Minimizing the Computational Effort to Optimize Solar Concentrators with the Open-Source Tools SunPATH and Tonatiuh++
Integrals that are of interest in the analysis, design, and optimization of concentrating solar thermal systems (CST), such as the annual optical efficiency of the light collection and concentration (LCC) subsystem, can be accurately computed or estimated in two distinct ways: on the time domain and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/15/4412 |
| _version_ | 1797525657040715776 |
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| author | Manuel J. Blanco Victor Grigoriev Kypros Milidonis George Tsouloupas Miguel Larrañeta Manuel Silva |
| author_facet | Manuel J. Blanco Victor Grigoriev Kypros Milidonis George Tsouloupas Miguel Larrañeta Manuel Silva |
| author_sort | Manuel J. Blanco |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Integrals that are of interest in the analysis, design, and optimization of concentrating solar thermal systems (CST), such as the annual optical efficiency of the light collection and concentration (LCC) subsystem, can be accurately computed or estimated in two distinct ways: on the time domain and on the spatial domain. This article explores these two ways, using a case study that is highly representative of the commercial CST systems being deployed worldwide. In the time domain, the computation of these integrals are explored using 1-min, 10-min, and 1-h solar DNI input data and using The Cyprus Institute (CyI)’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) system and an open-source ray tracer, Tonatiuh++, being actively developed at CyI. In the spatial domain, the computation of these integrals is explored using SunPATH, another open-source software tool being actively developed at CyI, in tandem with Tonatiuh++. The comparison between the time and spatial domain approach clearly indicate that the spatial domain approach using SunPATH is dramatically more computationally efficient than the time domain approach. According to the results obtained, at least for the case study analyzed in this article, to compute the annual energy delivered by the LCC subsystem with a relative error less than 0.1%, it is enough to provide SunPATH with 1-h DNI data as input, request from SunPATH the sun position and weights of just 30 points in the celestial sphere, and run Tonatiuh++ to simulate these 30 points using 15 million rays per run. As the test case is highly representative, it is expected that this approach will yield similar results for most CST systems of interest. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:17:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8a306ed03d0a4daba93e3222a89928eb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:17:07Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-8a306ed03d0a4daba93e3222a89928eb2023-11-22T05:32:34ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732021-07-011415441210.3390/en14154412Minimizing the Computational Effort to Optimize Solar Concentrators with the Open-Source Tools SunPATH and Tonatiuh++Manuel J. Blanco0Victor Grigoriev1Kypros Milidonis2George Tsouloupas3Miguel Larrañeta4Manuel Silva5Energy Division, The Cyprus Institute, 2121 Nicosia, CyprusEnergy Division, The Cyprus Institute, 2121 Nicosia, CyprusEnergy Division, The Cyprus Institute, 2121 Nicosia, CyprusHigh Performance Computing Facility, The Cyprus Institute, 2121 Nicosia, CyprusDepartment of Energy Engineering, University of Seville, 41092 Sevilla, SpainDepartment of Energy Engineering, University of Seville, 41092 Sevilla, SpainIntegrals that are of interest in the analysis, design, and optimization of concentrating solar thermal systems (CST), such as the annual optical efficiency of the light collection and concentration (LCC) subsystem, can be accurately computed or estimated in two distinct ways: on the time domain and on the spatial domain. This article explores these two ways, using a case study that is highly representative of the commercial CST systems being deployed worldwide. In the time domain, the computation of these integrals are explored using 1-min, 10-min, and 1-h solar DNI input data and using The Cyprus Institute (CyI)’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) system and an open-source ray tracer, Tonatiuh++, being actively developed at CyI. In the spatial domain, the computation of these integrals is explored using SunPATH, another open-source software tool being actively developed at CyI, in tandem with Tonatiuh++. The comparison between the time and spatial domain approach clearly indicate that the spatial domain approach using SunPATH is dramatically more computationally efficient than the time domain approach. According to the results obtained, at least for the case study analyzed in this article, to compute the annual energy delivered by the LCC subsystem with a relative error less than 0.1%, it is enough to provide SunPATH with 1-h DNI data as input, request from SunPATH the sun position and weights of just 30 points in the celestial sphere, and run Tonatiuh++ to simulate these 30 points using 15 million rays per run. As the test case is highly representative, it is expected that this approach will yield similar results for most CST systems of interest.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/15/4412sun pathheliostat fieldannual integration |
| spellingShingle | Manuel J. Blanco Victor Grigoriev Kypros Milidonis George Tsouloupas Miguel Larrañeta Manuel Silva Minimizing the Computational Effort to Optimize Solar Concentrators with the Open-Source Tools SunPATH and Tonatiuh++ Energies sun path heliostat field annual integration |
| title | Minimizing the Computational Effort to Optimize Solar Concentrators with the Open-Source Tools SunPATH and Tonatiuh++ |
| title_full | Minimizing the Computational Effort to Optimize Solar Concentrators with the Open-Source Tools SunPATH and Tonatiuh++ |
| title_fullStr | Minimizing the Computational Effort to Optimize Solar Concentrators with the Open-Source Tools SunPATH and Tonatiuh++ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Minimizing the Computational Effort to Optimize Solar Concentrators with the Open-Source Tools SunPATH and Tonatiuh++ |
| title_short | Minimizing the Computational Effort to Optimize Solar Concentrators with the Open-Source Tools SunPATH and Tonatiuh++ |
| title_sort | minimizing the computational effort to optimize solar concentrators with the open source tools sunpath and tonatiuh |
| topic | sun path heliostat field annual integration |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/15/4412 |
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