TY - JOUR
T1 - FluxTracer
T2 - A Ray Tracer Postprocessor to Assist in the Design and Optimization of Solar Concentrators and Receivers
AU - Blanco, Manuel
AU - Constantinou, Marios
AU - Corsi, Clotilde
AU - Grigoriev, Victor
AU - Milidonis, Kypros
AU - Panagiotou, Constantinos F.
AU - Papanicolas, Costas N.
AU - Pye, John
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by ASME.
PY - 2019/4/1
Y1 - 2019/4/1
N2 - This paper presents FluxTracer, an advanced open source computer tool to assist in the analysis, design, and optimization of solar concentrators and receivers. FluxTracer is a postprocessor for Monte Carlo ray tracers used to simulate the optical behavior of solar concentrating systems. By postprocessing the rays generated by the ray tracer, FluxTracer can partition into volumetric pixels (voxels) a region of interest in three-dimensional (3D) space defined by the user and compute for each voxel the radiant power density of the concentrated solar radiation. Depending upon the set of rays provided by the ray tracer, it may be able to integrate the radiant power density in every voxel over time. The radiant energy density analysis described is just one of the analyses that FluxTracer can carry out on the set of rays generated by the ray tracer. This paper presents the main analyses that FluxTracer can provide. It also presents examples of how the information provided by FluxTracer can be used to assist in the analysis, design, and optimization of solar concentrators and receivers. FluxTracer is the first of a series of components of an open-source computational framework for the analysis, design, and optimization of solar concentrators and receiver, being developed by The Cyprus Institute (CyI) and the Australian National University (ANU).
AB - This paper presents FluxTracer, an advanced open source computer tool to assist in the analysis, design, and optimization of solar concentrators and receivers. FluxTracer is a postprocessor for Monte Carlo ray tracers used to simulate the optical behavior of solar concentrating systems. By postprocessing the rays generated by the ray tracer, FluxTracer can partition into volumetric pixels (voxels) a region of interest in three-dimensional (3D) space defined by the user and compute for each voxel the radiant power density of the concentrated solar radiation. Depending upon the set of rays provided by the ray tracer, it may be able to integrate the radiant power density in every voxel over time. The radiant energy density analysis described is just one of the analyses that FluxTracer can carry out on the set of rays generated by the ray tracer. This paper presents the main analyses that FluxTracer can provide. It also presents examples of how the information provided by FluxTracer can be used to assist in the analysis, design, and optimization of solar concentrators and receivers. FluxTracer is the first of a series of components of an open-source computational framework for the analysis, design, and optimization of solar concentrators and receiver, being developed by The Cyprus Institute (CyI) and the Australian National University (ANU).
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059933875&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/1.4042127
DO - 10.1115/1.4042127
M3 - Article
SN - 0199-6231
VL - 141
JO - Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Transactions of the ASME
JF - Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Transactions of the ASME
IS - 2
M1 - 021015
ER -