Sharif Digital Repository

Optical and thermal analysis of the most well-known solar concentrator system; parabolic trough collector (PTC) are investigated and analyzed. To evaluate performance of the PTC, four cities of Iran with different weather conditions are chosen as case studies. Effective parameters such as concentration ratio, incident angle correction factor, collector mass flow rate are considered. The main objective of this work is evaluation of the solar energy potential using PTC in under consideration cities with different climates. Numerical modeling of the analysis is done using MATLAB software. Simulation results shows that Shiraz, with an average annual thermal efficiency of 13.91% and annual useful... 

This research is aimed at geometric analysis of parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) in different sizes of the main components of the system. The rate of the Local Concentration Ratio (LCR) on the receiver tube and optical efficiency are two main features in geometric optimization of the parabolic trough solar collectors. In this work, parabolic trough solar collector was optimized for different sizes with three design variables: the receiver diameter, the collector aperture width and the rim angle. The method used in this research was the Monte Carlo Method (MCM) in MATLAB. The optical and geometric modeling was developed for coding in MATLAB. For the case study, a parabolic trough solar... 

Attitude and vibration control of a general form of flexible satellites is addressed in this paper. Partial differential dynamic equations are derived considering new details such as multi sectioned solar panels and elastic connections between main hub and solar panels. Boundary control approach is adopted to eliminate simplification errors of discrete models, using just one actuator in the hub. Asymptotic stability of attitude dynamics is proved for a group of boundary controllers and necessary conditions for asymptotic stability of vibrations are discussed. Being independent of modeling accuracy and using easily measurable feedbacks are among advantages of the proposed class of... 

The use of solar concentrators can be an alternative for initial cost reduction in the PV systems. However, they suffer from high cell temperature that can be overcome by different active or passive cooling approaches. Spectral splitting and the elimination of high-energy solar photons are effective solutions for cell temperature reduction. In this study, we developed a Polymethyl methacrylate Spectral Splitting Fresnel Lens (SSFL) for linear concentration using a new design, which directs the desired portion of the spectrum towards the cell and diffracts the rest to eliminate the use of beam splitters or nanofluids in the spectral splitting system. Different SSFLs were considered for... 

A gyroless deterministic attitude determination algorithm based on simulation of sun in eclipse is stated in this paper and has been compared to stochastic filters like extended Kalman filter and unscented Kalman filter. Attitude determination with low cost sensors such as magnometer and sun sensor results in usage of recursive algorithms such as Kalman filter which has the probability of divergence, but with deterministic point to point algorithm such as the one introduced in this paper we can be sure to have an attitude determination with a fixed maximum error. Proposed method has been compared with Extended Kalman Filter and Unscented Kalman filter due to its modeling error, robustness... 

We developed a novel magnetic coupling module, formed of a monolayer superconducting flux concentrator that is integrated with a coplanar resonator, strongly coupled to high-temperature superconducting radio frequency superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). Three types of resonators, including a long stripline resonator between the input loop and the pick-up loop of the flux concentrator, a complementary split ring resonator, and a spiral shape inside the input loop, are explored. The resonance quality factor of different patterns of these three types of the resonators, as well as their coupling to the SQUID, is evaluated using finite-element-method simulations. Several readout... 

In order to restrain ferroresonance in coupling capacitor voltage transformers (CCVT), two kinds of ferroresonance suppression circuits (FSCs) , are proposed in this paper: the resonant type, the fastsaturation reactor type which are connected to secondary side of CCVTs. Frequency domain analyses, for voltage ratio magnitude, are carried out for CCVTs to obtain preferable FSC. Furthermore, using surge suppressors such as metal oxide varistors (MOV) to improve the performance of the FSCs is investigated. Time domain simulations demonstrate that ferroresonance can be cleared in few cycles in presence of FSCs. The Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP) is used for modeling and fine-tuning... 

Global warming escalation has extended average temperature of earth beyond its safe limit. To avert this environmental-threat, solar energy has acquired substantial attention of remarkable researchers in this century. To effectively utilize solar energy by transforming into thermal and electrical energy, the involvement of nanofluids having intensified thermal, optical and magnetic properties, has become very popular. The foremost objective of this article is to provide a comprehensive review on the applications of nanofluids in solar energy systems like solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, solar stills, and thermal energy storage, which are thoroughly discussed in this paper. The effect of... 

Stirling engines operate in a variety of temperatures and the electric power production via dish Stirling systems could be considered as an appropriate alternative for high-temperature solar concentrator energy harvesting systems. To this end, by performing various studies and analyses on the engine, Stirling cycle, and heat exchangers while utilizing the solar energy as the input thermal energy of the Stirling engine, parameters with the highest effect on the output power and engine stability are detected and considered as optimization variables. In this case, output power, thermal efficiency, and economic evaluation are taken to be the three suitable objective functions for multi-objective... 

Stirling engines operate in a variety of temperatures and the electric power production via dish Stirling systems could be considered as an appropriate alternative for high-temperature solar concentrator energy harvesting systems. To this end, by performing various studies and analyses on the engine, Stirling cycle, and heat exchangers while utilizing the solar energy as the input thermal energy of the Stirling engine, parameters with the highest effect on the output power and engine stability are detected and considered as optimization variables. In this case, output power, thermal efficiency, and economic evaluation are taken to be the three suitable objective functions for multi-objective... 

The paper presents a systematic approach to designing an imaging dish for a concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system to minimize exergy destruction. The designed CPV system uniformly distributes light rays on the receiver (TPV/multi-junction PV) to enhance the conversion technology efficiency and lifetime. To this end, a parametric dish is designed using imaging optics and the numerical solution of a differential equation. Afterward, a Monte Carlo simulation is used to estimate the output energy and exergy of the CPV system with the parametric dish. Finally, an optimization algorithm finds the optimal design parameters to minimize the system's exergy destruction. The optimal design leads to a... 

Solar panel flexibility plays an important role in the attitude control of satellites. Therefore, traditionally the deformations of flexible solar panels are measured with a series of sensors along the panels itself. This paper presents a novel maiden attempt to simultaneously estimate the attitude and deformation of a flexible satellite using only 2 low-cost attitude sensors namely the sun sensor and magnetometer measurements. The flexible satellite is considered as a central rigid body with two attached flexible panels in order to derive the governing dynamic equations based on the Lagrange's equation. Both Extended Kalman filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) are employed for the... 

This paper presents a residential energy hub model for a smart multi-carrier energy home consisting of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), combined heat and power (CHP), solar panels, and electrical storage system (ESS). The energy hub inputs are electricity and natural gas that provide electrical and heat demands at the output ports. In this paper, an optimization-based program is proposed to determine the optimal operation mode of the energy hub, to manage the energy consumption of responsive appliances, to schedule charging/discharging of PHEV and the storage system, and to coordinate solar panels operation with household responsive demand in response to day-ahead time-varying tariffs... 

Direct steam generation (DSG) in parabolic trough collectors causes an increase to competitiveness of solar thermal power plants (STPP) by substitution of oil with direct steam generation that results in lower investment and operating costs. In this study the integrated solar combined cycle system with DSG technology is introduced and techno-economic assessment of this plant is reported compared with two conventional cases. Three considered cases are: an integrated solar combined cycle system with DSG technology (ISCCS-DSG), a solar electric generating system (SEGS), and an integrated solar combined cycle system with HTF (heat transfer fluid) technology (ISCCS-HTF).This study shows that... 

This paper proposes a new framework for home energy management (HEM) in the context of renewable-based residential energy hub using a probabilistic optimization approach. Different energy converters and storages, including combined heat and power, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, a heat storage unit, solar panels, and generic household appliances, are considered in the energy hub. The customer's energy cost is considered as the objective of the HEM optimization problem and different operational limits of the energy hub components are modeled as the constraints. The two-point estimate method is incorporated in this paper to model the uncertainty associated with output power of the rooftop... 

In this paper, a new control strategy and power management for a stand-alone PV/battery hybrid power system has been suggested. The solar cell arrays provide energy in the steady-state and the battery provides energy in transient states. Here, a charge controller system based on the MPP tracking technology, suitable for using in the islanded micro grid that contains a solar panel and a battery is designed. The charge controller includes a unidirectional DC-DC converter as an interface circuit between the solar panel and the DC bus, a bidirectional DC-DC converter as an interface circuit between the battery and the DC bus with a control system and power management in different states of...