The Effect of Concentrator Radius on the Performance of a Solar Photovoltaic Concentrating System with a Parabolic Dish

Abstract

The concept of concentrating solar photovoltaic energy has gained a lot of traction in recent years. In this paper, a design model for a concentrator photovoltaic parabolic dish with multi-junction solar cells is theoretically analyzed by using equations which are simulated in the MATLAB program under the effect of concentrator radius during one month (June) for rim angles of 55o, 65o, 75o, and 85o, during six months at rim angle 55o, and for 12 months with rim angles of 55o, 65o, 75o, and 85o and a radius of (0.25m). The efficiency of the system has been calculated. The findings revealed that the concentration ratio increases as the concentrator's radius increases. The best value of the concentration ratio is 4500 at rim angle 55° and a radius of 1 m, which gives an input power 39 times higher than the input power at rim angle 85° in June. The input power increases as the radius of the concentrator increases, and it is valued about 310 W in January and becomes 385 W in May, which is 1.2 times higher in comparison to the other. The best value of input power for rim angle 55o and radius of 0.25m is (24 W) in May, which gives output power of 9.5W.