67. Indoor Experimental Investigations of Two Different Static 3-D Solar Concentrators

Designs and experimental investigations of two different hyperboloid (elliptical hyperboloid concentrator (EHC) and circular hyperboloid concentrator (CHC)) solar concentrators have been reported in this chapter. Indoor tests have been carried out for the two prototypes of solar concentrators. In order to estimate the temperature of the surface area of the receiver tubes for process heat applications, thermal imaging analysis has been carried out and also presented in this chapter. It was observed that the outlet temperature of 93 °C is obtained for the EHC solar concentrator and the outlet temperature of 60 °C is obtained for the CHC solar concentrator, respectively. Indoor experimental temperature distribution of the receiver was carried out for two types of receivers. Temperature measurement was carried out under ‘flow’ and ‘no flow’ conditions. Both the EHC and CHC systems were tested and their concentration ratio was found to be 20×. In order to estimate the temperature distribution along the receiver, thermal imaging camera and FLIR Tools software were used to obtain the temperature variation along the receiver at three points. Under ‘no flow’ conditions, stagnation temperatures were measured at three points ( represented as T1, T2 and T3) located on the receiver surface.