Characterization of Novel Mid-temperature CPC Solar Thermal Collectors

Abstract

In this paper we present the results and description of a system used to characterize the performance ofmid-temperature solar thermal collectors without using flow rate or heat capacity measurements. For this demonstration, we implement a testing stand using mineral oil as the heat transfer fluid. Twogenerations of CPC assisted, non-tracking evacuated solar thermal collector are tested up to 230 °C and presented. All three generations consist of metal glass evacuated tubes. The results show that byreducing the thermal resistance between the heat transfer fluid and selective coating and promoting higher concentration ratios using non-tracking concentrators, an evacuated tube CPC solar array can achieve 50% efficiency at 200 degree Celsius under a one sun condition.