Analytic solutions for the optical and radiative properties of nonaccepted light radiation of V-trough concentrators

Knowledge of optical and radiative properties is often essential for the design and evaluation of V-trough solar energy collectors. Using the concept of reflection modes, we derived a set of functions associated with each mode; this allowed us to calculate the optical and radiative properties for rejected light radiation. These expressions, together with those for accepted light radiation published previously, were used to calculate the optical efficiency for beam radiation and the exchange factors (diffuse radiation) between aperture and absorber (accepted light) and between aperture and aperture (rejected light). Numerical results of these factors were obtained for various combinations of concentration ratio and vertex angle. Results are compared between a case in which the reflectivity is constant and one in which the reflectivity varies with incidence angle; the difference does not exceed 1% for a reflectivity of 0.8. Considering the reflectivity as a constant allows us to obtain analytic solutions for the exchange factors, expressed as a sum of trigonometric functions.