Influence of thermal losses on the incidence angle modifier factorization approach

Solar thermal applications for industries must be designed to operate at high temperature levels; however, the thermal dependency of the accuracy of the incidence angle modifier factorization has not been sufficiently analyzed. In this study, the annually delivered energy based on both factorized and non-factorized incidence angle modifier values were compared with each other. The integration was conducted for a typical meteorological year in Seville and Stockholm. Four collector types were considered: evacuated tube collector, MaReCo collector, Fresnel collector, and CCStaR collector. Thermal process parameters were shown to have an influence on the error made by the factorization approach; however, within the economically viable temperature range of an industrial heat application, this influence is not significant.