Analysis of thermal utilization efficiency of solar collectors under aerosol classification model

To investigate the mechanism of how environmental factors affect the thermal efficiency of parabolic trough solar collectors (PTCs), a three-dimensional numerical model coupling photothermal transfer and aerosol attenuation was established. This model was used to systematically analyze the combined effects of operating parameters, spatiotemporal environmental conditions, and aerosol disturbances. By constructing a six-band radiative transfer model and a two-dimensional aerosol classification method based on Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and Aerosol Relative Optical Depth (AROD), the study quantitatively analyzed the influence patterns of different aerosol types (dust aerosols/continental aerosols), visibility, and AROD on collector performance. The results show that the efficiency of PTCs in low-latitude areas (Wuhan) and high-altitude areas (Delingha) is 21 % higher than that in Harbin. Due to strong scattering and surface contamination effects, the efficiency of PTCs under dust aerosol conditions is 7–8 % lower than that under continental aerosol conditions. When visibility decreases to 5 km, each 0.1 increase in AROD can amplify the efficiency loss by up to 8 times. This research provides a theoretical basis for the accurate site selection, operation optimization, and performance prediction of PTC systems in complex atmospheric environments.