Concentrating (Solar) Collector

A solar collector that uses reflective surfaces to concentrate sunlight onto a small area, where it is absorbed and converted to heat or, in the case of solar photovoltaic (PV) devices, into electricity. Concentrators can increase the power flux of sunlight hundreds of times. The principal types of concentrating collectors include: compound parabolic, parabolic trough, fixed reflector moving receiver, fixed receiver moving reflector, Fresnel lense, and central receiver. A PV concentrating module uses optical elements (Fresnel lense) to increase the amount of sunlight incident onto a PV cell. Concentrating PV modules/arrays must track the sun and use only the direct sunlight because the diffuse portion cannot be focused onto the PV cells. Concentrating collectors for home or small business solar water heating applications are usually parabolic troughs that concentrate the sun's energy on an absorber tube (called a receiver), which contains a heat-transfer fluid.

A solar collector that uses reflective surfaces to concentrate sunlight onto a small area, where it is absorbed and converted to heat or, in the case of solar photovoltaic (PV) devices, into electricity. Concentrators can increase the power flux of sunlight hundreds of times. The principal types of concentrating collectors include: compound parabolic, parabolic trough, fixed reflector moving receiver, fixed receiver moving reflector, Fresnel lens, and central receiver. A PV concentrating module uses optical elements (Fresnel lens) to increase the amount of sunlight incident onto a PV cell. Concentrating PV modules/arrays track the sun and use concentrating devices to reflect direct sunlight onto the solar cell to produce electricity directly. Concentrating solar collectors in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) facilities concentrate sunlight onto a receiver where it heats a heat transfer fluid that subsequently exchanges its absorbed heat to water to produce steam to power a steam turbine-generator (STG) to produce electricity.