentrator.
Hemispherical Bowl Mirror Concentrator
Thank You