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A novel technique of schedule tracker for parabolic dish concentrator

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Abstract

Tracking is important in a system that harnesses solar energy. Single axis tracking mechanism is cheaper and simple to develop but because of the limitation of tracking axis, this system is less efficient than dual axis. Dual-axis tracking systems necessitate a large number of equipment, sensors, motors, and a lengthy computer program to function properly. Therefore, in the present study, a novel method of solar tracking has been discussed where each tracking point has the impact of both the azimuth and altitude angle at a single point. This method is an average axis tracking method (AATM). HelioScope software was used to extract the hourly solar altitude and azimuth angles for each day and month for the site of Bhopal, India. The average method was then used to get the hourly average solar tracking angle (ASTA) for each month. The parabolic dish concentrator was designed in SolidWorks to apply and simulate the newly developed tracking points on SolTrace software. The graphical analysis was presented along with proper validation of the proposed method, and the single and dual axes were compared with AATM. The graphical study shows that the average axis tracking points have a smoother slop of wave than the single axis. From June to September, the proposed method’s error was estimated between 0.85 and 0.95. It can be concluded that by making slight adjustments to the seasonal angle, this error could be minimized and the concept could be successfully applied to a parabolic dish or a solar PV system.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

D :

diameter of dish (mm)

Ar :

receiver area (mm2)

A d :

aperture area of dish (mm2)

H :

depth (mm)

F :

focal length (mm)

S :

arc length of dish (mm)

Ψrim :

rim angle (deg.)

∅:

altitude angle

γ s :

solar azimuth angle

θ z :

zenith angle

α :

average solar tracking angle (ASTA)

AATM:

average axis tracking method

ASTA:

average solar tracking angle

CSP:

concentrated solar power

PDC:

parabolic dish concentrator

PV:

photovoltaic

NREL:

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the faculties of Energy Centre, MANIT Bhopal, for providing the resources and facilities for successfully conducting the analysis. The authors are grateful to the reviewers for their valuable time and suggestions, which helped to improve the quality of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Centre, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, M.P, 462003, India

    Rajkumar Malviya, Akash Patel, Ayush Singh, Santosh Jagadev & Prashant Baredar

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technological University, Delhi, 110042, India

    Anil Kumar

Authors
  1. Rajkumar Malviya
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  2. Akash Patel
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  3. Ayush Singh
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  4. Santosh Jagadev
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  5. Prashant Baredar
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  6. Anil Kumar
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Contributions

R Malviya: conceptualization, methodology; A Patel: writing—original draft preparation; A Singh: writing—review and editing; S Jagadev: review and editing, resources, software; P Baredar: supervision, validation; A Kumar: supervision, validation.

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Correspondence to Akash Patel.

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Malviya, R., Patel, A., Singh, A. et al. A novel technique of schedule tracker for parabolic dish concentrator. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 78776–78792 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27934-x

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