ANALYTIC SOLUTIONS FOR THE OPTICAL-PROPERTIES OF V-TROUGH CONCENTRATORS

Closed-form analytic solutions that describe the optical behavior of V-trough concentrators are derived. The procedure analyzes the angular and spatial distribution of all the rays that undergo a given number of reflections (0, 1, 2), referred to as reflection modes. Then we obtain (1) the optical efficiency for beam and diffuse radiation, and (2) spatial and angular flux distribution on the absorber, with proper account being taken of reflective losses (in addition to the geometric losses of rejected rays). These are often essential data for evaluation of V-trough solar energy collectors, in particular for photovoltaic applications where homogeneous flux distributions are desirable.