Design and test of an annular fresnel solar concentrator to obtain a high-concentration solar energy flux

For covering some shortcomings of the traditional high concentrated solar concentrator, Annular Fresnel solar concentrator coupled with a circular Fresnel lens (AFSCFL) is developed and studied in the study. The AFSCFL mainly consists of an Annular Fresnel solar concentrator (AFSC), one circular Fresnel lens and a receiver. The AFSC was constructed by a series of annular mirrors. The circular Fresnel lens is located at the center of the AFSC. Simulation studies were performed between the AFSCFL and the AFSC. The results showed that average radiation, maximum radiation, and solar power on the receiver of the AFSCFL were 9.49%, 10.70%, and 9.49% higher than the AFSC. Besides, a test bench was designed and constructed to investigate the solar collecting performance of the AFSCFL. The comparisons experiments of variable flow and constant flow on the AFSC and AFSCFL were carried out. The results showed that in the low solar radiation condition the thermal efficiency of the AFSCFL could be 20% higher than that of the AFSC. In the high solar radiation condition, the thermal efficiencies of the AFSCFL and the AFSC were similar. This AFSCFL has excellent heating collect performance under this initial test bench. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A new type of Annular Fresnel solar concentrator coupled with a circular Fresnel lens (AFSCFL) was developed in the study to improve solar collecting efficiency. Simulation studies and comparison experiments were conducted, showing that AFSCFL has higher thermal efficiency than AFSC under low solar radiation conditions.