Performance Analysis of Compound Parabolic Concentration Photothermal and Photoelectricity Device for Soil Heating in Facility Agriculture

• Published in: Transactions of Tianjin University Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 144 - 152
• Main Authors: Chang, Zehui, Peng, Yanan, Liu, Xuedong, Hou, Jing, Guo, Shuaijun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tianjin Tianjin University 01-04-2022; Springer Nature B.V; College of Energy and Power Engineering,Inner Mongolia University of Technology,Hohhot 010051,China; Solar Energy Application Technology Engineering Center,Inner Mongolia University of Technology,Hohhot 010051,China%College of Energy and Power Engineering,Inner Mongolia University of Technology,Hohhot 010051,China%College of Mechanical Electrical Heating and Ventilation Engine,Inner Mongolia Technical College of Construction,Hohhot 010070,China
• Subjects: Agriculture; Air temperature; Efficiency; Engineering; Heating; Heating systems; Humanities and Social Sciences; Incidence angle; Mechanical Engineering; multidisciplinary; Photoelectricity; Photovoltaic cells; Research Article; Science; Soils; Solar cells; Soil; Photothermal and photoelectricity; Concentration; Facility agriculture; Heating
• ISSN: 1006-4982; 1995-8196
• DOI: 10.1007/s12209-022-00313-2

It is difficult for solanum crops to grow continuously during winter in severe cold regions. Thus, a soil heating system for facility agriculture based on solar concentration technology was proposed, and a novel compound parabolic concentration photothermal and photoelectricity device (CTPV) equipped in the system was designed to address this problem. In accordance with the structure of the device, LightTools optical software was selected to analyze the variation trend of the light escape rate of the device with the different incident angles. On the basis of the calculation results, an experimental test system was used to investigate the relationship of the air temperature of the inlet and the outlet, total output power of the solar cells, and photothermal and photoelectricity efficiency of the device with the operation time during a sunny day. Research results reveal that the light escape rate of the device is 5.36% at an incidence angle of 12°. At a velocity of 1.5 m/s, the maximum air temperature of the outlet can reach 55.6 °C, and the total output power of the solar cells is 474.4 W. The variation of the total power of the solar cells is consistent with the simulation results. The maximum instantaneous heat collection and the maximum photothermal and photoelectricity efficiency of the device are 306 W and 60.4%, respectively, and the average efficiency is 44.9%. This study can serve as a reference for compound parabolic concentration technology applied for soil heating in facility agricultural soil heating systems.