Prediction and optimization of the performance of parabolic solar dish   concentrator with sphere receiver using analytical function
  Parabolic solar dish concentrator with sphere receiver is less studied. We present an analytic function to calculate the intercept factor of the system with real sun bright distribution and Gaussian distribution, the results indicate that the intercept factor is related to the rim angle of reflector and the ratio of open angle of receiver at the top of reflector to optical error when the optical error is larger than or equal to 5 mrad, but is related to the rim angle, open angle and optical error in less than 5 mrad optical error. Furthermore we propose a quick process to optimize the system to provide the maximum solar energy to net heat efficiency for different optical error under typical condition. The results indicate that the parabolic solar dish concentrator with sphere receiver has rather high solar energy to net heat efficiency which is 20% more than solar trough and tower system including higher cosine factor and lower heat loss of the receiver. 
Weidong Huang (1), Farong Huang (1), Peng Hu (2) and Zeshao Chen (2)   ((1) Department of Earth Chemistry and Environmental ...
physics.optics physics.data-an