Electrical and thermal performance evaluation of symmetric truncated C-PVT trough solar collectors with vertical bifacial receivers

One way to reduce solar collectors' production costs is to use concentrators that increase the output per photovoltaic cell. Concentrating collectors re-direct solar radiation that passes through an aperture into an absorber/receiver. Symmetrical truncated non-tracking C-PVT trough collectors based on a parabola and compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) geometries have been developed. The collector type has a central vertical bifacial (fin) receiver and it was optimized for lower latitudes. In this paper, the electrical and thermal performance of symmetric truncated non-tracking low concentrator PVT solar collectors with vertical bifacial receivers is analysed, through a numerical ray-tracing model software and a multi-paradigm numerical computing environment. A thermal (quasi-dynamic testing method for liquid heating collectors described in the international standard for solar thermal collectors ISO 9806:2013) and electrical performance models were implemented to evaluate the design concepts. The evaluation was made for heating Domestic Hot Water for a Single Family House in Fayoum (Egypt), where CPC geometries with a concentration factor of 1.6 achieved 8 to 13%rel higher energy yields (in kWh/m2/year) than the Pure Parabola geometries.