ABSTRACT
In this paper, a general method is proposed in order to develop a special absorber profile that receives sunlight from parabolic reflectors uniformly. Different parameters were taken into consideration while performing the simulation including reflector focal length, collector length, and concentration ratio. The total power reflected to the absorber was calculated by accounting for the Fresnel angular dependency and the shadowing effect by the absorber. Furthermore, a verification method based on the ray tracing technique was also developed in order to verify that uniform illumination was achieved. The uniformity of the sunlight flux onto the absorber is expected to improve solar system efficiency and extend its life service. Therefore, the validated absorber profile design in this theoretical work can be useful for applications which employ parabolic concentrators with the concern of reaching higher performance by achieving a uniform concentration ratio on the absorber.
