Question
I'm just looking into SAM and can't seem to find a definition of optical efficiency (i.e for the Sun Position angle table for Fresnel models). Is it the ratio of collected rays to rays incident on the reflectors, the ratio of collected rays to rays incident on the overall ground area, or something else?
Answer
For the linear Fresnel model, optical efficiency is:
Optical Efficiency = Total Thermal Power Absorbed by Receiver / ( DNI * Total Mirror Aperture Area )
I will add this description to the Help system.
Best regards,
Paul.
