Solar concentrator with uniform irradiance for particulate photocatalytic hydrogen production system

The solar concentrator is an essential part of the particulate photocatalytic hydrogen production system (PPHS). In this study, a mathematical model was developed and applied to avoid non-uniform concentration of solar intensity on the receiving surface of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC). The reflector profile curve was calculated via a first-order differential equation. The geometric concentration ratio and bottom interval parameters were changed to optimize the surface uniform concentrator (SUC). The overall performance of the concentrator was then assessed based on the optical efficiency and uniformity on the receiver in ray tracing software. A prototype of a SUC was manufactured to validate the calculation results. It is found that the conversion efficiency of solar energy to hydrogen with the SUC was 8.57% higher than that of the CPC.