Optical analysis and experimental method for design of radiative thermal reflector

Abstract

Radiative heating is suitable for outdoor heating system in windy and cold seasons. Optimal design of the radiative thermal reflector is very important to maximize heat transfer to a specific target area in the open space. Geometric optics can be applied to analyze efficiency of the reflector. Commercial ray tracing computer programs are available only for limited geometries of the reflector. Alternatively, it may be designed and analyzed through an approximated simple lens theory. Two types of reflectors are analyzed using either of these methods. The key issue in this paper is to propose a new illumination experimental method for determination of the radiative efficiency. Optical light source and illuminometer are employed. The calculated efficiency of the reflector is compared with experimental one for checking the reliability. The relative errors between the experimental and analytical results are less than 5%, which proves the validity of this method. Based on these methodologies, a practical reflector and heating lamp unit is developed.