• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.989-996
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• 2011

An understanding of the concentrated solar flux is critical for the analysis and design of solar-energy-utilization systems. The current work focuses on the development of an algorithm that uses the Monte Carlo ray-tracing method with excellent flexibility and expandability; this method considers both solar limb darkening and the surface slope error of reflectors, thereby analyzing the solar flux. A comparison of the modeling results with measurements at the solar furnace in Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) show good agreement within a measurement uncertainty of 10%. The model evaluates the concentration performance of the KIER solar furnace with a tracking accuracy of 2 mrad and a maximum attainable concentration ratio of 4400 sun. Flux variations according to measurement position and flux distributions depending on acceptance angles provide detailed information for the design of chemical reactors or secondary concentrators.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.927-934
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• 2015

In this study, we numerically investigated the concentration characteristics of a linear Fresnel reflector system that can drive a solar thermal absorption refrigeration system to be installed in Saudi Arabia. Using an optical modeling program based on the Monte Carlo ray-tracing method, we simulated the concentrated solar flux, concentration efficiency, and concentrated solar energy on four representative days of the year - the vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice. Except the winter solstice, the concentrations were approximately steady from 9 AM to 15 PM, and the concentration efficiencies exceed 70%. Moreover, the maximum solar flux around the solar receiver center changes only within the range of $13.0{\sim}14.6kW/m^2$. When we investigated the effects of the receiver installation height, reflector width, and reflector gap, the optimal receiver installation height was found to be 5 m. A smaller reflector width had a greater concentration efficiency. However, the design of the reflector width should be based on the capacity of the refrigeration system because it dominantly affects the concentrated solar energy. The present study was an essential prerequisite for thermal analyses of the solar receiver. Thus, an optical-thermal integration study in the future will assist with the performance prediction and design of the entire system.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.41-47
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• 2011

The volumetric solar receiver is a key element of solar power plants using air. The solar flux distribution inside the receiver should be a priori known for its heat transfer analysis. Previous works have not considered characteristics of the solar flux although they change with radiative properties of receiver materials and receiver geometries. A numerical method, which is based on the Monte Carlo ray-tracing method, was developed in the current work. The solar flux distributions inside multi-channeled volumetric solar receivers were calculated when light is concentrated at the KIER solar furnace. It turned out that 99 percentage of the concentrated solar energy is absorbed within 15mm channel length for the channel radius smaller than 1.5mm. If the concentrated light is assumed to be diffuse, the absorbed solar energy at the channel entrance region is over predicted while the light penetrates more deeply into the channel. Once the presented results are imported into the heat transfer analysis, one could examine effects of material property and geometry of the receiver on air temperature profiles.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.82-90
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• 2013

Concentration errors critically affect the performance of solar concentrator, so their evaluation is important to the concentrated solar power technology. However, the evaluation is very challenging because error sources are various and not easy to measure individually. Therefore, the integrated effect of concentration errors is often more interesting and useful for large-scale applications. In the present work, we analytically investigate and classify various concentration error sources and then explain that the effect of various concentration errors can be represented in terms of a root mean square value of reflector surface slope error. We present an indirect approach to assessing the reflector surface slope error by comparing solar flux measurement data with modeling calculations. We apply the approach for solar furnaces with different thermal capacity and investigate its advantages and disadvantages.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.8-12
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• 1979

A cylindrical solar energy focusing collector constructed using aluminum-laminated film plastered on the acrylic plate and examined its performances under the Korean local weather conditions. The reflector surface of this collector· evidenced the reflectivity of 66.1%,which was satisfactory value that could be applicable to the solar collector for its low price and at·availability. Collector efficiency measured at the heat exchanger fluid in absorber-copper pipe black colored was 73% and the resulting natural convection of the heat transfer media (water) was recorded up to 2.82 cm/sec. The overall efficiency of the solar heater in operation was 28.6% and it was correlated with the solar energy input and the temperature elevation difference gained.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1383-1389
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• 2011

The current study focuses on the consistent analysis of heat transfer in multichannel volumetric solar receivers used for concentrating solar power. Changes in the properties of the absorbing material and channel dimensions are considered in an optical model based on the Monte Carlo ray-tracing method and in a one-dimensional heat transfer model that includes conduction, convection, and radiation. The optical model results show that most of the solar radiation energy is absorbed within a very small channel length of around 15 mm because of the large length-to-radius ratio. Classification of radiation losses reveals that at low absorptivity, increased reflection losses cause reduction of the receiver efficiency, notwithstanding the decrease in the emission loss. As the average temperature increases because of the large channel radius or small mass flow rate, both emission and reflection losses increase but the effect of emission losses prevails.