Abstract

Since August 2011, the 30 kWt Solar Furnace for Higher Radiative Fluxes (HoSIER) of the Renewable Energy Institute (former Center for Energy Research) of the National University of Mexico (IER-UNAM) is in operation. The optical design of the HoSIER-UNAM includes a total of 409 spherical facets, divided into 5 different focal length groups [1]. A ray-tracing simulation was carried out to realize a three-dimensional analysis of the concentrated solar radiation distribution at the focal area of the HoSIER. In this way, theoretical profiles of the radiative flux were obtained. To get the experimental profiles of the concentrated solar irradiance of the HoSIER, a Lambertian screen was placed in the focal zone, normal to the optical axis of the concentrator. The screen was movedalong 10 cm on the focus with each flat separated 5 mm of distance and in front of a CCD 8-bit digital camera. With the CCD was possible to obtain several experimental radiative flux distributions and thus it was possible to validate the ray-tracing simulation. This comparison shows a very good agreement between experimental and theoretical distribution.