Theoretical and experimental analysis on eciency factors and

heat removal factors of Fresnel lens solar collector using dierent

cavity receivers
W.T. Xie
a
, Y.J. Dai
b,
, R.Z. Wang
b
a
Research Center of Solar Power and Refrigeration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
b
Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Received 29 November 2011; received in revised form 15 March 2012; accepted 15 May 2012
Available online 9 June 2012
Communicated by: Associate Editor Brian Norton
Abstract
The eciency and heat removal factors are useful parameters for evaluating the thermal performance of concentrating solar collec-
tors. In this work, the eciency factors and heat removal factors of Fresnel lens solar collectors using dierent kinds of point-focus cavity
receivers were obtained both theoretically and experimentally. An experimental unit was built, whereby eight kinds of cavity receivers,
namely: conical, spherical, cylindrical, hemispherical, positive cone frustum, reverse cone frustum, heteroconical and domical, were
tested and analyzed. It is found that the theoretical results agree well with the test results. For the point-focus Fresnel lens solar collector,
the conical cavity receiver showed the best thermal performance, with a highest theoretical heat removal factor of 0.868. Eect of conical
cavity parameters on the eciency and heat removal factors were studied. Results showed that under given operation conditions, the
optimum aperture diameter of the cavity, the optimum inside diameter of the receiver tube and the optimum vertex angle of the cross
section through the symmetric axis of the receiver are 80 mm, 15 mm and 60, respectively. For better thermal performance, the geomet-
rical concentration ratio of the studied Fresnel lens solar collector should be more than 500.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Solar energy; Fresnel solar collector; Cavity receiver; Eciency factor; Heat removal factor
1. Introduction
The solar collector is the heart for all kinds of solar ther-
mal systems, in which sunlight is trapped and converted into
heat. A solar collector can convert solar radiation into heat
as eectively as possible, which can be transferred to a cir-
culating uid with minimal heat loss. There are two types
of solar collectors: non-concentrating collectors and con-
centrating collectors. Concentrating collectors use reec-
tors, lenses or other optical concentrators to change the
direction of incident solar radiation and concentrate it to
the receiver. The receiver is basically a heat exchanger where
the concentrated solar energy is intercepted and trans-
formed into thermal energy. Fresnel lens has become an
important choice for solar thermal conversion applications
(Xie et al., 2011). This is because of its various advantages
such as small volume, light weight, ease of mass production
at low cost and high energy density. Moreover, Fresnel
lenses can be scaled as large or as small as desired, restricted
only by fabrication capabilities (Valmiki et al., 2011). Gen-
erally, there are two types of Fresnel lenses: line-focus Fres-
nel lens and point-focus Fresnel lens. The former category is
usually used for low to medium concentrated (the geomet-
rical concentration ratio is less than 100) photovoltaic or
photovoltaic/thermal systems (Sonneveld et al., 2011; Kor-
ecko et al., 2010), solar control of building and greenhouses
0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2012.05.017

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 2134204358; fax: +86 2134206814.

E-mail address: yjdai@sjtu.edu.cn (Y.J. Dai).
www.elsevier.com/locate/solener
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471
(Chemisana et al., 2009; Tripanagnostopoulos et al., 2007)
and solar thermal collectors (Jirka et al., 1999; Zhai et al.,
2010). The latter lens category is often used for high concen-
trated (the geometrical concentration ratio is more than
100) photovoltaic applications (Whiteld et al., 1999; Araki
et al., 2005; Yamaguchi et al., 2005) and solar thermal appli-
cations such as metal surface modication (Sierra and Vaz-
quez, 2005a,b), solar-pumped laser Yabe et al., 2007;
Ohkubo et al., 2009) and Fresnel solar collectors (Valmiki
et al., 2011; Xie et al., 2011). Point-focus Fresnel lens can
obtain higher temperature for a smaller area than line-focus
Fresnel lens, and is more suitable for high temperature solar
thermal conversion application. The receiver is one of the
key components of a concentrating solar system as its per-
formance directly aects the eciency of the whole system.
Because of the high operating temperatures, radiation losses
strongly degrade the eciency of the receiver; therefore, a
cavity design is an optimum solution. In a cavity receiver,
the radiation reected or refracted from an optical solar
concentrator passes through an aperture into a box-like
structure before impinging on the heat transfer surface.
Then, the heat is absorbed at the heat transfer surface and
transmitted into a heat transfer uid (HTF). The main pur-
pose of a cavity receiver is to uniformly distribute the high
ux incident rays uniformly on its aperture over a large
internal surface area of the cavity in order to reduce the
peak ux absorbed at any one point. Cavity receivers con-
tinue to gain more attention of researchers due to its simple
structure, cost-eectiveness, and good thermal and optical
characteristics (Xie et al., 2011).
The thermal performance indicators of a solar thermal
systemtypically include: collector eciency factor, collector
heat removal factor, thermal eciency, overall heat loss
coecient, time constant, among others. Nevertheless, the
collector eciency factor and collector heat removal factor
are the main indicators of the solar collector thermal perfor-
mance. The latter parameter is very useful for collector
design and optimization and could be used to evaluate all
types of solar collectors. At present, there are mature theo-
retical expressions for the eciency and heat removal fac-
tors for at-plate solar collector (Moummi et al., 2004;
Hellstro m, 2004; Eisenmann et al., 2004; Kudish et al.,
2002; Tsilingiris, 2000, 2002; Shariah et al., 1999; Khalifa,
1998), CPC solar collector (Norton et al., 1989; Rabl
et al., 1980) and evacuated tube solar collector (Ma et al.,
2010; Siddiqui, 1997; Ezekwe, 1990). However, those for
concentrating solar collectors, especially the point-focus
Fresnel lens solar collectors with cavity receivers have sel-
dom been reported.
In the present work, the collector eciency factor and
collector heat removal factor of point-focus solar collectors
using PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) Fresnel lens and
cavity receivers were derived and studied, both theoretically
and experimentally. Point-focus Fresnel solar collector pro-
totype and testing systems were manufactured and used to
evaluate the thermal performance of dierent designs of
Nomenclature
A
a
area of the Fresnel lens (m
2
)
A
r
area of the receiver (m
2
)
C
g
geometrical concentration ratio
C
p
specic heat capacity (J/kg C)
D outer diameter of the tube (m)
D
i
inside diameter of the tube (m)
I global solar radiation (W/m
2
)
I
b
beam solar radiation (W/m
2
)
L the width of each facet of a Fresnel lens (m)
L
0
the length of the receiver tube (m)
Q
0
u
useful energy output (W)
S solar energy absorbed by a collector per unit
area of the receiver (W/m
2
)
S
0
concentrated solar energy by the Fresnel lens so-
lar concentrator outside the cavity receiver (W/
m
2
)
T temperature (C)
T
b
average inner surface temperature of the recei-
ver (C)
T
o
outlet temperature (C)
T
i
inlet temperature (C)
T
f
collector average temperature (C)
h

convective heat transfer coecient inside the

tube (W/m
2
C)
U
L
dened overall heat loss coecient (W/m
2
C)
U
0
L
overall heat loss coecient (W/m
2
C)
L eective length of the receiver tube (m)
l the depth of the cavity receiver (m)
_ m mass ow rate (kg/s)
n refractive index of Fresnel lens
W diameter of the cavity aperture (m)
Greek symbols
g collector thermal eciency
g
o
optical eciency
h vertex angle of cross section ()
k thermal conductivity (W/m C)
Subscripts
a ambient
b cavity inner surface
f uid
r cavity receiver
W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471 2459
cavity receivers. The experimental and theoretical results
were compared as a procedure to nd an eective model
for evaluating the performance of the concentrating solar
collector based on point-focus Fresnel lens and determining
the optimal cavity of the receiver.
2. Point-focus Fresnel lens solar collector
A point-focus Fresnel lens solar collector prototype
using cavity receivers was built for testing the thermal
performance as illustrated schematically in Fig. 1. The sys-
tem consisted of a high concentration point-focus PMMA
Fresnel lens solar concentrator, a point-focus cavity recei-
ver and a two-axis tracking unit, a thermostat oil bath, a cir-
culating oil pump, a ball valve, a ow meter, etc. In this
research, eight kinds of cavity receivers, which included
conical, spherical, cylindrical, hemispherical, positive cone
frustum, reverse cone frustum, heteroconical and domical,
were tested and their thermal performance compared both
theoretically and experimentally.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram and photo of the point-focus Fresnel solar collector testing rig.
2460 W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471
2.1. Geometrical concentration ratio of Fresnel lens
Fresnel lenses have been widely used in solar thermal
collectors which concentrate light by refraction. The sur-
face of a Fresnel lens is made up of many small concentric
grooves which behave like many prisms. A schematic dia-
gram of typical Fresnel lens for solar concentration appli-
cation is illustrated in Fig. 2. In this case, it is a line-
focus Fresnel lens and the at side is facing up to receive
the solar rays without chromatic aberration and spherical
aberration. It is assumed that the receiver is a plane. The
geometrical concentration ratio is dened as (Liu, 2010)
C
g

A
a
A
r

b
W
1
If all the solar radiation refracted by the Fresnel lens
could fall on the plane, the condition is
W
0
P2R
n
tan d
s
2
where d
s
is the half daylighting angle between the solar and
the earth which is 16
0
. Because b and b
0
are almost the
same, then
tan b % tan b
0

W
W
0
3
So the geometrical concentration ratio of the Fresnel
lens is
C
g

b
2R
n
tan d
s
tan b
4
According to the geometrical relationship in Fig. 2
R
n

r
2
2
f t Ltan a=2
2

5
tan b
r
2
f t Ltan a=2
6
Substituting R
n
and tanb into Eq. (5), then
C
g

107:4bf t L tan a=2
r
2

r
2
2
f t L tan a=2
2
7
If it is a point-focus Fresnel lens, the geometrical con-
centration ratio is
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of a typical Fresnel lens for solar concentration application.
W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471 2461
C
0
g
C
g

107:4bf t Ltan a=2

r
2

r
2
2
f t Ltan a=2
2

11540:9b
2
f t Ltan a=2
2
r
2
2
r
2
2
f t L tan a=2
2

8
where a is the slope angle of each facet in the Fresnel lens.
Considering the geometrical relationship in Fig. 2 (He, 2009)
tan a
sin u sin b

n
2
sin
2
u

cos b
9
where
sin b
r
2

r
2
2
f t Ltan a=2
2
10
cos b
f t Ltan a=2

r
2
2
f t L tan a=2
2
11
sin u
r
1

r
2
1
d
2
12
Generally, the smooth side of a Fresnel lens faces the
sun in order to prevent dust from falling on the grooves
which may cause diculty when cleaning. Since the solar
radiation is composed of approximately parallel light rays,
which penetrates the smooth side of the lens and passes to
the other side, then, d = 1 and / = 0, and
tan a
sin b
n cos b
13
Consequently, a can be derived from Eqs. 11, 12, and 14
if r
2
is a constant or conversely, r
2
can be derived if a is a
constant, and the geometrical concentration ratio of a
Fresnel lens can then be easily obtained.
2.2. Point-focus cavity receivers
Fig. 3 shows eight kinds of Fresnel lens solar collector
using point-focus cavity receivers. These receivers were
made using round copper pipes wound into dierent spring
shapes. The aperture of the cavity was covered with a ultra-
white plane glass which could allow the refracted solar radi-
ation fromthe high concentration at-plate PMMAFresnel
lens into the cavity and also aid in reducing heat loss.
3. Eciency factor and heat removal factor
For a concentrating solar collector, like other energy
conversion devices, the thermal eciency is a very impor-
tant performance measuring parameter. In general, the
instantaneous eciency equation of the solar collector is
expressed as (Due and Beckman, 2006)
g g
o
U
0
L
T
b
T
a

I
b
14
It is dicult to determine the value of T
b
, however, the
collector inlet and outlet temperatures are relatively easy to
determine. Consequently, the collector average tempera-
ture T
f
= (T
i
+ T
o
)/2 may be used to represent T
b
in the
eciency equation, and may be expressed as
g F
0
g
o
U
0
L
T
f
T
a

I
b

15
where the collector eciency factor F
0
represents the ratio
of the actual useful energy gain to the useful gain that
would result if the collector absorbing surface was at the lo-
cal uid temperature. The collector eciency factor F
0
is
the physical quantity of collector heat exchange structure.
Although the collector average temperature can easily
be measured, the collector outlet temperature varies with
the solar irradiance and sometimes it is dicult to control
the collector average temperature during a test. Hence, the
collector inlet temperature could be used to represent T
b
,
and the eciency equation may be expressed as
g F
R
g
o
U
0
L
T
i
T
a

I
b

16
The collector heat removal factor F
R
relates the actual use-
ful energy gain of a collector to the useful gain if the whole col-
lector surface were at a temperature equal to the uid inlet
temperature. The collector heat removal factor F
R
is a dimen-
sionless parameter which indicates the heat transfer character-
istics of the collector and the inuence of uid convective heat
transfer on the collector thermal performance.
In general, the collector eciency factor F
0
is a measure of
how good the heat transfer is between the heat transfer uid
and the receiver, while the collector heat removal factor F
R
is
a measure of the solar collector performance as a heat
exchanger, as it can be interpreted as the ratio of actual heat
transfer to the maximum possible heat transfer. Moreover,
both factors could reect the physical construction features,
optical performance and operating parameters of a solar col-
lector, and are aected only by the solar collector character-
istics such as the uid type and the uid ow rate.
Consequently, these factors could be used to evaluate the
thermal performance of any solar collector more conve-
niently, especially for Fresnel lens solar collectors to deriving
the optimal cavity receiver in this paper.
3.1. Point-focus Fresnel lens solar collectors
In order to model the Fresnel lens solar collectors using
point-focus cavity receivers, a number of assumptions which
do not go against the basic physical principles were made
and are as follows:
(1) The collector is in a steady state.
(2) Two-dimensional temperature eld of the collector
plate is divided into two mutually independent one-
dimensional temperature eld: x direction of the col-
lector plate and y direction of heat transfer uid ow.
(3) Glass cover is opaque to infrared radiation.
2462 W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471
(4) No solar energy is absorbed by the cover.
(5) Heat ow through the glass cover and the back insu-
lation is one dimensional.
(6) Temperature drop through the glass cover is negligible.
(7) The sky can be considered as a blackbody for the
long-wavelength radiation at an equivalent sky tem-
perature. Since the sky temperature does not aect
the results much, this is considered equal to the
ambient temperature.
(8) Temperature gradients around tubes can be neglected.
(9) Properties of materials are independent of
temperature.
(10) Loss through front and back are to the same ambient
temperature.
(11) Dust and dirt eects on the glass cover and Fresnel
lens solar concentrator are negligible.
(12) Shading of the collector absorber plate is
negligible.
(a) Conical cavity receiver
(b) Spherical cavity receiver
(c) Cylindrical cavity receiver
(d) Hemispherical cavity receiver
Fig. 3. Schematic diagrams and photos of eight kinds of point-focus cavity receivers used for Fresnel lens solar collector.
W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471 2463
The collector eciency factor and collector heat removal
factor of point-focus Fresnel solar collector using conical
cavity receiver were derivedtheoretically, basedonthe cavity
structure of the receivers as shown in Fig. 3. In steady state,
the performance of a solar collector can be described by an
energy balance indicating the distribution of the incident
solar energy into useful energy gain, thermal losses and
Fig. 4. Energy balance on the uid element.
(e) Positive cone frustum cavity receiver

(f) Reverse cone frustum cavity receiver

(g) Heteroconical cavity receiver
(h) Domical cavity receiver
Fig 3. (continued)
2464 W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471
optical losses (Due and Beckman, 2006). The useful energy
output of the collector is
Q
0
u
A
r
S U
0
L
T
b
T
a
17
where A
r
is the area of the receiver, T
b
is the average inner sur-
face temperature of the receiver, and S is the solar energy ab-
sorbed by a collector per unit area of the receiver dened by
equations
S
0
p
W
2

2
S
1
2
pW
W
2 sinh=2
18
g
o
I
b
A
a
S
0
A
r
19
Table 1
A summary of the collector eciency factor and collector heat removal factor of Fresnel solar collector using point-focus cavity receivers.
a
Types of cavity receiver Collector eciency factors Collector heat removal factors
Conical cavity receiver F
0

1=W
4
C
0
g
pW
2
sinh=2

4Dsinh=2
pW DW
1
pD
i
h
fi

1
2pk
ln
D
D
i

UL F
R

4 _ mC
p
pW
2
U
L
C
0
g
sinh=2
1exp
pW
2
DW U
L
F
0
4Dsinh=2 _ mC
p

Spherical cavity receiver
F
0

1=W
81cosh=2
C
0
g
pW
2
sin
2
h=2

1
L
1
pDi hfi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di

U
L
F
R

81cosh=2 _ mCp
pW
2
ULC
0
g
sin
2
h=2
1 exp
WL
0
ULF
0
_ mCp

L
0

pW sinh=22pD hD hW 2p
2
W
2
8Dsin
2
h=2
Cylindrical cavity receiver
F
0

1=W
16l
C
0
g
pW
3

D
pWl

1
pDi hfi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di
U
L
F
R

16l _ mC
p
pW
3
U
L
C
0
g
1 exp
pW
2
lU
L
F
0
D _ mC
p

Hemispherical cavity receiver
F
0

1=W
8
C
0
g
pW
2

8D
p
2
W DW
1
pDi hfi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di

U
L
F
R

8 _ mC
p
pW
2
U
L
C
0
g
1exp
p
2
W
2
DW U
L
F
0
8D _ mC
p

Positive cone frustum cavity receiver
F
0

1=W
4
ApW
2

Dctgh=2 cosh=2
2pllWctgh=2
1
pDi hfi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di

U
L
A
C
0
g
W
2
2lWctgh=2
2
ctgh=2 cosh=2

W
2
sinh=2

F
R

4 _ mC
p
pW
2
U
L
A
1 exp
WL
0
U
L
F
0
_ mC
p

L
0

2pl l Wctgh=2
Dctgh=2 cosh=2
Reverse cone frustum cavity receiver
F
0

1=W
4
ApW
2

Dctgh=2 cosh=2
2plWctgh=2l
1
pDi hfi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di

U
L
A
C
0
g
W
2
W
2
sinh=2

Wctgh=22l
2
ctgh=2 cosh=2

F
R

4 _ mC
p
pW
2
U
L
A
1 exp
WL
0
U
L
F
0
_ mC
p

L
0

2pl Wctgh=2 l
Dctgh=2 cosh=2
Heteroconical cavity receiver
F
0

1=W
4
ApW
2

Dctgh=2 cosh=2
pl2Wctgh=2l
1
pDi hfi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di

U
L
A
C
0
g
W
2
sinh=2
2fW lctgh=2
2
tgh=2 W
2
g
F
R

4 _ mC
p
pW
2
U
L
A
1 exp
WL
0
U
L
F
0
_ mC
p

L
0

pl2Wctgh=2 l
Dctgh=2 cosh=2
Domical cavity receiver
F
0

1=W
16
C
0
g
pW
3

8D
pW 8l4W pDpW
1
pDi hfi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di

U
L
F R
16l _ mCp
pW
3
ULC
1exp
pW
2
8l 4W pDpW ULF
0
8D _ mCp

a
Where
C
0
g

A
a
A
r

46139f t L tan a=2

2
b
2
=4 f t Ltan a=2
2
for point-focus Fresnel lens.
W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471 2465
Considering the outermost facet of the Fresnel lens
r
2
% b/2 in Fig. 2, then
C
0
g

A
a
A
r

46139f t Ltan a=2

2
b
2
=4 f t L tan a=2
2
20
where S
0
is the concentrated solar energy intensity from a
high concentration at-plate PMMA Fresnel lens solar
concentrator outside the cavity receiver, W is the diameter
of the cavity, h is the vertex angle of the cross section
through the symmetric axis of the receiver, A
a
is the aper-
ture area of the Fresnel lens solar concentrator, C
0
g
is the
geometrical concentration ratio of point-focus Fresnel lens
which could be derived from Eqs. (9)(14). In this case, it is
assumed that the cavity is a blackbody which could absorb
all the concentrated solar rays entering the aperture. In
addition, the concentrated solar energy in the cavity is uni-
form at all directions. Hence, S g
o
I
b
C
0
g
sin
h
2
, the overall
heat loss coecient U
0
L
is dened as
U
0
L
U
L
C
0
g
sin
h
2
21
Meanwhile, the useful gain from Eq. (18) must be trans-
ferred to the uid, which can be expressed in terms of the
two resistances as
Q
0
u

L
0
T
b
T
f

1
pD
i
h
fi

1
2pk
ln
D
D
i
22
where D
i
is the inner diameter of the copper tube, D is the
outer diameter of the copper tube, h

is the convective heat

transfer coecient inside the tube, k is the thermal conduc-
tivity of copper, L
0
is the total length of the copper tube
L
0

pW D W
4Dsinh=2
23
Solving Eq. (23) for T
b
, substituting it into Eq. (18) and
solving the results for the useful energy gain
Q
0
u

S U
0
L
T
f
T
a

4
pW
2

4Dsinh=2
pW DW
1
pDi h
fi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di

U
0
L
WF
0
g
o
I
b
U
L
T
f
T
a
24
then the collector eciency factor F
0
is expressed as
F
0

1=W
4
C
0
g
pW
2
sinh=2

4Dsinh=2
pW DW
1
pDi h
fi

1
2pk
ln
D
Di

U
L
25
The useful gain as calculated from Eq. (25) is ultimately
transferred to the uid. Refer to the energy balance on uid
element (Fig. 4). An energy balance on the uid owing
through a receiver tube of length Dy as
_ mC
p
dT
f
dy
WF
0
g
o
I
b
U
L
T
f
T
a

0 26
it was assumed that F
0
and U
L
are independent of position,
then the solution is
T
f
T
a
g
o
I
b
=U
L
T
i
T
a
g
o
I
b
=U
L
exp
U
L
WyF
0
_ mC
p

27
if the receiver tube has a length of L in the ow direction
then the outlet uid temperature T
o
is obtained by substi-
tuting L for y in Eq. (28).
T
o
T
a
g
o
I
b
=U
L
T
i
T
a
g
o
I
b
=U
L
exp
U
L
WL
0
F
0
_ mC
p

28
Finally, the collector heat removal factor F
R
is dened
as
F
R

_ mC
p
T
o
T
i

A
r
S U
0
L
T
i
T
a

_ mC
p
p
W
2

2
U
L
C
0
g
sinh=2
T
o
T
i
gI
b
=U
L
T
i
T
a

_ mC
p
pW
4
2
U
L
C
0
g
sinh=2
1
g
o
I
b
=U
L
T
o
T
a

g
o
I
b
=U
L
T
i
T
a

_ mC
p
pW
4
2
U
L
C
0
g
sinh=2
1exp
WL
0
U
L
F
0
_ mC
p

4 _ mC
p
pW
2
U
L
46139f tLtana=2
2
b
2
=4f tLtana=2
2
sinh=2
1exp
pW
2
DW U
L
F
0
4Dsinh=2 _ mC
p

29
then the actual useful energy gain is
Q
0
u
A
r
F
R
46139f t L tan a=2
2
b
2
=4 f t L tan a=2
2
sinh=2g
o
I
b
U
L
T
i
T
a
30
Table 2
Specied uniform geometrical parameters of point-focus cavity receivers.
Conical
cavity
receiver
Spherical
cavity
receiver
Cylindrical
cavity
receiver
Hemispherical
cavity receiver
Positive cone
frustum cavity
receiver
Reverse cone
frustum cavity
receiver
Heteroconical
cavity
receiver
Domical
cavity
receiver
Aperture
diameter
W (mm)
100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Maximum
depth l
(mm)
100 100 100 100 100
The vertex
angle h ()
60 60 60 60
2466 W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471
For other kinds of point-focus Fresnel solar collector
using cavity receivers, the same method is adopted to
obtain the theoretical expressions. A summary of collector
eciency factors and collector heat removal factors are
presented in Table 1.
3.2. Experimental validation
Thermal performance of the point-focus Fresnel lens
solar collector with dierent cavity receivers was studied
experimentally at dierent inlet uid temperature levels.
In order to facilitate comparison of the thermal perfor-
mance of Fresnel lens solar collector using point-focus cav-
ity receivers, some uniform geometrical parameters of these
cavities were specied, and are illustrated in Table 2.
Firstly, the experimental data were obtained and recorded;
secondly, the experimental data are processed and the solar
thermal eciency tting curves and formulas were derived;
thirdly, the overall heat loss coecients were obtained; and
nally, the experimental collector factors were determined
from the gradient of each tted formula divided by the
overall heat loss coecient. Additionally, the theoretical
collector factors were obtained using the experimentally
obtained overall heat loss coecient, structural parameters
of the cavities and the appropriate physical parameters.
The theoretical and experimental values of the eciency
factors and the heat removal factors of a Fresnel lens solar
collector using point-focus cavity receivers are presented in
Table 3. As can be seen in Table 3, when the inlet uid tem-
perature was 100 C, the conical cavity receiver had the
highest eciency and heat removal factors compared to
any other kinds of point-focus cavity receivers. The exper-
imental eciency factor was 0.904, while the experimental
heat removal factor was 0.890. Both theoretical and exper-
imental results showed that the spherical cavity receiver
had a higher eciency factor and heat removal factor than
the cylindrical cavity receiver, the hemispherical cavity
receiver and the domical cavity receiver. Moreover, the
Table 3
Theoretical and experimental results of the eciency factor and heat removal factor of Fresnel solar collector using point-focus cavity receivers.
Working
condition
Conical
cavity
receiver
Spherical
cavity
receiver
Cylindrical
cavity
receiver
Hemispherical
cavity receiver
Positive cone
frustum cavity
receiver
Reverse cone
frustum cavity
receiver
Heteroconical
cavity receiver
Domical
cavity
receiver
100 C Theoretical F
0
0.910 0.904 0.896 0.881 0.863 0.872 0.850 0.875
Experimental
F
0
0.904 0.894 0.887 0.872 0.857 0.863 0.844 0.868
Theoretical
F
R
0.901 0.890 0.882 0.876 0.852 0.858 0.841 0.861
Experimental
F
R
0.890 0.882 0.876 0.869 0.846 0.851 0.832 0.857
150 C Theoretical F
0
0.875 0.868 0.861 0.848 0.838 0.842 0.815 0.845
Experimental
F
0
0.866 0.858 0.852 0.841 0.831 0.833 0.809 0.838
Theoretical
F
R
0.868 0.861 0.854 0.843 0.825 0.831 0.801 0.835
Experimental
F
R
0.858 0.851 0.847 0.837 0.819 0.826 0.794 0.830
200 C Theoretical F
0
0.858 0.846 0.841 0.825 0.816 0.823 0.791 0.827
Experimental
F
0
0.725 0.701 0.696 0.671 0.664 0.669 0.647 0.675
Theoretical
F
R
0.849 0.841 0.833 0.821 0.805 0.811 0.779 0.813
Experimental
F
R
0.704 0.682 0.676 0.660 0.646 0.654 0.636 0.661
250 C Theoretical F
0
0.867 0.858 0.851 0.838 0.828 0.832 0.805 0.825
Experimental
F
0
0.736 0.714 0.705 0.678 0.670 0.672 0.653 0.682
Theoretical
F
R
0.858 0.851 0.844 0.833 0.815 0.821 0.791 0.825
Experimental
F
0
0.721 0.697 0.691 0.675 0.662 0.668 0.651 0.686
300 C Theoretical F
0
0.881 0.876 0.874 0.867 0.856 0.864 0.838 0.867
Theoretical
F
R
0.873 0.871 0.869 0.862 0.843 0.853 0.824 0.858
350 C Theoretical F
0
0.856 0.849 0.846 0.8259 0.818 0.827 0.793 0.829
Theoretical
F
R
0.847 0.843 0.838 0.826 0.807 0.815 0.776 0.818
W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471 2467
spherical cavity receiver had smaller eciency factor and
heat removal factor as compared to the conical cavity recei-
ver. Nevertheless, the eciency factor and heat removal
factor of the positive cone frustum cavity receiver, the
reverse cone frustum cavity receiver and the heteroconical
cavity receiver were the lowest among the eight types of
receivers. In addition, the heteroconical cavity receiver
had the smallest eciency factor and heat removal factor
because of its complicated structure which may lead to
large heat losses. When the inlet uid temperatures were
150 C, 200 C and 250 C, similar trend of the results were
obtained.
Furthermore, it was found out that the main factor
which inuenced the heat removal factor considerably was
the overall heat loss coecient. For example, considering
the conical cavity receiver; when the inlet uid temperature
was 100 C, the overall heat loss coecient was 78 W/
(m
2
K); when the inlet uid temperature was 150 C, the
overall heat loss coecient was 100 W/(m
2
K). The corre-
sponding values of the experimental eciency factor for
the two inlet temperature conditions were 0.904 and
0.866, whereas the experimental heat removal factors were
0.890 and 0.858, respectively. Moreover, the relative error
of both the eciency factors and the heat removal factors
(dierence between the theoretical and experimental results)
was within 5%.
The eciency factors and the heat removal factors could
be obtained theoretically when the inlet uid temperature
was higher than 150 C. The theoretical results are also
shown in Table 3. As seen in Table 3, the eciency factors
and heat removal factors of point-focus Fresnel solar col-
lector using conical cavity receiver were higher than those
of the other receivers. The highest inlet uid temperature
tested was 350 C, limited by the safety parameters of the
heat transfer uid. Fig. 5 illustrates the relationship
between the inlet uid temperature and the collector
Fig. 5. The relationship between the inlet uid temperature and the
collector factors (conical cavity receiver).
Fig. 6. The relationship between the diameter of the cavity aperture and
the collector factors (conical cavity receiver).
Fig. 7. The relationship between the inside diameter of the receiver tube
and the collector factors (conical cavity receiver).
Fig. 8. The relationship between the vertex angle of cross section and the
collector factors (conical cavity receiver).
2468 W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471
factors of the point-focus Fresnel lens solar collector using
conical cavity receiver. When the inlet uid temperature
increased from 100 C to 200 C, the heat removal factors
decrease from 0.901 to 0.849, which may be attributed
to the considerable increase in the heat loss coecient.
When the inlet uid temperature increased from 200 C
to 350 C, the heat removal factors rst increased, before
decreased again as the heat convection heat transfer
coecient of receiver tube and heat transfer uid increased
considerably while the overall heat loss coecient
increased not much. Nevertheless, when the inlet uid tem-
perature increased from 300 C to 350 C, the theoretical
heat removal factors decreased from 0.873 to 0.847 mainly
because that the overall heat loss coecient increased con-
siderably while the heat convection heat transfer coecient
increased not much. Meanwhile, the experimental results
show that when the inlet uid temperatures were 200 C
and 250 C, the heat removal factors were 0.704 and
0.721, respectively. The heat removal factors decreased sig-
nicantly with increase in temperature and a larger devia-
tion between the theoretical and experimental results of
20% was observed, which was due to the higher overall
heat loss coecient which is more than 150 W/(m
2
K).
Consequently, prediction results showed that when the
inlet uid temperature was above 200 C, the point-focus
Fresnel solar collector using conical cavity receiver had
worse thermal performance because of higher overall heat
loss coecient.
4. Results and discussion
It can be seen from the theoretical expressions that the
main factors, which have strong inuence on the eciency
factor and heat removal factor of Fresnel lens solar collec-
tor using point-focus cavity receivers, are structural param-
eters of the cavities, overall heat loss coecient, geometrical
concentration ratio, convection heat transfer coecient of
receiver tube and the properties of working uid, the inner
diameter of the receiver tube, among others. Since the opti-
mization processes for the dierent cavity receivers based
on the two dimensionless parameters are similar, here we
just analyze and optimize the point-focus Fresnel lens solar
collector using conical cavity receiver.
The eect of the diameter of the cavity aperture, the
inside diameter of the receiver tube, the vertex angle of
cross section through the symmetric axis of the receiver,
geometrical concentration ratio, convection heat transfer
coecient of receiver tube, and the overall heat loss coe-
cient on the eciency factors and the heat removal factors
were analyzed. The calculation conditions are taken the
same as the above section. It is assumed that the other
parameters are kept constant when one specic parameter
is varied.
Fig. 6 shows the relationship between the diameter of
the cavity aperture and the collector factors of point-focus
Fresnel lens solar collector using conical cavity receiver. It
can be seen that, when the aperture diameter of the cavity
increased from 10 mm to 200 mm, the collector factors rst
increased and then decreased. Thus, there exited an opti-
mum aperture diameter of the cavity receivers which is
about 80 mm. The collector heat removal factor decreased
obviously because of larger cavity aperture diameter which
caused higher heat losses.
Fig. 7 illustrates the relationship between the inside
diameter of the receiver tube and the collector factors of
point-focus Fresnel lens solar collector using conical cavity
receiver. As seen, when the inside diameter of the receiver
tube increased from 2.5 mm to 50 mm, the collector factors
rst increased and then decreased. Increasing the inside
diameter of the receiver tube could enhance the heat trans-
fer to some extent and cause large heat loss. Therefore,
there existed an optimum inside diameter of the receiver
tube which is about 15 mm.
Fig. 8 shows the relationship between the vertex angle of
the cross section through the symmetric axis of the receiver
and the collector factors of point-focus Fresnel lens using
conical cavity receiver. When the vertex angle of the cross
section through the symmetric axis of the cavity was
increased from 15 to 150, the collector factors initially
increased rapidly. When the vertex angle was lager than
60, little eect on the thermal performance of the Fresnel
lens solar collector could be observed. This is because lar-
ger vertex angle with large aperture diameter leads to
increased heat loss. Thus, there existed an optimum vertex
angle which is about 60. The eciency factor and heat
removal factor decreased gradually as with increased in
the vertex angle of the cross section through the symmetric
axis of the cavity, which similarly resulted in larger aper-
ture area which may lead to considerable heat loss.
Fig. 9 illustrates the relationship between geometrical
concentration ratio and the collector factors of point-focus
Fresnel lens using conical cavity receiver. In this case, it was
assumed that the change of geometrical concentration ratio
depended on the area change of cavity receiver aperture and
the area of point-focus Fresnel lens solar concentrator is
denite. As seen, when the geometrical concentration ratio
Fig. 9. The relationship between geometrical concentration ratio and the
collector factors (conical cavity receiver).
W.T. Xie et al. / Solar Energy 86 (2012) 24582471 2469
was lager than 500, the geometrical concentration ratio had
little eect on the thermal performance of the Fresnel solar
collector because the eciency factor and heat removal fac-
tor were almost constant. Therefore, it shows that a geomet-
rical concentration ratio higher than 500 is benecial to the
thermal performance of the Fresnel lens solar collector.
Finally, it is shown from the optimization that the opti-
mum aperture diameter of the cavity, the optimum inside
diameter of the receiver tube and the optimum vertex angle
of cross section through the symmetric axis of the receiver
are 80 mm, 15 mm, 60, respectively. Moreover, it is sug-
gested that the geometrical concentration ratio be more
than 500 for better thermal performance of the point-focus
Fresnel lens solar collector using conical cavity receiver.
5. Conclusions
In this paper, the thermal performance of a Fresnel lens
solar collector using dierent cavity receivers was investi-
gated. Analysis on eight dierent types of point-focus cav-
ity receivers was undertaken. The collector eciency
factors and collector heat removal factors of these receivers
were derived and compared theoretically and experimen-
tally, and the following main conclusions can be drawn:
(1) The theoretical collector eciency factors and collec-
tor heat removal factors discussed in this paper can
be used to evaluate the thermal performance of con-
centrating solar collectors. Moreover, for concentrat-
ing solar collectors using cavity receivers, it is
convenient to design the optimal parameters of dier-
ent cavities and to predict their performance under
dierent temperature levels.
(2) The results show that the collector eciency factors and
collector heat removal factors of Fresnel lens solar col-
lector using conical cavity receiver are higher than the
other studied cavity shapes. Consequently, for the
point-focus Fresnel lens solar collector, the conical cav-
ity receiver has the best thermal performance.
(3) An optimum aperture diameter of about 80 mm, an
optimum inside diameter of about 15 mm, an opti-
mum vertex angle of about 60, and a geometrical
concentration ratio of more than 500, are recom-
mended, for good thermal performance of a Fresnel
lens solar collector using conical cavity receiver.
(4) It is found that the theoretical results agree with the
test results well (when the inlet temperature is less
than 150 C) that the relative error of eciency fac-
tors and heat removal factors between the theoretical
and experimental results is within 5%. When the inlet
temperature is more than 200 C, the deviation is
within 20% because of the higher overall heat loss
coecient which is more than 150 W/(m
2
K). Since
the theoretical results agreed well with the test results,
it shows that the derived models are suitable for the-
oretical evaluation of Fresnel lens solar collector
using conical cavity receiver.
(5) It is suggested that for good thermal performance,
the point-focus Fresnel lens solar collector using con-
ical cavity receiver be applied in high concentration
solar thermal applications where the temperature
level is between 100 C and 300 C.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China under the Contract No.
50876063, the key scientic and technological project of
Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Munici-
pality under the Contract No. 10dz1203402, the Joint
Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of Chi-
na under the Contract No. U1137605, and the Graduates
Creativity Fund of Shanghai Jiao Tong University under
the Contract No. TS0220702002.
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