Science Applications International Corporation has used a unique nonimaging-optical global optimization computer code, NICOS, to design an innovative secondary concentrator for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). NICOS allows for the optimal design of such devices to achieve a variety of irradiance distributions on a desired target. The case of interest to NREL called for a uniform irradiance of concentrated sunlight over a relatively large area and at a reasonable working distance from the exit of the device. Because the irradiance at the nominal focal point of NREL's High-Flux Solar Furnace (HFSF) was reshaped from a near- Gaussian distribution to a nearly uniform one, the designs generated have been called irradiance redistribution guides (IRG). A design featuring reentrant optics was selected for fabrication and testing. This IRG has been fabricated and tested at the HFSF to compare predicted and measured performance. The IRG's performance is close to the theoretical predictions. Much of the performance difference can be explained by discrepancies between the actual HFSF performance relative to that assumed in the NICOS predictions. This IRG will be useful for applications in which uniform solar concentration at moderate flux is required. In general, the design methodology and resulting devices can provide a new way to satisfy diverse flux tailoring needs.

Date Published: 3 October 1997
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 3139, Nonimaging Optics: Maximum Efficiency Light Transfer IV, (3 October 1997); doi: 10.1117/12.279218

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3139:
Nonimaging Optics: Maximum Efficiency Light Transfer IV
Roland Winston, Editor(s)