Carbon dioxide as working fluid for medium and high-temperature concentrated solar thermal systems

Duong Van; Diaz Gerardo; Duong Van; Diaz Gerardo

doi:10.3934/energy.2014.1.99

AIMS Energy

2014, Volume 1, Issue 1: 99-115. doi: 10.3934/energy.2014.1.99

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Carbon dioxide as working fluid for medium and high-temperature concentrated solar thermal systems

Duong Van ,
Diaz Gerardo ^,

School of Engineering, University of California - Merced, 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA 95343, USA

Received: 17 January 2014 Accepted: 06 March 2014 Published: 20 March 2014

This paper explores the benefits and drawbacks of using carbon dioxide in solar thermal systems at medium and high operating temperatures. For medium temperatures, application of CO₂ in non-imaging-optics based compound parabolic concentrators (CPC) combined with evacuated-tube collectors is studied. These collectors have been shown to obtain efficiencies higher than 40% operating at around 200℃ without the need of tracking. Validated numerical models of external compound parabolic concentrators (XCPCs) are used to simulate their performance using CO₂ as working fluid. For higher temperatures, a mathematical model is implemented to analyze the operating performance of a parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) using CO₂ at temperatures between 100℃ and 600℃.
- solar thermal systems,
- parabolic troughs,
- compound parabolic concentrators,
- medium,
- high temperature collectors
Citation: Duong Van, Diaz Gerardo. Carbon dioxide as working fluid for medium and high-temperature concentrated solar thermal systems[J]. AIMS Energy, 2014, 1(1): 99-115. doi: 10.3934/energy.2014.1.99

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Abstract

This paper explores the benefits and drawbacks of using carbon dioxide in solar thermal systems at medium and high operating temperatures. For medium temperatures, application of CO₂ in non-imaging-optics based compound parabolic concentrators (CPC) combined with evacuated-tube collectors is studied. These collectors have been shown to obtain efficiencies higher than 40% operating at around 200℃ without the need of tracking. Validated numerical models of external compound parabolic concentrators (XCPCs) are used to simulate their performance using CO₂ as working fluid. For higher temperatures, a mathematical model is implemented to analyze the operating performance of a parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) using CO₂ at temperatures between 100℃ and 600℃.

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