Performance study of a static low-concentration evacuated tube solar collector for medium-temperature applications

With the development of the energy demands, solar energy medium-temperature applications (>80°C) for refrigeration, building heating, seawater desalination, thermal power generation etc. has become popular research fields. The article presents an investigation on a static low-concentration evacuated tube (LCET) solar collector for medium-temperature applications. Ray trace outcome at the incident angles between 0 and 60° shows that the average optical efficiency can reach 76.9%. The experimental testing was conducted in the medium temperature range of 80 and 140°C which indicates the instantaneous thermal efficiency is still larger than about 30.0%, and the instantaneous exergetic efficiency is >5.92%. The results comprehensively indicate the good performance of LCET solar collector for medium-temperature applications.

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