Hello,
To change the aperture area, you will need to change the collector geometry on the Collectors (SCAs) input page, and the loop configuration on the Solar Field input page.
Here are the equations SAM uses to calculate the reflective aperture area:
equations{ 'total_aperture' } = define() {
return ${single_loop_aperature} * ${nLoops}; };
equations{ 'single_loop_aperature' } = define() {
aLoop = ${trough_loop_control};
nsca = aLoop[0];
sca_ap[0] = ${csp_dtr_sca_aperture_1};
sca_ap[1] = ${csp_dtr_sca_aperture_2};
sca_ap[2] = ${csp_dtr_sca_aperture_3};
sca_ap[3] = ${csp_dtr_sca_aperture_4};
total_ap = 0;
for (i=0;i<nsca;i++)
{
sca_t = min(max(aLoop[1+i*3],1),4) - 1;
total_ap = total_ap + sca_ap[ sca_t ];
}
return total_ap;
};
The
variable is defined by the arrangements of SCAs and HCEs in the Single Loop Configuration on the Solar Field Input page.
Best regards,
Paul.