Experimental study on optical properties of the collector

Abstract

Solar collector is one of the most important parts of solar chimney power plant. It plays an important role in improving the efficiency and saving the cost of the whole system. In this paper, several transparent materials which could be used as the collector were chosen to study the optical properties. The materials include polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), perspex (PS) and ordinary glass. Firstly, an experiment device was designed with the collector angles varying from 15° to 60°. Secondly, different thickness of glass and different slope angles of the collector of these materials mentioned above on transmittance was compared. The effect of pollutions caused by the natural environment such as dust, rain and aging on these materials was considered in the experiment. Based on the experimental results, a conclusion was made that PMMA has the highest transmittance among the four materials without considering other factors.