Parabolic Trough Technology: Reflective Aperture Area

Dear Paul,

I am trying to figure out how the reflective aperture area of a collector is calculated. It seems that it is something like:

A_aperture = Aperture width * Length of collector assembly

However with this easy calculation, i am not getting the value of the libraries. Could you help me with this calculation?

Thank you in advance!

Best regards,
Juan Haces

Dear Juan,

The reflective aperture area (A_aperture) is the are of the collector that reflects sunlight toward the receiver. The aperture width is the width of the entire collector structure, including the non-reflective supporting structure. SAM uses the aperture width to calculate row-to-row shadowing and blocking. You should expect the reflective area to be less than the product of the aperture width and collector assembly length.

Best regards,
Paul.