Abstract

This paper presents new optical methods for the design of nontracking solar energy concentrators with acceptance angles of 60° in the elevation (altitude) plane and ±50° in azimuth sectors. We have designed and constructed a two-point corrected cylindrical stepped prism lens (SPL) with 30.48-cm aperture height and F/D ≅ 1, which focuses well over the acceptance interval. Image collapsing subreflector (ICS) surfaces are synthesized that reflect the incident illumination refracted by the lens onto a small fixed absorbing area or shelf ∼7.6 cm wide resulting in near maximum theoretical concentration ratios for these broad acceptance angles. Nearly 100% of the incident optical rays intercept the absorber shelf. The wide-angle and image collapsing optical properties were confirmed by laser and solar experiments. Rooftop thermal tests on a 30.5 × 30.5-cm collector section using selectively absorbing tubes with water as circulant were conducted that indicate aperture efficiencies of ∼60% could be expected on large area collectors based on this design.

© 1980 Optical Society of America

Information theory and solar energy collection

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