Calculating solar radiation received by tubular solar energy collectors

Conference · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:113342

Perez, R; Seals, R ^[1]; Anderson, J; Menicucci, D ^[2]

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1. State Univ. of New York, Albany, NY (United States). Atmospheric Sciences Research Center
2. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Cylindrical (tubular) absorbers installed inside evacuated tubes represent an increasingly common design for low temperature solar collectors (e.g., the SunFamily{trademark} design). However, whereas much work has been done on the subject of solar radiation received by flat plate collectors, little has been done for collectors of tubular design. It is important to estimate the irradiance impinging on a collector to: (1) evaluate its efficiency and (2) be able to predict its performance in a given location. Applying flat plate irradiance calculations without change to tubular collector arrays would result in sizable errors. In this paper the authors present and discuss the main assumptions of an algorithm developed by the authors to estimate irradiance impinging on tubular arrays, including specific collector/array design parameters, treatment of direct and anisotropic diffuse radiation, treatment of shading from one tube to another and treatment of ground and support-reflected radiation. Key examples are provided to illustrate the difference of energy collected between flat plate and tubular collectors.

• OSTI ID: 113342
• Report Number(s): CONF-950336--; ISBN 0-7918-1300-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
EFFICIENCY
EVACUATED TUBE COLLECTORS
ILLUMINANCE
PERFORMANCE
SOLAR RADIATION