Numerical simulation on concentrating solar characteristic of multi-dish collector

The physical and structure model of multi-dish solar concentrator was set up by employing coordinate transformation. The solar concentrating characteristics of multi-dish are calculated and analyzed using Monte-Carlo ray tracing method (MCRT). The concentrating solar thermal flux distributions of both focal plane and absorber are presented under the condition of taking account of optical error, tracing error and structure size of the receiver. The results showed that the effective area of multi-dish for collecting solar radiation energy is about 11.317m², and the solar concentrating ratio in the centre of the focal plane is close to 7000. The concentrated solar flux distributions of the receiver depending on its structure size are also proposed. The conclusions are valuable for realizing the solar concentrating performance of the multi-dish solar collector.