Direct transfer of solar radiation from concentrated solar collectors to localised high-flux applications

A challenge in localised high-flux applications is transfer of concentrated solar radiation to a load at some distance from the solar collectors with acceptably low energy loss. The use of a solar concentrator in conjunction with bundled optical fibres has potential advantages in terms of transmission efficiency, technical feasibility and cost-effectiveness compared to a conventional heat transfer system employing heat exchangers and a transfer fluid. The present thesis therefore investigates and evaluates a number of different systems for direct transfer of concentrated solar radiation by optical fibres to an application. The performance of the preferred fibre transmission system coupled to different types of solar concentrators including a Fresnel lens, Cassegrain and `Aplanatic¿ system was measured through LightTools simulation and experimentally. The results from three employed concentrators have indicated that employing Aplanatic concentrators results in achieving the maximum theoretical concentration . However, comparing a similar collection area, and incident solar power of 1 sun, the Cassegrain dish system indicated the highest level of transmitted energy.