A theoretical evaluation of the thermal performance of CPC

with flat one-sided absorber

Rn Tchinda
a,b,

, Nguijo Ngos
a
a
IUT FOTSO VICTOR of Bandjoun, University of Dschang, PO Box 134 Bandjoun, Cameroon
b
ICTP Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste, Italy
Available online 29 March 2006
Abstract
Mathematical equations are developed to study thermal processes in a CPC collector with a flat one-sided absorber. An
expression for the temperature of the heat transfer fluid as a function of the space-co-ordinate in the flow direction and the time
dependent solar intensity is developed. The effects of various parameters on the thermal performance of such a CPC are studied.
The selectively coated CPC with flat one-sided collector is more efficient than the black painted one with the same condition. The
predicted results were also compared with the experimental results reported in the literature.
2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: CPC collector; Flat one-sided absorber; Daily efficiency; CPC's length
1. Introduction
Since the invention of the compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) in 1974 [1], many papers have been published on
literature that deal with a wide range of design and analysis. Some of them are documented in Hsieh [1], El Assay [2],
Chakraverty et al. [3], Tchinda et al. [4], Fraidenraich et al. [5], Oommen and Jayaraman [6] and Collares Pereira and
Carvalho [7]. However, a close examination of these papers reveals that the great majority of them are devoted to
optical, geometrical and thermal analysis of the compound parabolic concentrator with tubular absorber. Other CPC
configurations like non-evacuated stationary CPC solar collector with flat bifacial absorber [8,9], asymmetric
compound parabolic concentrator [1012] have been proposed. Papers reporting thermal analysis of the CPC with flat
one-side absorber are rarely found, and those published are devoted to the effect of truncation on both optical, thermal
losses and collectible energy, or to increase the electrical energy output [13,14].
In this paper, the equations of the system are written by considering an energy balance for every individual
component of the CPC with flat one-sided absorber. The effect of some of the design parameters like the rate of the
fluid flow, the inlet temperature, the CPC length, the selective coating, the mirror reflectance, etc., are discussed.
International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
www.elsevier.com/locate/ichmt

Communicated by W.J. Minkowycz.

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ttchinda@yahoo.fr (R. Tchinda).
0735-1933/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2006.01.019
2. Modelling of the thermal processes
The basic design of the evacuated CPC with a flat one-sided absorber is shown in Fig. 1. In order to simplify analysis,
some assumptions are made:
A-1 It is assumed that the CPC is ideal and free from fabrication errors.
A-2 The concentrator achieves a concentration ratio C
R
=A
C
/ A
P
.
Nomenclature
A area (m
2
)
C specific heat (J/kg K)
C
R
geometric concentrator ratio
e Thickness (m)
h heat transfer coefficient (W/m
2
K)
I solar intensity (W/m
2
)
L length of the tube (m)
l breadth (m)
M mass per unit area (kg/m
2
)
m mass flow rate (kg/s)
bnN number of reflection
q
f
heat flow (W/m
2
)
T temperature (K)
T
fm

1
L
_
L
0
T
f
x; tdx K
Greek letters
absorptance

reflectance

m
mirror reflectance
transmittance
StefanBoltzman's constant (W/m
2
K
4
)
dynamic viscosity (kg/ms)
emissivity
thermal efficiency
Thermal conductivity (W/m C)
Subscripts
a ambient
c cover 1
d daily
e inlet
f fluid
o outlet
p flat one-sided absorber
v cover 2
vp Cover 2-flat one-sided absorber
s sky
710 R. Tchinda, N. Ngos / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
A-3 The concentrator does not produce an image of the light source.
A-4 For any given direction of light source, a certain fraction of the rays entering the aperture will reach the absorber
directly, while the other rays will reach the absorber after one or more reflections. Therefore one can define an
average number of reflections bnN for a CPC.
A-5 The cover 1, the cover 2 and the receiver have uniformtemperature distributions and CPCcomponent properties are
independent of temperature.
The energy balance equations for the cover 1, the cover 2, the flat one-sided absorber and the fluid can be written as:
For transparent cover 1
M
c
C
c
T
c
t
q
c
t h
r1
h
v=c
T
v
T
c
h
r2
T
c
T
s
h
c=a
T
c
T
a
1
Beam
e
insulation
l
v
Flat one-side absorber
Insulation
Cover 2
W
Optic axis
Cover 1
Reflector
l
p
e
f
e
vp


max

Fig. 1. CPC with a flat one-sided absorber.

711 R. Tchinda, N. Ngos / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
Where
h
r1

rT
2
c
T
2
v
T
c
T
v

1
e
v

A
v
A
c
1
e
c
1
_ _
A
c
A
p
2
h
r2
re
c
T
2
c
T
2
s
T
c
T
s

A
c
A
p
3
and according to Hsieh's theory h
v/c
is given by [1]
h
v=c
3:25 0:0085
T
v
T
c
2D
v
_ _
A
v
A
p
4
with
D
v

21
v
e
f
e
pv

1
v
e
f
e
pv
4 a
For transparent cover 2
M
v
C
v
T
v
t
q
v
t h
r3
T
p
T
v
h
v=c
T
v
T
c
h
r1
T
v
T
c
5
h
r3

rT
2
p
T
2
v
T
p
T
v

1
e
p

A
p
A
v
1
e
v
1
_ _ 6
For flat one-sided absorber
M
p
C
p
T
p
t
q
p
t h
r3
T
p
T
v
h
pf
T
p
T
f
7
For the fluid
q
f
e
f
C
f
T
f
t
h
pf
T
p
T
f

m
:
C
f
l
p
T
f
x
U
0
T
f
T
a
8
This differential equation is subjected to the boundary condition:
T
f
x 0; t T
fe
9
q
c
(t), q
v
(t) and q
p
(t) have been expressed using the Hsieh's theory as [1]:
q
c
t I t a

c
a

c
s

c
q

v
q
2bnN
m
_
A
c
A
p
10
q
v
t Its

c
q
bnN
m
a

v
a

v
q

v
q

c
q
2bnN
m
A
v
A
c
a

v
q

p
s

v
_ _
A
c
A
p
11
q
p
t Its

c
q
bnN
m
s

v
a

p
a

p
q

p
q

v
A
p
A
v
_ _
A
c
A
p
12
With A
p
=l
p
L, A
c
=2WL and A
v
=l
v
L.
712 R. Tchinda, N. Ngos / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
The factor h
pf
is the convective heat transfer coefficient between heat transfer fluid and the walls of the absorber is
calculated using the Mercer correlation's [15]:
N
u

h
pf
D
h
k
f
4:9
0:0606R
e
P
r
D
h
=L
1:2
1 0:0909R
e
P
r
D
h
=L
0:7
P
0:17
r
13
for laminar flow (R
e
b2100), and for turbulent flow (R
e
N2100) the Kays correlation presented in a mathematical form
by Duffie and Beckman [15] has been used:
N
u

h
pf
D
h
k
f
0:0158R
0:8
e
14
with
R
e

m
:
D
h
l
p
e
f
l
f
; P
r

l
f
C
f
k
f
and D
h

2l
p
e
f
l
p
e
f
15
The heat loss coefficient by convection h
c/a
between the cover 1 and the ambient is given by Duffie and Beckman [15]
h
c=a
5:7 3:8v
A
c
A
p
16
Since the absorptance of the cover 1 and the thermal capacities of the components of the collector are small, we
neglect them. However, the functioning of the collector remains variable with time because it depends on the unsteady
solar intensity. Eliminating T
c
, T
v
and T
p
from the simplified equations obtained, one gets:
m
:
C
f
T
f
x
l
p
FVS
p
U
L
T
f
T
a
17
With:
S
p
q
p
t
h
r3
h
r1
h
v=c
h
c=a
h
r2
q
v
t h
r3
h
r1
h
v=c
q
c
t6h
r3
h
r2
h
r1
h
v=c

h
r3
h
r1
h
v=c
h
c=a
h
r2
h
r1
h
v=c
h
c=a
h
r2

18
Where the overall heat loss coefficient is written as:
U
L

h
r3
h
pf
h
v=c
h
r1
h
c=a
h
r2
U
0
h
r3
h
pf
h
r1
h
r2
h
c=a
h
v=c
U
0
h
r3
h
pf
h
v=c
h
r1
h
c=a
h
r2

h
pf
h
v=c
h
r1
h
c=a
h
r2
h
r3
h
pf
h
r1
h
r2
h
c=a
h
v=c

19
and the collector efficiency factor is given by the relationship:
FV
h
r3
h
pf
h
r1
h
r2
h
v=c
h
c=a
h
pf
h
r1
h
v=c
h
r2
h
c=a

h
r3
h
pf
h
r1
h
r2
h
v=c
h
c=a
h
r3
h
pf
h
r1
h
v=c
h
r2
h
c=a

20
If we assume that F and U
L
are temperatures independent in position, then the solution for temperature at any
position x is:
T
f
x; tT
a
S
p
U
L
T
fe
T
a
S
p
U
L
exp
l
p
FVU
L
C
f
m
x
_ _
21
713 R. Tchinda, N. Ngos / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
The instantaneous efficiency is found to be:
g
i
g
0
F
A
F
R

U
L
F
R
IC
R
T
fe
T
a
22
Where
F
R

m
:
C
f
C
R
U
L
A
c
1exp
A
c
U
L
FV
m
:
C
f
C
R
_ _ _ _
23
F
A

h
r3
h
r1
h
r2
h
v=c
h
c=a
s

c
q
bnN
m
a

v
s

v
q
2bnN
m
q

v
q

c
A
v
A
c
a

v
s

v
q
p
_ _ _ _
h
r3
h
r1
h
v=c
a

c
a

c
q

v
s

c
q
2bnN
m

6h
r2
IC
R
_ _
h
r3
h
r2
h
r1
h
v=c
h
c=a
h
r1
h
v=c
h
r2
h
c=a

24
a
The local temperature of the glycerol in the flow direction
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
x(m)
T
f
(
x
,
t
M
)

(

C
)
mass flow rate=0,0004 kg/s
mass flow rate=0,0008 kg/s
mass flow rate=0,0012 kg/s
Tfe=10C
Tfe=60C
Tfe=110C
b
The hourly variation of the outlet fluid temperature
0
6h 9h 12h 15h 18h
50
100
150
200
250
Hours
T
f
(
L
,
t
)

(

C
)
mass flow rate=0,0004 kg/s mass flow rate=0,0008 kg/s
mass flow rate=0,0012 kg/s Tfe=10C
Tfe=60C Tfe=110C
0.00 0.23 0.68 1.13
Fig. 2. Effect of the glycerol mass flow rate and of the glycerol inlet temperature, mirror reflectance=0.85; flat one-sided absorber emissivity=0.05.
714 R. Tchinda, N. Ngos / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
The optical efficiency
0
is given by:
g
0
s

v
s

c
q
bnN
m
a

p
a

p
q

p
q

v
A
p
A
v
_ _
25
This optical efficiency is related to the process in which the beam or direct component of the incident solar radiation
is transmitted through the cover 1, reflected specularly on the mirror surface, transmitted through the cover 2, and
absorbed by the flat one-sided absorber. A close examination of Eq. (25) reveals that when C
R
tends to infinity,
0
tends
to
c

m
bnN

p
, its minimum value. For C
R
=1 (value of the concentration ratio of flat-plate collectors [1,2]),
0
is equal
to s

c
s

v
q
bnN
m
a

p
1 q

p
q

v
A
c
A
p
_ _
, its maximum value.
Effect of the glycerol mass flow rate
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0.1 0.5 0.9 1.3
mass flow rate (10
-3
kg/s)
d
a
i
l
y

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
)
d
a
i
l
y

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
)
Effect of the inlet glycerol temperature
10 30 50 70 90 110 130
T
fe
(C)
a
b
Fig. 3. The daily efficiency of the CPC collector; flat one-side absorber emissivity=0.05; mirror reflectance=0.85.
715 R. Tchinda, N. Ngos / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
The daily efficiency
d
of the CPC collector with the flat one-sided absorber is calculated from the relationship:
g
d

_
6p:m:
6a:m:
m C
f
T
fo
T
fe
dt
A
c
_
6p:m:
6a:m:
Itdt
26
3. Results and discussions
Numerical calculations are carried out by employing the values of the relevant parameters as follows: l
v
=0.13 m; l
p
=0.09 m;
W=0.1128 m;
c
=
v
=0.85;
c
=
v
=0.05;
c
=
v
=0.9;
c
=
v
=0.05;bnN=0.6;
f
=1.3153 W m
1
K
1
;
f
=1.11 kg m
1
s
1
;
C
pf
=1900 J/kg C; e
pv
=0.004 m; e
f
=0.02 m; 0.3 W m
2
C

1U
0
0.6 W m
2
C
1
[20]. Glycerol is used as heat transfer fluid.
The mean values of the ambient temperature and global radiation in May at Garoua (920 N; 1323 E; altitude 241 m) are used [16].
The sky temperatures is [1,4]: T
s
=T
a
6.
Effect of: I- the CPC'length,
II- the Flat one-sided absorber emissivity
III- the mirror reflectance
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
6h 9h 12h 15h 18h
Hour
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(

C
)
I- L=1,5 m
II- mirror reflectance=0,95
III- flat one-sided absorber emissivity=0,1
I- L=1m
II- mirror reflectance=0,85
II- mirror reflectance=0,68
III- flat one-sided absorber emissivity=0,9
Predicted daily efficiency (I) and outlet glycerol temperature (II)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0.1 0.5 0.9 1.3 1.7
mass flow rate (10
-3
kg/s)
D
a
i
l
y

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
T
f
(
L
,
t
M
=
1
2
.
3
0
p
.
m
.
)

(

C
)
I- L=1,50 m
I- L=1,00 m
II- L=0,75 m
II- L=1,00 m
II- L=1,50 m
a
b
Fig. 4. Effect of the CPC's length.
716 R. Tchinda, N. Ngos / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
An iterative procedure is adopted to bring the effect of the temperature, depending on various heat transfer coefficients. For
certain temperatures, they are first calculated by using the standard expressions given earlier. The equations are solved by assuming
constant heat coefficients and then determining new solutions which will be used to generate all the heat transfer coefficients again
till the values converge.
Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the effect of the mass flow rates m and the inlet heat transfer fluid temperature on local temperature at the
instant t
M
=12.30 p.m. on the hourly variations of the outlet temperature and on daily efficiency
d
of the CPC. As expected, it is seen
that, the outlet temperature decreases with the increase of the mass flow rate (Fig. 2). When m increases, I(t) and T
a
(t) remaining
constant, the quantity of heat transfer fluid to be heated in the channel increases. Furthermore, the daily efficiency increases with m
(Fig. 3a), because an increase of m leads to an increase of heat transfer coefficient between the heat transfer fluid and the absorber.
Consequently greater will be the heat carried away from the receiver. The outlet heat transfer fluid temperature does not increase
significantly with increasing inlet heat transfer fluid temperature (Fig. 2). This is because, when T
fe
increase with solar intensity
being kept constant, thermal losses increase rapidly, and then, the augmentation of the outlet fluid enthalpy is reduced. This also
explains why the heat removal from the CPC and the daily efficiency
d
of the CPC decreases with increase of the inlet fluid
temperature T
fe
(Fig. 3b).
The outlet heat transfer fluid temperatures and the daily efficiency are shown in Fig. 4, for some values of L (Fig. 4a and b), of
m
and
p
(Fig. 4a). The total rise in temperature or total heat collected by the heat transfer fluid from the hot surface depends on the time
for which heat transfer fluid remains in contact with the hot surface. As L increases, the time of contact between heat transfer fluid
and hot plate increases, consequently T
fo
also increases. In Fig. 4b, we have plotted T
fo
at t
M
as function of m for some values of L.
For small CPC lengths, T
fo
quickly becomes constant whereas for larger CPC lengths it slowly approaches a constant value. In Fig.
4b, it is also shown that the daily efficiency decreases with an increase of L for a given m but increases with m for a given L. As the
fluid passes through the channel, it gains heat and T
f
increases. The energy gain will continue to decrease as T
f
rises. When T
f
is
small, the fluid collects a greater amount of the heat from the plates per unit area compared to the amount lost to the cover. However,
as L increases, this situation is reversed. Beyond a certain value of L, a larger portion of the heat received, per unit area of absorber,
will be transferred to the cover and little will be transferred to the fluid.
In order to study the effect of the mirror reflectance on the performance of the fluid outlet temperature T
fo
, calculations are
performed for three values of reflectance (
m
=0.68,
m
=0.85,
m
=0.95). These values approach the reflectance of clean non-
austenitic polished stainless steel (autonitic can achieve
m
=0.68), the reflectance of aluminium and plastic mirror (
m
=0.85)
and the reflectance of black-silvered glass mirrors (
m
=0.95) [17]. We note on Fig. 4a, that T
fo
is higher for black-silvered glass
mirrors and that the effect of mirror reflectance is not much in the early morning hours and the late evening hours as T
fo
is
small. Nevertheless, other factors such as mirror self-cleaning and manufacturing ease may be decisive in the choice of design
[18,19].
The effect of selective coating on the performance of the CPC was also studied. Calculations are performed for a black-painted
surface with
p
=0.9, and a selectively coated surface with
p
=0.1. In Fig. 4a, the outlet temperature for both types of surfaces is
plotted. The selective coating will be more effective in those cases where outlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid is higher. The
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0.005 5.36E-02 1.08E-01 1.20E-01 1.17E-01
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
) Present study
[20]
(T
fm
-T
a
)/I (W/m
2
C)
Fig. 5. Comparison of collector efficiencies.
717 R. Tchinda, N. Ngos / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 33 (2006) 709718
effect of selective coating will not be much in early morning hours and in the late evening hours as the outlet temperature of the fluid
for both types of surfaces practically coincides.
4. Validation of mathematical model
The theoretical model proposed in the present work has been validated by comparing the results of our calculations,
to those obtained from experimental studies, carried out by different authors such as Rabl [20]. The data were taken
from a collector having conditions sufficiently close to the ones given in Ref. [20]. Fig. 5 shows that the agreement
between predictions and experiment appears to be satisfactory.
5. Conclusions
In this work we have studied the effect of some parameters of the CPC with the flat one-sided absorber. The
following conclusions are obtained: (i) for a given L, the efficiency increases as m increases, and outlet temperature of
the heat transfer fluid decreases with an increase of m. The shorter length is more efficient than long CPC length, (ii)
outlet temperature of heat transfer fluid, daily efficiency decreases with an increase of the inlet temperature of the heat
transfer fluid, (iii) the selective coating changes the performance of the CPC considerably, (iv) the nature of the
reflector material, changes considerably the performance of the system.
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