Article Experimental investigation of the comparison of compound parabolic concentrator and ordinary heat pipe-type solar concentrator Fahim Ullah 1,2 , Mansoor K Khattak 2 and Kang Min 1,3 Abstract In this research study, we have compared between the two different concentrators with the flat absorber plate receiver of the compound parabolic concentrator heat pipe solar concentrator and ordinary heat pipe flat plate solar concentrator. For the reproduction of solar radiation in the experiment, iodine tungsten lamp was used. Thermal performance comparison of the two types of solar concentrator under different simulating radiation intensity conditions was carried out with including the fluid temperature, instantaneous efficiency, average efficiency, and average heat loss coefficient. The results of the experiment indicate that the compound parabolic concentra- tor heat pipe-type solar concentrator not only increased the fluid temperature and instantaneous efficiency but also decreased the average heat loss coefficient as compared with the ordinary heat pipe flat plate solar concentrator. It was noticed from the experimental results that the efficiency of compound parabolic heat pipe solar concentrator was higher than ordinary heat pipe solar concentrator up to 6 and 10  C with the light intensity, that is I ¼ 679 W/m 2 and I ¼ 892 W/m 2 , respectively. From the results, it was concluded that the using of compound parabolic heat pipe solar concentrator increased the thermal performance of solar concentrator. 1 College of Engineering, Nanjing Agriculture University, Nanjing, P.R. China 2 Department of Agricultural Mechanization, FPSC, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan 3 Guanyun Research Institute for Modern Agricultural Equipment, Nanjing Agricultural University, Guanyun, China Corresponding author: Kang Min, College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210031, China. Email: kangmin@njau.edu.cn Energy & Environment 0(0) 1–14 ! The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0958305X18759791 journals.sagepub.com/home/eae