Abstract
In order to utilize different wavelengths of rays in the solar spectrum and improve the power generation efficiency of solar systems, a novel linear Fresnel solar CPV/T hybrid system with advanced film beam splitter is proposed in this study. The system mainly consists of a Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) concentrator, the PV utilization sub-system, the thermal utilization sub-system, and the film beam splitter, where the thermal utilization sub-system includes a thermal receiver tube and a matching secondary reflector. The film beam splitter is designed by using the Needle method, and the average reflectance and transmittance of the film beam splitter are 26.43% and 73.57% under the full solar spectrum, respectively. The optical performance and thermodynamic analysis of the system are conducted through Monte Carlo Ray Tracing (MCRT) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation methods. The optical performance results show that the concentrator can provide relatively high concentrating uniformity and the optimal installation height of the thermal receiver tube is about 1446.0 mm. The overall optical efficiency of the novel linear Fresnel solar CPV/T hybrid system can be maintained above 90% when the incident deviation angle is controlled to be within 0.1°. The thermodynamic analysis results indicate that utilizing water at 10 bar as the internal heat transfer medium (HTM) within the thermal receiver tube can effectively enhance the system’s thermal performance through the strategic reduction of the operating temperature of the solar cells and the inlet HTM temperature of the thermal receiver tube, coupled with an increase in the inlet HTM velocity. At the operating temperature of solar cells of 303.0 K, the inlet HTM temperature of 293.0 K and the velocity of the thermal receiver tube of 0.005 m s-1, respectively, the system attains a total output power of 7146.3 W and an exergy efficiency of 25.98%.
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•A novel linear Fresnel solar CPV/T hybrid system based on film beam splitter is proposed.•Various designs of the film beam splitter on silicon CPV cell performance are studied.•Reflectance and transmittance of the film beam splitter are used as performance indicators.•The CPV/T hybrid system achieves improved concentrating uniformity.•The total output power and exergy efficiency attain 7146.3 W and 25.98%, respectively.