Ray tracing approach for the performance evaluation of bladed and flat-plate receiver in central tower systems

Optical field design on the ground and the design of receiver system are two challenging tasks in the field of concentrated solar thermal technologies (CSTT). Ray tracing techniques have routinely been used to estimate the power reaching receiver in a given heliostat field. Although the conventional flat receiver has been extensively investigated in terms of efficiency, bladed receiver configurations offer improved efficiency due to better light-trapping ability enabling the flux on individual blades to be increased without exceeding the maximum (peak) limitation. We investigate an optical model of flat receiver and compare its efficiency with a bladed receiver using commercially available ray tracing software. Higher ray tracing efficiency was observed in bladed receiver configuration compared to flat receiver. Additionally, the receiver closest to the ground in bladed receiver configuration shows highest efficiency.