Optimización geométrica del campo de espejos de un receptor de concentración solar lineal de Fresnel para latitudes ecuatoriales

Abstract

The main objective of the present work is the geometric optimization of the mirror field of a linear Fresnel solar concentrator (LFC) for equatorial latitudes. A literature review on the global energy situation was made, focusing mainly on thermal energy and the specific location of Quito-Ecuador. Previous studies about geometric optimization of this system were investigated. The position of each of the 20 primary reflectors of the mirror field was calculated according to the input variables (date and calendar hour of the year). A description of the LFC system with primary, secondary reflectors and the optical errors generated in the configurations was made, then run the simulations of the system through the program SolTrace - Ray tracing (Monte-Carlo method). The computational procedure of blocks and shadows was developed for its subsequent validation. The energy efficiency and Etendue results were studied for the configurations and made with these results a multiple optimization using StatGraphics and the acceptance ranges of the geometric variables analyzed (10 to 30 [cm] width of the primary reflectors, 5 to 25 [cm] separation between primary reflectors and 1 to 6 [m] receiver height) were obtained. As a result, it was obtained that the best configuration should have the smallest width and the smallest separation between reflectors. About the height, it was considered that it should be at an approximate value of 350 cm, which is the average level that was used for this geometric variable.